MCLAUGHLIN Gallery is delighted to announce the representation of
Ashkan Sahihi and to present his first solo exhibition THE NEW YORK
YEARS with the gallery. The show is opening on October 10th from 8 – 10
pm in the presence of the artist. The exhibition will be on view from
October 12th through November 21st.
In 40 atmospheric and intimate photographic portraits, Sahihi reveals luminaries
in the arts in their personal New York City life, capturing special moments of
contemplation, thought and conversation outside of their public life.
In addition to contemporary art icons such as Cindy Sherman, Jeff Koons or
Frank Stella, Sahihi portrays distinct actors such as Dennis Hopper and Willem
Dafoe, acclaimed authors and thinkers such as Paul Auster and Siri Hustvedt,
and legendary musicians such as John Cage, Solange, Philip Glass, Curtis
Mayfield as well as Rappers from the Wu-Tang Clan.
Sahihi allows us to see the person behind the - often famous - face, and at times
to even come as close as a family member. We can experience the presence of
some the greatest personalities of New York’s thriving cultural scene of the
1980s and 1990s. The selected photographs refer to his comprehensive New
York archive and are on view for the first time. His portraits illuminate cultural
attitudes, shaping the collective perception of New York City as an international
capital of the arts, which we have all grown to admire as a place that gives you
the freedom to push your own creative frontiers – and the frontiers of the arts.
Ashkan Sahihi, born 1963 in Tehran, Iran, lived and worked in New York from
1987 to 2014. As an internationally renowned photographer, he captures the
intimacy and sacred silence of a moment through his portraiture. His work has
been shown internationally in several solo exhibitions, such as at MoMA PS1,
New York; Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York; Voies Off Arles photo festival,
Arles; as well as in several group exhibitions such as at MACRO Testaccio,
Rome and Akademie der Künste, Berlin. His work has also been featured in
publications such as the New York Times Magazine, the New Yorker, and
Vogue. Ashkan Sahihi now lives and works in Berlin.
The accompanying book THE NEW YORK YEARS, published at DISTANZ
Verlag, which will be released on October 8th, will be available at MCLAUGHLIN