Bartha Contemporary is pleased to announce a presentation of recent works by Iranian born artist Hadi Tabatabai (b. 1964 Mashhad, Iran, lives and works in California). The installation will feature a selection of ‘Thread Paintings’ and follows the artist’s recent showcase at Parasol Unit in London.

In 2003 Hadi Tabatabai visited Agnes Martin at her home in New Mexico. During his visit, Tabatabai asked Martin if she thought perfection, beauty, and reality were one and the same. Upon reflection, Martin countered that they are different, but there is a place where all three come together.

Tabatabai’s practice evolves from exploring the aesthetic possibilities offered by repetition and precision. For this showcase, the artist assembled a series of works that teeter on the edge between painting and sculpture. Embracing the formal aesthetic of American minimalism these works, conceived of string, paint and a variety of supports, encompass a haptic quality often missing in hard-edged abstraction.

The carefully calibrated composition of each work invites you to consider the planes of reality from which these works originate. The perception is best described as an experience, which evokes a sense of otherworldliness. Made by human hand, these objects appear to be machine-made but not mechanical. It is this contradiction harboured in each work that alludes to the artist’s own experience.

This presentation is part of a series of installations marking the opening of Bartha Contemporary’s new private space in London St. James’s. Open by appointment, this space offers a unique and decisively private platform for contemporary culture in London.