Kamrooz Aram : Unstable Paintings for Anxious Interiors

This monograph on Iranian-born, Brooklyn-based painter Kamrooz Aram (b.1978) presents the Palimpsest series, which was in part inspired by graffiti on the streets of New York, and its constant painting-over by the authorities, only for it to become covered again in graffiti. The ongoing cycle of painting, covering-up and repainting in the urban environment connects with Aram’s long-standing fascination with modernism and the legacies of Abstract painting. Aram explains: “The word palimpsest derives from the Greek term for a manuscript that has been scraped down so it can be reused. However, this process of erasure is always incomplete and traces of previous layers remain visible beneath the most recent marks. I find the idea of painting as palimpsest compelling because such a painting reveals its own past.” The concept of the palimpsest in relation to Aram’s practice is explored further in the publication in texts by Eva Díaz, Professor of Contemporary Art at Pratt Institute in New York, and art historian and critic Media Farzin. As discussed in an engaging interview between the artist and critic and art historian Murtaza Vali, Aram’s interest in ‘painting as palimpsest’ evolved over years of observing and photographing walls in cities across the world, from Brooklyn and Queens to Beirut and Istanbul.

English