28 November 2015 – 16 January 2016

In Medias Res delved into the heart of the battle: the viewer experienced landscapes in which imagination is a transformation, in which violence illustrated only the sublime. As Ali Banisadr explained, “In Medias Res is a metaphor for the way my paintings are made, the way the story begins with an explosion, in the middle of action and then it slowly unfolds and unveils its content.”

In motion and evolving throughout the process of creation, Banisadr’s work in this body of work was characterized by an instability that fascinated the viewer and showcased the very essence of imagination. Neither completely abstract nor completely figurative, the scenes that Ali Banisadr painted fit within the art history narrative, from Hieronymous Bosch to Francis Bacon, bearing an ability to transport viewers into realms where beauty bordered on horror, order on disorder, and where the depths of the sea merged with the farthest reaches of outer space.

The origin of chaos is perhaps what ultimately enabled us to see the artist, like an imperfect symphony: the one who orchestrated forms and colors, slow and intense movements, to reach a disconcerting harmony that froze within time, the creative explosion that unfurled under our gaze.

Nonetheless, alongside his explosions—and in contrast to his previous work—the artist integrated lines that brought structure to his pieces. These lines were, for Ali Banisadr, the very representation of language, of words and of their structure, which conflict with the language of painting.

Accompanied by charcoal drawings, the paintings dialogue with these sketches which scrutinized the abstract characters that populate Banisadr’s paintings, thus enhancing and completing his core work.