Hossein Kazemi created the Flower and Stone series in late 1970s. In this period, the initial subjects were human beings, gradually turning to flowers, in combination with stones. His original highly realistic approach ultimately gave way to an abstract, symbolic pictorial idiom. Untitled 1979 is a prominent piece in the series Flower and Stone which is painted in a large, commanding scale. The roots of the flower seem removed from the soil, its stalk being the same colour as the stone. The stone’s colour, in turn, seems to warm up in the wake of the flower’s radiating hues. This mutual bond might be interpreted through Kazemi’s account of primary dualities of man and woman, femininity and masculinity, and all the same complementary twins.
The fantastic world Kazemi represents in this work reveals its constitutive elements in the first glance without referring to any specific place. This is an image of a celestial space crystallized through imaginative textures and colors, each facet of it in warm and supportive harmony. Through the artist’s talent and mastery, the totality of the piece unites a visual aesthetic spirit with various levels of connotations.
