Madder in Guezenveld, Pedram Sazesh, Amsterdam 2024

Aerodynamic-Monument in Madder




 



Epilogue to the Aerodynamic Monument





The Monument to Ahmad is a public sculpture created by Mohamad in honour of his brother Ahmad. It was installed in the city square of Abadan, Iran, on June 20th, 1980. The sculpture measures 140 centimetres in height, 100 centimetres in length, and 50 centimetres in width. It rests on a base that is 74 centimetres tall and roughly the same length and width as the sculpture itself. The entire monument stands 214 centimetres tall from the ground, including the base. The sculpture was crafted from locally polished concrete, while the marble base was imported from Carrara. The base extends 74 centimetres below ground level. During installation, Mohamad requested to keep the excavated soil to allow the marble base to be placed half below ground.

The sculpture was in the shape of a figure of a man. His posture was upright and contrapposto, with his gaze slightly directed upwards. The sculpture faced true north (Mohamad had always hoped that one day he would see the aurora borealis; this is confirmed by his several works coloured with bright fluorescent green paint).

It is now known that the concrete structure was assembled from 26 separate concrete-cast pieces. The sculpture was originally carved from soft wax and then divided into smaller sections suitable for casting. The sculptor reused wax from another series of 26 sculptures he created in the same year. He had made 22 models of airplanes, trains, blimps, cars, and even a pencil sharpener, all in a formal style reminiscent of Italian Futurism. He also made four small sculptures in the same series, depicting a lanky plant with white and yellow flowers. The wax he used was salvaged from a few boxes of unused paraffin candles taken from a European embassy looted during the revolution and given to Mohamad on his birthday.

On May 8th, 1984, a structural engineer observing the facade of a nearby building noticed the Monument to Ahmad and grew fond of the sculpture. When he approached it for a closer look, he saw the surface details. It looked like parts of the sculpture were made up of tiny dimples similar to those on a golf ball. After further inspection, he noted that they mainly appeared on the north side of the sculpture, on the torso, eyes, cheeks, and left leg. He naively guessed that they resulted from erosion. Moved by the figure's resemblance to a lost friend, the engineer decided to fill in the small circular indentations with black putty to smooth the surface, using materials he had on hand from that day’s work.

The next day, the engineer returned and was surprised to find an empty marble base with the sculpture 'Monument to Ahmad' missing. He asked around and located the sculpture 20 km north of the site in a deserted plain. The sculpture was leaning on its left leg, angled 45 degrees from the ground, with the torso and head facing forward. Its shadow pointed to a small green rock at the base of a small seedling growing nearby. The engineer notified officials, who retrieved the sculpture and urged that it be properly secured at its base. The engineer even criticised city officials for using the city’s budget to import such a grand piece of foreign marble without adequately anchoring it to the sculpture.

On August 17, 1997, the engineer revisited Abadan and noticed that the sculpture and the base were no longer there. Only the hole in the city square remained, filled with trash blown in by the wind. Out of curiosity, he asked around, and no one knew what had happened to the sculpture or the sculptor; some speculated that Mohamad had gone abroad, while others said he had passed away. The engineer thought that the sculpture might have been destroyed during the Iran-Iraq war, and the marble base was probably taken by someone seeking use as building material. He learned that the city officials were embarrassed by the disappearance and promptly secured the concrete structure to its marble base when they rediscovered it. To his shock, the very night the sculpture was returned to the city square and properly secured, it disappeared again. The engineer returned to the site, where he found the missing sculpture. Not surprisingly, neither the sculpture nor the base could be found; only a large bush of plants, later identified as Peganum Harmala (or Syrian Rue), was growing at the site. While examining the plants, he rediscovered a small green rock he had noticed earlier; he picked it up and put it in his pocket.  

It is sometimes speculated that, following these events, when Mohamad heard the news, he brought the soil he had kept from the excavation and filled the empty hole.

On June 21, 2039, the sculpture, including its marble base, reappeared in the city square.






The After-Image to Chapter One of The Aerodynamic Monument [how not to say these two heavy words]

21.1 x 30 cm 
Oil on Inkjet print, on dyed Gypsum Cement 2021 
Lorem Ipsum...

The After-Image of The Prologue to The Aerodynamic Monument

21.1 cm x 30 cm
Oil on Inkjet print, on dyed Gypsum Cement
2021

Unoriented: Reflection of [Still, No Answer to the Question of] How to Commemorate a Forthcoming Trauma?

70 x 100 cm
Acrylic in/on dyed Gypsum Cement 
2021
Reflection of [The Hare of] The Aerodynamic Monument #1 (Ahmad in Rome)

100 x 140 cm
Acrylic in/on dyed Gypsum Cement
2021

Wind Speed Surrounding the Aerodynamic-Monument Measured by a Snowy Day in Amsterdam (or Toronto?)

100 x 150 cm 
Oil on canvas / Acrylic in/on dyed Gypsum Cement 
2021 

Study after the Aerodynamic-Monument in an Unseen Wind Tunnel 140 x 180 cm 
Oil on canvas / Acrylic in/on dyed Gypsum Cement 2020/2021




A Script [Peace Bridge] for One Performer, One Act and Two Monologues Acrylic in/on Gypsum Cement 215 x 140 cm, (diptych of two 100 cm x 140cm pieces) 2021 

























Daruish’s Grand Hotel
Part 1


















 




Part 2 : Negative Horizon

Detail 




EDUCATION

2012-2017        B.F.A. Cooper Union, New York, NY

2011-2012        Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, NS


RESIDENCIES

2025               EKWC, European Centre for Ceramics, Oisterwijk, Netherlands

2025               Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity, Banff, Canada

2024               Triangle, New York, USA 

2022              Artist Research Lab, Fondazione Antonio Ratti, Como, Italy

2019-2021    De Ateliers, Amsterdam, Netherlands 

2017               Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME

2015                Yale Norfolk Summer School of Music and Arts, Norfolk, CT


GROUP EXHIBITIONS


2025                Royal Award for Modern Painting 2025, Amsterdam, Netherlands 

2024                “It’s a bright burrow” replied the wasp, Kate, Amsterdam, Netherlands [solo]

                          Drawing Biennial, Drawing Room, London, England 

2023                Low Clearance, PTT Space, Taipei, Taiwan

                          Mutter Biennale “Halloween” Mutter, Amsterdam, Netherlands

2022                Hypernuit, Martin Van Zomeren, Amsterdam, Netherlands 

                          Moveable Types x Snooperverse, HISK Exhibition Space, Brussels, Belgium

2021                 Always Hallways [Epilogue to the Aerodynamic-Monument], De Ateliers, Amsterdam, Netherlands [solo]

2019                 A Flatlining Shrill, Laurel Project Space, Amsterdam, Netherlands

                         Between the Two Columns, Institute Cervantes, Marrakech, Morocco
                          (collaborative project with Emmanuela Soria Ruiz)

                          A Mobius Strip on the Sand, 934 Gallery, Columbus, OH 
                         (Sujung Chang)

2016                Green Dust, PAGE (NYC), New York, NY
                         (Will Shea)

                        Group Show, PAGE (NYC), New York, NY
       
                        Like a Perhaps Hand
, 41 Cooper Gallery, Cooper Union, New York, NY
                         (Matt Ledwidge & Minh Bui)

                        Act 2 Scene 1*
, The Yellow Zone, Richmond, VA
                        (Cameron Spratley & Adam Amram)
    
2015               Yale Norfolk Final Exhibition, The Art Barn, Norfolk, CT

                        End Of The Year Show, 7 Cooper Square, Cooper Union, New York, NY

                       Throwing a Dead Bird In The Air, 7 Cooper Square, Cooper Union, New York, NY

                        I’m Thinking About Love Now, 41 Cooper Gallery, Cooper Union, New York, NY
                        (Josiah Ellis & Everett Narciso)

                        The Strait Between The Known and Unknown, Menschel Fellowship Exhibition
                         7 Cooper Square, The Cooper Union, New York, NY 
                        (Emmanuela Soria Ruiz)

2014                Site to Non-Site, 7 Cooper Square, The Cooper Union, New York, NY

                         End Of The Year Show, 7 Cooper Square, The Cooper Union, New York, NY

 2013                End Of The Year Show, 7 Cooper Square, The Cooper Union, New York, NY

2012                F.A.S.S., Saint Mary’s University Gallery, Halifax, NS

                        Re-shelving Initiative, Eye Level Galley, Halifax, NS

2011                Printed Matter, Seed Gallery, Halifax, NS

                        Claude Watson Art Program Exhibition, Propeller Art Gallery, Toronto, ON


ACADEMIC HONOURS, AWARDS, AND GRANTS


2025                Stokroos, Netherlands

                          Cultuurfunds, Netherlands

2024                Development Grant, Amarte, Netherlands

                         International Voucher Grant, Mondrian Funds, Netherlands

                         Project Grant Mondrian Funds, Netherlands

2023                First Time Project Grant, Amsterdam Funds Kunst 

                          Research and Creation Grant, Canada Arts Council

2022                Professional Development for Artists, Canada Arts Council

                         Exhibition Assistance Grant, Ontario Arts Council 

2020                Research and Creation Grant, Canada Arts Council

                         Emerging Visual Artist Project Grant, Ontario Arts Council

2019                Toronto Arts Council Project Grant 

2017                Jacque and Natasha Gelman Foundation Award, Cooper Union, New York

                        Alex Katz Matching Fellowship, Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, ME

2015               The Ellen Battell Stoeckel Painting Fellowship, Yale University, Norfolk, CT

                        The Benjamin Menschel Fellowship Program, The Cooper Union, New York, NY

2012                Full Tuition Scholarship, The Cooper Union, New York, NY 

2011                Harrison McCain Foundation Scholarship, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, NS


ARTIST TALKS

2025                Artez, Enschede, Netherlands (and workshop)

2023                R.I.S.D., Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island, USA 
                           (Two artist talks for the two classes in the painting department)

2021                 Club Solo, Breda, Netherlands 


PUBLICATIONS


2023                on my belly/on my back (catalogue publication), Fondazione Antonio Ratti, Como / Compagnia London

2021                Offspring 2022 Catalogue, Always Hallways, De Ateliers, Amsterdam

2019                The Vanishing Point of Verification with Sujung Chang, self-published, New York
                          (http://www.changsujung.com/thevanishingpointofverification.html)

2014                Benjamin Menschel Exhibition Catalogue, Cooper Union, New York, NY
                          (https://cooper.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/assets/development/ MenschCat_2014.pdf)