Local/Not Local Features Middle Eastern Designers

On Thursday (June 26), the art exhibit Local/Not Local opens at Inside/Outside Gallery inside Levantine Cultural Center in Los Angeles.

The show, curated by CalArts alumni Maece Seirafi (Art MFA 10) and Pouya Jahanshahi (Art MFA 11), brings together California-based visual artists and graphic designers who were born or grew up in the Middle East. The exhibit focuses on Arabic and Iranian typography and its various applications in graphic design.

From Levantine Cultural Center’s website:

From bringing ancient calligraphy into the modern world, to linking Western and Eastern design practices, Local/Not Local is an exhibit guaranteed to shake up what you think you know about Middle Eastern art, and where—and when—it belongs. The Arab and Iranian Californian artists of Local/Not Local challenge traditional ideas of nationality and language through dazzling integration of script and imagery, color and meaning.

Graphic designers and artists featured in the show are Yusef Al-Ahmad, Sam Anvari, Milka Broukhim, Kourosh Beigpour, Reem Hammad, Jahanshahi, Paymon Pojhan, Ebrahim Poustinchi, Seirafi and Shilla Shakoori.

Local/Not Local runs through Aug. 29.