“Khayyam Fountain”, one of the last masterworks created by Iranian artist Monir Shahrudi Farmanfarmaian (1924-2019), has been showcased at the Sharjah Art Foundation in the United Arab Emirates. The unique work is made up of varyingly shaped glass pieces. The triangles, pentagons and hexagons pieces of glasses are stacked in layers to form a twisting fountain. The Iranian artist drew inspiration from Persian polymath Omar Khayyam, known for his work on cubic equations.
Farmanfarmaian’s homage rises above a hollow base and its material causes changing light refractions throughout the day. The form of the fountain evokes the metaphor of water as a constant fount of life. Farmanfarmaian’s Khayyam Fountain was commissioned by Bruges Triennial 2018: Liquid City, Belgium and is on long-term loan to SAF.
Farmanfarmaian has gained recognition for her abstract sculptures and drawings out of glass, mosaic, paper and fabric. She derives her inspiration from geometry, Sufism and Islamic architecture and uses pattern, colour and repetition to create kaleidoscopic drawings and mirror works that borrowed from mosaic sculpting techniques in her home country of Iran.
“Presenting this work in Al Hamriyah Studios has particular significance as it is the site of the artist’s final retrospective during her lifetime, organised by the foundation in 2019,” SAF director Hoor Al Qasimi said, referring to the foundation’s major show Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian: Sunset, Sunrise. It was an iteration of a 2018 retrospective of the artist at the Irish Museum of Modern Art.
The foundation’s senior curator and director of collections, Omar Kholeif, said: “Khayyam Fountain is an installation that captures the imagination with its complexity, specifically its ethereal interplay with light, and was one of Farmanfarmaian’s most ambitious artworks. In Sharjah, it is given a new lease of life. Surrounded by windows, beams of light activate the artwork’s myriad glass formations, its tessellating forms change with the day, revealing Farmanfarmaian’s passion of turning glass into an active and animate material – a form of cinema.”
The work is on view at Al Hamriyah Studios, an off-site location for the foundation that sits close to Ajman. Entry is free.