Artists

Artist Bio

Shiva Ahmadi received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from Azad University in Tehran, Iran, in 1998. Soon after she moved to the United States, Ahmadi earned Master of Fine Arts degrees from Wayne State University, Detroit, in 2003 and from Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI, in 2005. Since then, she has participated in many solo and group shows all over the United States and the world, including London and Dubai. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Contemporary 21, L Magazine New York and The Metro Times. Ahmadi's work is also being included in The Chelsea Art Museum's upcoming exhibition, Iran Inside Out. www.ltmhgallery.com

ArtX Project Description

Title: Oil Barrell #18 and Oil Barrel #19
Medium: Enamel paint and Swarovski Crystal on steel oil drums
Year Created: 2011
Description: Ahmadi is fascinated with oil politics and the major role it plays in the world’s economic and political balance. She thinks that it is clear that competition for petroleum motivates a huge number of international conflicts as well as an equal number of relationships between nations that otherwise would not find cultural commonality. Painting on oil barrels helps Ahmadi to work out and to identify the political and economic complexity and instability that exist in the Middle East today. Look carefully at the images painted on the barrels and you will find not only beautiful patterns and designs deriving from Middle Eastern arts emphasized with reflective crystal beads, but also symbols of violence and conflict such as shields, faceless figures, arrows and fighting animals. Much of this iconography is influenced by Persian and Indian miniature painting. The shiny beads give an impression of the aesthetics of a kind of superficial life-style that derives from oil-wealth, as well as ideas of glory and dominance, while the bleeding bullet wounds in the body of the drums points to pretty obvious connections between the practice of violence and the desire for oil.