Previous Exhibition
Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts
View Exhibition on Artsy
Roya Ziba - Swallow
Mixed media on linen |
8.5" x 8.5"
The installation and individual works that make up Roya Ziba’s LOONEH: JOURNEY TO (W)HOLE engage the community with a combination of art historical reference, abstraction, ancient irrigation and fertilization methods, with the influence from spiritual allegory and non-human animal’s creativity as enchantments toward our own human resiliency.
Roya Ziba - The Path
Mixed media on linen |
8.5" x 8.5" |
Roya Ziba - Divergent Way
Mixed media on linen |
8.5" x 8.5" |
The LOONEHs are hand-built, ceramic abstract sculptures inspired by study of the Persian poem Conference of the Birds, swallows building their nests around Beatrice Wood’s studio, ancient Olla pottery used for irrigation, combined with a nod to Marcel Duchamp’s 1917 work Fountain. The forms reimagine ancient Ollas and portable urinals that would now suit female or unisex anatomy, a rare adaptation to designs found throughout history. Installed outdoors, the unglazed works will irrigate and provide nutrients - through water, diluted urine or other modes of organic fertilization - for plants. The exhibition seeks to bring joy through function in gratitude and respect to the spiritual and creation’s earthly simplicities: soil, clean water, and nutriment. LOONEH: JOURNEY TO (W)HOLE provides an artistic exploration of ancient, alternative, and sustainable methods of irrigation that can have a global impact. The exhibition also features a series of mixed works on linen that mirror the Loonehs, creating an abstracted whole.
Roya Ziba - Looneh: Journey to (W)Hole Installation - Front View
The exhibition’s title, LOONEH: JOURNEY TO (W)HOLE, evokes its humorous and spiritual constructs through word play utilizing phono-semantic matching, and homophones. For example, “Looneh” lends its name from a Persian word meaning “nest” or “small hole” derived from ancient Sufi poetry and “Loo”, a commonly used British word for toilet derived from the French phrase 'guardez l'eau', which means 'watch out for the water’. In this body of works Ziba has created abstract, unglazed, low-fired ceramic sculpture using buff clay, created during her residency at The Beatrice Center for the Arts. The works are being presented on the hill in front of Wood’s Studio, with an installation of works on paper at the Center, November 2021.
Roya Ziba - Looneh: Journey to (W)Hole Installation - Back View
The Beatrice Wood Center for the Arts is Open to the Public
Fri, Sat, & Sun 11:00 am - 5:00 pm.
8585 Ojai-Santa Paula Road, Ojai, CA 93023
805.646.3381
BeatriceWoodCenter@gmail.com
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