By Ali Dadgar

My digital prints integrate my work as a visual artist with my equally long-standing involvement with performance in a new way. These digital prints are generated from layers of staged photographic self-portraits as well as found photos, web-based images, ceremonial fabrics, rugs and postcards that are recomposed and layered to create particular scenes. The prints are manipulated either through various digital techniques or with manual treatments like painting or drawing.

My performative image work conjures elements of otherness in a place filled with tradition, history, fear and humor. The post revolution nuclear Iran, a hyper-real estranged hybrid homeland from a western view, is the constant backdrop. The performative element of my practice characterizes the uncanny relationship of my placement within shifting political spaces.

 

Iranian born Ali Dadgar, is an experimental artist working across performance, image, text and object based media. His recent installation; Revolusign, was on view at Southern Exposure in San Francisco as part of Theory of Survival project in 2014. Dadgar holds an MFA in Art Practice from UC Berkeley and a BFA from California College of Arts and Crafts.