OUT OF CHARACTER: Works by Pouya Afshar at ADVOCARTSY

Iranian Constitutional Revolution (Mashrooteh Irani), (1/5+3AP), 2019, Digital Print on Eco Canvas, 31 x 54 in | Image courtesy of ADVOCARTSY and the artist

Animator and artist Pouya Afshar (Film/Video BFA 07) brings prominent figures of Persian history and mythology to life in OUT OF CHARACTER, a digital art exhibition running from Sunday, Jan. 12 to Sunday, Jan. 16, at ADVOCARTSY, a collaborative visual arts platform specializing in contemporary Iranian art in downtown Los Angeles.

Afshar said the following of the works in the exhibition: 

I am implementing fictional characterizations of these individuals within the audience’s mind regardless of the reality. My intention is to build these characters from the inside out, investing them with a past and a persona only hinted at in the history. For the creation of these characters, I tend to concentrate more on the refinements than general aspects. I intend to re-imagine their roles within specific time periods of our contemporary culture and crystalize the clichés about them. I intend to creep up on my audience, hinting on the importance of reviewing the history and how characters carry the weight of its narrative.

OUT OF CHARACTER marks Afshar’s second solo exhibition at ADVOCARTSY, and reflects his conviction in the artist’s power to record history. However, Afshar admits to “distorting history” in the exhibition works by “restructur[ing] real personalities visually and creat[ing] a new persona” in a humorous manner. Storytelling is integral to Afshar’s practice, which ranges from animation to comic illustration to oil painting.

Afshar has exhibited his work throughout the U.S. and the Middle East, in venues including the Getty Center, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Bovard Auditorium at the University of Southern California, Craft Contemporary Museum and Santa Monica Art Studios, among other galleries and art fairs around the globe. He is the creator, character designer and producer of Rostam in Wonderland, an animated series based on the mythical hero of the ancient Persian epic poem, the Shahnameh (Book of Kings). Afshar is also the co-creator of 1PA2PA comics and graphic novel Tehran (2018), and currently serves as Assistant Professor of Art and Design at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell.