Zenderoudi, Charles Hossein
A Shower of Gold [formerly "The Golden Shower"], 1966
This work’s title may allude to the ancient Greek myth of Zeus and Danaë, in which the god miraculously impregnates the beautiful mortal via a golden shower in order to produce a male heir, Perseus. The story bears special significance in Iran, since Perseus is the namesake of Persia, the name given to the region by the Greeks. But the artist’s non-figurative treatment distances this possible iteration from previous depictions of the theme. Zenderoudi has said, “I am a scholar in calligraphy but I am not a calligrapher. I paint; I don’t do letters.”1 His use of Persian letterforms as a painterly artistic language suggests a deep engagement with the forms themselves. Repetition lessens their legibility as singular characters, and the line’s conceptual path remains. 1. Myrna Ayad and James Perry, “The Letter as a Sonata,” Canvas 5, no. 5 (2009).