05/12/2026
In March of 2025, Amir came to the studio with a new idea. He had long been fascinated by the history of Persian vases and had already embarked on a series of wooden prototypes. Inspired by the poetry of Omar Khayyam, he was drawn to the vase as a vessel once inhabited by something deeper – a metaphor for the human body as a shaped, finite container; and the soul as the presence that once filled it. The image conveys mortality, the body’s fragility, and the soul’s lingering essence. Amir wanted to expand this body of work with silkscreen prints.
Once back in Tehran, the vases were realized as iron sculptures and exhibited alongside Amir’s paintings and prints in an immersive solo show curated by Parsa Farsha, artistic director of Dastan Gallery. As Firouzeh Saghafi noted, “The works are keyed to the present tense of Tehran. Their heaviness, their weight, their built-in unpredictability echo the oppressiveness of living in this city.”
When Amir returned this year, our exploration continued. He spent two solid weeks hand painting his mylars and as his designs evolved, we pushed further with new color variations and unexpected combinations.
The new series entitled, “Rooheshoon Shad” is Amir’s response to current events in Iran. He sees these vases as the souls lost – finite vessels emptied of their presence, as Omar Khayyam once aptly described.
