Zabehi’s outlook on his surrounding is one of bitterness and sorrow. The sorrow is suggested through the dominance of black color in his still life and portrait paintings. Not only is the ever present darkness in Zabehi’s work part of his personal experience, but it also touches upon Iranian mysticism and Sohrevardi’s notion of “rouge intellect”. In a manifesto, Zabehi named this era as a “black age” encouraging people to be brave in the face of darkness. He wrote, “Finally, the great Sohrevardi’s “black intellect” led me out of the dark after eleven years of exploration with black color and darkness, opening my eyes to the fact that this movement was a personal spiritual journey that ushered in devotion, and that darkness would lead to evolution. The razzmatazz of today’s world of absurd luxury calls for this movement. We need to see the dark worlds if we are to appreciate the light of all ages – that complements darkness. This is an age of darkness but there is light at the end of the tunnel.”[1]
[1] Moareknejad, Rasoul, Iranian Contemporary Painters, Hossein Ali Zabehi, Frame with no Glass.