"Aydin Hamami’s newest work, exemplified by Again, And Again, resembles celebrations of natural processes, from the blending and demulsification of opposites (like the oil and vinegar in your salad) to violent storms, or the expansion of the universe we cannot see but only infer by looking through the Hubble Telescope. His paintings are physical experiments in the behavior of paint and its cognates, seemingly natural, admitting no evidence of the artist’s hand or brush. They are celebrations of materialism, and they are so much more.
The opposite of materialism is spiritualism. Hamami guides us through this transition from the physical surface to the spiritual center by employ- ing a number of painterly and pictorial devices. The color is subdued, even somber or foreboding. The abstract fields are otherworldly, perhaps cataclysmic, but they are composed through the intrusion or revelation of edges that shape our experience. And atop this central, abstract field, Hamami has placed an archetypal symbol, a half (or broken?) circle made with one smooth, thick, black brushstroke.
The best paintings have the power to communicate with us on an unconscious level, beyond the reach of narrative or iconography. Think of Piero’s Madonna della Misericordia or any of Rembrandt’s self-portraits, how they move us beyond the subject matter to the sublime. Such must be the ambition of Hamami. We can celebrate him now, even as we wait for the best that is yet to come."
- Jack Rasmussen, PhD, Director and Curator, American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center
Born in Washington DC, Aydin Hamami has found his place as one of New York’s most talented rising young artists. With a focus on binary dualities and conflicting juxtapositions, Hamami’s works suggest urban and societal decay while investigating simultaneous experiences of control and radical spatial dissections. His approach to painting is intuitive and responsive, allowing both the nature of the material and the hand of the artist to exist in harmony.
Hamami holds a Bachelor of Fine Art from Pratt Institute, a Post-Baccalaureate Degree in Fine Arts from Maryland Institute College of Art and a Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Maryland.
In 2016, Hamami was the subject of a self-titled solo exhibition at Osuna Art. His next solo show, La Rousse, will open May 5th, 2017 at Michigan Institute For Contemporary Art. Hamami has recently been featured in The Washington Post and The Observer.