Avish Khebrehzadeh's Hypocrisy of Freedom at M77

Avish Khebrehzadeh (Teheran, 1969) presents a solo exhibition at M77 in Milan, opening with a large mural where paintings embedded in a web of bluish branches and lit by ultraviolet light denounce the hypocrisy of romantic freedom through harsh, granular human figures. In the adjacent room, a succession of 'gongs' marks a race of unbridled horses projected continuously on the wall, transforming the wild ideal of freedom into conformism. Upstairs, drawings, paintings, and installations address the senseless violence of the revolution led by Ayatollah Khomeyni, who exploited class hatred toward the monarchy of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to establish an equally repressive republic funded by the United States in exchange for preferential access to natural resources. Tanks drawn on paper interface with blood-red paintings where facial features coincide with lacerations of the canvas, while a mandala of cosmic images projected on the floor narrates Khebrehzadeh's escape from the Shiite regime.