Wrote by @Neda Paykazadi
On close watching, the paintings of Vahid Chamani, exhibited under the title of "Amino Acids" since 2006, reveal the gradual evolution of the artist's point of view and his techniques.
In the first three periods, he focused mainly on the figures and later, he created surreal spaces and lands with the same atmosphere and characteristics. It was as if he was looking to create a world for his humanoid creatures, which was eventually built in a completely improvised way during the collection.
Eventually, after studying the two implications of Acid and Amino and putting them together, he chose the title "Amino Acids" for his creations. In choosing the title for his works, he sought the meaning of originality. The word "acid" recalls one's subconscious notions such as "destruction" and "death," while "amine" is a scientific term referring to a type of protein that constitutes one of the essential elements of life.
Chamani has some special collections, such as focusing on some of the Iranian historical and political times. In one of his collections, the artworks result from his extensive study of Qajar paintings and influenced by some of the era's popular visual motifs and, especially, by how people conventionally posed for the camera or artists then.
Artists in the Qajar collection painted figures and portraits in detail and with influences from Western Classicism; by contrast, Chamani's humanoids have some details omitted from their faces and bodies, have ever-gazing eyes, and are portrayed in an entirely exaggerated, deformed fashion rather than a realistic style. In other words, we are faced with women and men who stare at us with anxious, fearful eyes. While nothing is revealed about their identities, his characters share a love for glamour with people of our times, as demonstrated by how they have adorned themselves in Qajar-inspired attire and jewelry such as green, blue, and white gems.
Nevertheless, Chamani has unveiled the feeling of inner turmoil and the fake calmness of the characters in his paintings.
Using warm and dark colours and imparting a sense of history and ancient and decay, Chamani has visualized our modern lifestyle, recreating a mysterious void that signifies our repetitive history by using warm and dark colours and imparting a sense of history and ancient and decay.
Few contemporary artists have created unique collections that hint at the history and culture of the specific periods while feeling familiar and modern at the same time. Meanwhile, due to the unprofessional combination of the surrealism characters and figures, many works of art created these days in the market reflect their creators' lack of knowledge, experience, and understanding required for creating artworks that aren't merely contemporary creations wrapped in history and ancient culture.