Raha Rastifard | Rest in Natural Great Peace

Raha Rastifard's first solo exhibition at the gallery presents a series of colorful works in 3D lens technology that challenge the viewer's gaze by creating displacements of the subject. Lenticular printing is a multi-step process commonly used to create an animated effect, a sense of three-dimensionality or to give depth to the image. For Rastifard, the method becomes a way of realizing the many layers that together make up her illusory pictorial worlds. As so often in Rastifard's practice, there is a kinship between the several thousand-year-old Persian traditions of abstract geometric patterns and the works in this exhibition.

Rastifard uses original works in the form of paintings, graphics and photographs to create her technologically advanced worlds of images, where these originals are intertwined into a whole. Like the traditional Persian geometric patterns, the motifs repeat, overlap and coincide with each other. Her work is characterized by precision and a deep interest in the various optical phenomena that characterize her abstract landscape. In this way, her focus is reminiscent of the scientist's; there is a fundamental interest in the many ways in which light is reflected, refracted and bent. At the same time, her process is equally emotional, philosophical and internal – introspection and a meditative approach serve as key words in the creative process.

Raha Rastifard is an Iranian-German artist who lives and works in Stockholm. In her art, she combines personal experiences with transcultural, poetic and art historical references – most notably the abstract geometric patterns that have traditionally characterized Persian art and ornamentation.

Rastifard is educated at Tehran University of Art, Freie Universität in Berlin, the Royal Academy of Arts in Stockholm and was awarded the 2021 IASPIS residency scholarship. Her art has previously been shown in a large number of solo and group exhibitions in Europe, Asia and North America, including the Pergamon Museum (Berlin), the Victoria and Albert Museum (London), the Kunstquartier Bethanien (Berlin), the Museo Ex-Teresa Arte Actual (Mexico City), Tokyo Gallery + BTAP (Tokyo) and Ana Tzarev Gallery (New York). She has created several public commissions, most recently The Hanging Lotus Garden at Danderyd Hospital and The Fifth Element at Östergötland Museum.