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Meteorite Narvalo | Chiusi, Tuscany, Italy | Bizhan Bassiri©

A poetical vision of cosmos

Some artists have the ability to affect our perceptions, leaving their imprints in our minds. Their vision of the world challenges us, shakes us up. Perhaps because it takes us back to childhood with its simple yet unresolved questions. Where do we come from? How was our planet born?

The CULTURAMA team traveled to Tuscany to meet one of such artists, Bizhan Bassiri, in his secluded studio. We had a glimpse of the mystery that is the creation of a sculptor both humble and poetic. The enigma of the cosmos and that of the journey of an extraordinary artist intertwine with The Magmatic Thought, his manifesto inspired by Vesuvius.

Through volcanoes, the mineral comes to life. The works and words of Bizhan Bassiri take us back to the origins of planet Earth, and to that tiny place that humanity holds in the universe.

The meteorite of an unknown origin is intuition. The vital hours that foreshadow vision last a lifetime.

       Extract from the Manifesto of magmatic thought.

Bizhan Bassiri

Meteorite Narvalo | Galleria Internazionale d’Arte Moderna, Venise | Bizhan Bassiri©

IL NOTTAMBULO | Musée national d’Iran | Bizhan Bassiri ©

Eric of Culturama: In your Manifesto, you talk about intuition and what precedes the artistic vision. What do “the vital hours” mean to you?

Bizhan Bassiri: The vital hours represent our predisposition, a mental state that makes us ready to accept what happens. If we turn away from it or if we live superficially, and the causes of distraction are numerous, then we don’t perceive the things that arise. The difficulty is to maintain one’s ability to see what is happening.

Eric: What are your current works or projects?

Bizhan: Recently, I’ve started a new project: IL NOTTAMBULO. In my career, this work represents a singular passage for several reasons.

First, it starts with a drawing, the first in a series produced almost forty years ago, which represents a particular figure — The Night Prince. I had completely buried it in my memory but when I rediscovered it after all these years, its very strong presence emerged in my creative process.

*IL NOTTAMBULO was exhibited at the Iranian National Museum in October 2019

The Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus | At the foot of Mount Vesuvius, Pompeii, Italy | Bruev©

The work then turns into a point where matter ends and where the sky begins, which for me, represents an interior passage and symbolizes the relationship between body and mind. The meteorite comes from the cosmos, it spins, then returns to where it came from. It is a process identical to that of intuition, of which the meteorite is the envelope.

Man is a rope stretched between the beast and the Superhuman — a rope over the abyss.

       Thus spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche.

© Culturama.studio