Iranian-born artist Shahryar Amiri’s edgy, sensual and erotic artwork entitled 2001 Knights: Gods, Warriors, Heroes, uses complex manipulation of photos combined with original digital artwork to create emotion-filled compositions that expertly blend his Middle Eastern heritage, sexuality and cultural appreciation for poetry and color. At first glance, the resulting artwork is startling and perhaps shocking but, after longer observation, the compositions’ nuances resolve the initial perceptions of conflict and the viewer develops a deeper sense of meaning by closely studying the pieces that read like books.
Shahryar’s works consists of carefully crafted compositions that contain statuesque gods and warriors who drink from ancient fountains, bask lazily on stairs next to reflecting pools and take flight on mythological wings while surrounded by brightly colored landscapes of turbulent waters, ancient castles and barren deserts. Adding to the richness of the works are strong symbols and heavy imagery as well as excerpts of poems written by Shahryar in his native tongue and great Persian poets such as Omar Khayyam.
The Roosterfish will be displaying several of Shahryar’s homoerotic works through the end of October, so please come down and check them out. You can view several of his other pieces on his website at www.2001knights.com