“My works of art are not so much inspired by the external world in which I live but rather by subjective needs: the world of dreams, wishes and desires. For me, art is the translation of a thought, an idea or an illusion, that becomes real.”
“I follow my ambitions in form and content and realize that neither the formal ambitions cover the content nor the content determines the form. To "make art" means to me that I formulate my imagination by means of form, colour and material.”
“My work shows the human body in fragmentary associations suggested by folds. The suggestion does not refer to the human being as an object with its individual beauty; it is merely an abstraction of beauty and by no means a true image. The ambiguity and vagueness are meant to complicate any direct interpretation, both in the real and transcendental sense. I believe that this has to do with ethical and cultural traditions.”
Mehrdad Sadri belongs to the first generation of Iranian artists to travel and study art in Vienna in the 1960s, where he has lived since 1968. In 1984, he was awarded an Austrian honorary citizenship. Since 1989, Sadri has had numerous exhibitions in Austria and abroad, including in places as far flung as Switzerland and Japan. As an Iranian artist, Persian culture has profoundly influenced his works and he has continued to depict Islamic art through images of fabric, following Islamic dictates on iconography.
Islamic art is based on the depiction of patterns, mainly the repetition of geometric patterns. Drawing the human figure is forbidden in Islamic culture, because the depiction of the human form is idolatry – a sin against God. Sadri chooses fabric as a subject and tool in his art, to express his deepest, inner feelings, desires and dreams.
“Creases and folds in a silk fabric can help with expressing the complicated layers and curtains of the human mind and showing never ending experiences. In a sense, the paintings are about how one processes, internally, the outside world. It’s more interesting to show the beauty of the human body indirectly, as it lets viewers discover what’s hidden behind the folds without constraining their interpretations of the work.”
