Shirin Neshat

Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York
Sold: New York, Performa/Benefit Auction, May 19, 2012
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner

New York, Barbara Gladstone Gallery, Shirin Neshat: The Book of Kings, January - February 2012
Madrid, Fundación Telefónica, Shirin Neshat: Written on the Body, June - September 2013, pp. 54-55, 56-57 (another example exhibited)
Paris, Galerie Jérôme de Noirmont, Shirin Neshat: The Book of Kings, September - November 2012, p. 147 (another example exhibited)

This work is in very good condition. There are no apparent condition issues with this work.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Iranian-born artist Shirin Neshat’s diverse body of work intertwines critiques of both western and Islamic culture through photography, video, and recently, performance art. Oftentimes using a feminist perspective to question the establishments of two vastly different societies, she consistently searches to change perceptions by revealing the unjust and unseen.

In the first of Neshat’s widely acclaimed series Women of Allah (1993-1997), the artist used black and white photography and depicted women clad in chadors sometimes holding guns and sometimes with Farsi poetry inscribed on the parts of their skin (hands, feet, and face) that is allowed to be exposed by Islamic law. Neshat used the chador in her work as a symbol of revolution and repression in Iran. Following her “Women of Allah” series, Neshat transitioned from the static, single frame photograph into using video and film in order to make the complex questions she raises about Islamic society more explicit to the viewer. In her films, she uses her Iranian heritage to explore a broad variety of both personal and social issues, and according to the late famed art critic and philosopher, Arthur Danto, is able to create art that uncovers many identities.  She wanted to present a narrative that exposed her work as more than just a response to her hostility towards her home country or a symbol of Iranian repression, but instead as a series of broader questions about authority, power, and spirituality.

Although Neshat’s oeuvre explores divisions between male and female, the Islamic and Western worlds, and tradition and modernity at the turn of the 20th century, she began to shift to creating work that deals with these issues in a more ephemeral way. In a 2000 interview with Arthur C. Danto, Neshat commented on her transitioning work and her use of video, “Mostly, I was interested in how their ideas of spirituality, politics and violence were and still are so interconnected and inseparable from one another. But after a few years, I felt that I had exhausted the subject and needed to move on. I no longer wanted to make work that dealt so directly with issues of politics. I wanted to make work that was more lyrical, philosophical and poetic” (Arthur C. Danto, “Shirin Neshat,” BOMB Magazine, 2000). Her aspirations for her work in the early 21^st Century have most certainly materialized over the last decade. 

The present work, executed in 2012, is a shortened film version of her November 2011 New York Perfoma Festival commission. The performance and video version of OverRuled demonstrate the more nuanced and philosophical shift in Neshat’s work over the past decade. In the present work the artist re-imagines the cultural history of Iran. OverRuled is a modern remake of the tenth century trial of the Sufi poet Masur Al-Hallaj. The poet became a martyr after he was publically dismembered due to accusations of heresy. As she does in her most successful works, Neshat is able to inventively transform the perhaps unrelatable and archaic event into an allegory for the modern day artist. Al-Hallaj believed he had a spiritual connection to God, considered blasphemous by the Caliphate, similarly many artist and writers are burdened and punished for oftentimes religious-like commitment to their work and beliefs.

The press release for the 2012 exhibition Shirin Neshat: The Book of Kings at Galerie Jérôme de Noirmont, Paris, accurately described the essence of OveRuled: "Neshat’s interlacing of the historical and the contemporary valorizes the vulnerable yet tenacious ways that people struggle to reclaim their agency, offering rich visual and aural narratives of how the human spirit can reclaim its dignity even in the face of brutal repression.” Neshat converts the story of Al Hallaj’s trial and execution into the spiritual overcoming of this insurmountable problem of repression both in the tenth century and even today.  In OverRuled, Neshat once again proves that her imagination, historical awareness, and propensity to reveal mistruths are among the plethora of characteristics that make her body of work distinct and enduring.