Arghavan Khosravi has opened a new solo exhibition titled ‘What Remains’ at Uffner & Liu in New York. The exhibition marks Khosravi’s third solo presentation with the gallery and introduces a significant evolution in her multidisciplinary studio practice through painting, sculpture, and architectural assemblage.
On view through 2 July 2026, the exhibition combines large-scale wall works, intimate multimedia compositions, and a freestanding sculptural installation. At the same time, the presentation continues Khosravi’s ongoing investigation into displacement, political instability, gendered representation, and the fragmentation of visual narratives. Consequently, the works challenge conventional distinctions between painting, object, and structural form.
“Uffner & Liu in New York is presenting What Remains, a solo exhibition by Iranian artist Arghavan Khosravi.”
The exhibition’s compositions incorporate hinged surfaces, divided panels, suspended cords, and compartmentalised structures. Moreover, these physical interventions transform the canvas into a spatial system where imagery and architecture become inseparable. Across the exhibition, Khosravi constructs layered visual environments that resist fixed interpretation and narrative resolution.
Altar Series Reimagines Medieval Devotional Structures Through Contemporary Politics
A central focus of the exhibition is Khosravi’s newly introduced Altar Series, a group of seven small-scale compositions presented in the gallery’s front room. Drawing formal inspiration from medieval European devotional altarpieces, the works reference hinged shutters, movable panels, and compact architectural framing systems.
However, the series deliberately disrupts the symbolic and spiritual certainty traditionally associated with religious altarpieces. Instead, Khosravi uses division, interruption, and suspended structural elements to create psychological tension and unresolved political space.
“Taking medieval European devotional altarpieces as their formal point of departure, these works mirror the compact scale, hinged shutters, and physical movability of their historical source material.”
The artist further destabilises conventional visual hierarchies through fragmented surfaces and layered materials. Therefore, the works function simultaneously as paintings, objects, and performative structures shaped by concealment, exposure, and imbalance.
“However, Khosravi fundamentally subverts their original symbolic function; rather than offering spiritual resolution or religious dogma, the works use formal division, suspended cords, and structural interruptions to stage psychological and political moments that actively resist closure.”
Monumental Assemblages Address Instability, Architecture, and Female Presence
Among the exhibition’s larger works, Suspended combines acrylic, wood panel, leather cord, and plexiglass within a meticulously constructed portrait composition. In addition, the piece reflects Khosravi’s continued interest in integrating craft processes and sculptural framing systems into figurative painting.
The exhibition also features monumental assemblages, including The Whisper and Bearing. The latter presents a female figure physically supporting a deteriorating Persian architectural structure leaking from multiple openings. Consequently, the image becomes both an allegory of instability and a meditation on cultural endurance.
“Other standout pieces include ‘Suspended,’ a meticulous portrait constructed from acrylic, wood panel, leather cord, and plexiglass, as well as the monumental wall assemblages’ The Whisper’ and ‘Bearing, ‘the latter of which depicts a female figure supporting an unstable, leaking Persian building.”
Through layered construction methods and fragmented imagery, Arghavan Khosravi continues to expand the relationship between painting, sculpture, and architectural form within contemporary art discourse. Furthermore, What Remains positions material structure itself as an active narrative device rather than a neutral support system.