January 26 – February 13, 2018
Obliviousness is born out of greed and bears many colorful faces. Our world has begun as a consequence of obliviousness. It was the original sin that brought us onto this world. “Life is Eve’s momentary and colorful obliviousness.” *1
Greed leads to temptation. Ramtin Zaad’s concern in this collection is a sense of euphoria that comes from succumbing to temptation. This voracity knows no boundaries. Zaad insinuates a sort of euphoria that stems from folly. The outcome of this folly is fully manifested in the “SMILE”, which the collection is named after.
For Zaad, this temptation begins with the luring trinkets of our childhood; in all that colorfully wrapped chocolate, candy, and sweets. His reference to childhood speaks of the ancientness of temptation. Temptation is an intrinsic part of all that we do. It is eternal, unending, and insatiable. This eternalness is clearly apparent in a video that seems to invoke the tongue of the devil. He points to the old age of deceit, erecting a mirror in front of us to reflect on the absence of wisdom in our time.
*1 Sohrab Sepehri, “Mosafer (The Passenger) Collection”
