Ahmadi, Mahmud
Construction, 1966
A small wooden orb tacked with steel nails, Ahmadi’s Construction is at once alluring and threatening. Composed of everyday objects and marked by repetition, it was most likely part of a class exercise in sculpture in the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Tehran—where Parviz Tanavoli was then head of the department. Ahmadi went on to graduate from the university as a member of the first sculpture class. Abby Grey encountered Construction in 1967 at a group exhibition of student sculpture that was sponsored by the Ben and Abby Grey Foundation and attended by Queen Farah Pahlavi.