Dowlatshahi, Bijan
Untitled, 1970
Dowlatshahi’s biography is pivotal to understanding this work, which was inspired by his childhood memories. He recounts a story of himself as a young boy trying to deconstruct a piece of muslin that his mother was weaving.[1] Untitled recreates these efforts. Dowlatshahi first washed the muslin in dye, and then ironed it. The last step, pulling at the warps (threads extended lengthwise in the loom) one at a time so that only the wefts (threads perpendicular to the warp) remain intact, repeats his childhood antics. He describes the fabric as a metaphor for his life: “I see my life as thread being constantly pulled out of the spool of my life; therefore it always comes back to my mind as thin, delicate, gray, and into my artworks.[2] The familiarity of muslin allows individual viewers to formulate their own thoughts about the work informed by their own knowledge and backgrounds.