Wahed Khakdan (1950 Teheran), The Journey'

oil on canvas, 120 cm x 90 cm, signed, dated 1986, slightly dented canvas on verso, minimally stain spotted

The Iranian painter and book illustrator Wahed Khakdan studied at the Faculty of Applied Arts in Tehran from 1967 to 1970. After initially painting abstractly, he found his way to a realistic approach to art in the 1970s, which made him famous not only in Iran but also in Europe, where his pictures can be seen in numerous exhibitions. The revolt against the Shah's regime led to the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979, and this political and life-threatening situation certainly had an influence on the painter's motifs and artistic style: It is the everyday, carelessly forgotten objects of an inhabited house that inspire the artist to create finely painted canvases. The tattered doll of a small child or the worn shoes that have carried a person for many kilometres. Memories are attached to them that no one now recalls. Stories are told in the paintings of the artist Wahed Khakdan, which every viewer can relate to his or her own experiences and thus have a touching effect. In the painting ''The Journey'', stacked leather suitcases can be seen - all of them certainly carry personal belongings, memories of home and the hope for a better life in another place, but from the outside they could belong to anyone. The nameplates of some of the travel bags can be guessed at, but not deciphered, and so the artist leaves it open who wants to enter or leave there - for whatever personal or political reason.