Pouran Jinchi returns to The Third Line with her third solo show, The Blind Owl, continuing her investigation into deconstructing calligraphy and looking into the deeper complexities of the written word. The artist explores the physical form and its signified insinuations through the lens of the dark narratives of The Blind Owl, a major literary work by Iranian author Sadegh Hedayat.

This publication, penned in the late 1930s, explores a grim fascination with death and for the most part was banned in Iran. It was this polemic around the book that aroused curiosity in Pouran’s youth, and has been a source of inspiration for her work. “I write only for my shadow which is cast on the wall in front of the light. I must introduce myself to it” - Pouran uses Hedayat’s quote as a point of departure for exploring various media such as intricate drawings on paper and paintings, as well as sculptures in copper and plexiglass, to deliver her experience of the confessional narrative.

For The Blind Owl (Pattern), the artist has created 71 pieces that deconstruct and reassemble the 71 letters of the quote. Using pen and copper on paper, Jinchi draws out individual Persian alphabets in decorative patterns, delving deep into the transcendent value each mark makes.

In a similar structure, The Blind Owl (the dot drawings) includes 96 drawings on paper that are a visual appropriation from the 96 pages of the book, abstracted to only accents of the text. By doing so, Pouran brings the focus onto the obscurities that collectively make up the story.

Pouran further explores the physicality of the written word with sculptures in copper and plexiglass. Incidentally, through a more tangible interpretation that uses reflective copper and translucent plexiglass surfaces, the artist brings forward a more ethereal quality of the work.

In this new body of work, Pouran interprets the Iranian tradition of calligraphy and Islamic geometry through the lens of contemporary aesthetics and focuses on the weight of letters, phrases and quotes to convey her own narrative. As with previous works where she drew inspiration from seminal text works like the Quran and the Cyrus Cylinder (ancient Persian text based artifact), The Blind Owl is an example of how Pouran uses literature to inform her practice. By using abstraction and repetitive patterning, she provides a visual experience that is left to the individual interpretation of the viewer.

About Pouran Jinchi

Pouran Jinchi is an Iranian-born, New York artist who borrows from her home culture’s traditions of literature and calligraphy to pursue her own aesthetic investigations. Having been trained in calligraphy, she finds the relation between words and forms, natural or non-objective, deeply intertwined. In Pouran’s recent work, viewers will appreciate her increasingly detailed focus on the form of language as subject matter.

Pouran’s works are represented in prominent institutional collections such as The Metropolitan Museum, New York; Pratt Institute, New York; The Museum of Fine Arts Houston; Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, NY; Brooklyn Museum, NY; Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC; Federal Reserve Bank, NY; Farjam Collection, Dubai, and several major and international corporate collections. She’s held several solo exhibitions in New York, Dubai, Japan and others. Her work has also been included in several group exhibitions in prominent venues such as Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2013); Asian Art Museum, San Francisco (2012); Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (2010); and the Brooklyn Museum, New York (2009).