Thomas Erben Gallery – 25 years (Works)



">





![Thomas Erben Gallery – 25 years - Barbad Golshiri, excerpt from <i>Jxalq [(d3ælgh) v.t. & i. act of creating a masturpiece]</i>, 2006.
Video endless loop, edition of 5 (+1 AP).
<br></<br><br></<br>
<i>Jxalq [(d3ælgh) v.t. & i. act of creating a masturpiece]</i>, Barbad Golshiri’s 2006 video, takes aim at the connection between “male genius” and the notion of “master” works. While Warhol deflates the often discussed ejaculatory quality of Jackson Pollock’s drip paintings — by having his collaborators simply piss on canvases — Golshiri ridicules this notion of masculine genius through a comically staged, generative masturbatory gesture.
<br></<br><br></<br>
Seemingly but actually not repeated, <i>Jxalq’s</i> image and unnervingly consoling sound - an Iranian lullaby, of which the lower tones have been removed - only vary ever so slightly. Presented as an endless loop, the work undermines the expectations of narrative and time which are usually associated with the medium.
<br></<br><br></<br>
Holland Cotter reviewed our 2009 exhibition <i>Looped and Layered - A Selection of Contemporary Art From Tehran</i> in <i>The New York Times</i>, singling out Golshiri’s video which we projected large scale and whose sound permeated the show. He wrote:<br></<br>“My favorite, though, is a video projection by Barbad Golshiri of what appears to be an impressive belted machine powered by a foot-pedaled wheel. In reality the contraption is made from unrolled toilet paper and does absolutely nothing but look original and intriguing. And that’s enough. I hope to see more of Mr. Golshiri in New York soon”.
<br></<br><br></<br>
We followed up on Mr. Cotter’s suggestion, presenting Golshiri’s solo shows <i>Nothing Is Left to Tell</i> in 2010 and <i>Curriculum Mortis</i> in 2013.](https://www.thomaserben.com/wp-content/uploads/Jxalq.jpg)

















Selected Works
Pivotal exhibitions at the gallery include:
group show Feminism and the Legacy of Surrealism, 2022 | Janice Nowinski Recent Paintings, 2021 | Stefan Sagmeister Beautiful Numbers, 2021 | Dona Nelson Stretchers Strung Out On Space, 2021 | Harriet Korman Notes on Painting: 1969 – 2019, 2020 | group show ecofeminism(s), 2020 | Mike Cloud Tears in abstraction, 2019 | Harriet Korman Permeable/Resistant: Recent Drawings and Paintings, 2018 | Aditi Singh So much the less complete, 2018 | Mike Cloud Quilt painting, 2018 | Kathrin Sonntag Problems and Solutions, 2017 | group show Photography Out of Germany, 2017 | Dona Nelson models stand close to the paintings, 2017 | group show Painting Forward, 2016 | group show Soft Haze, 2016 | Aditi Singh All that is left behind, 2016 | Dona Nelson New Paintings, 2015 | Rose Wylie Girl and Spiders, 2015 | Mike Cloud Bad Faith and Universal Technique, 2014 | Gauri Gill ‘Balika Mela’ and ‘Jannat’, 2014 | Dona Nelson Phigor, 2014 | Yamini Nayar an axe for a wing-bone, 2013 | Barbad Golshiri Curriculum Mortis, 2013 | Newsha Tavakolian Look, 2013 | Senga Nengudi Performances 1976 – 81, 2013 | Yve Laris Cohen Waltz, 2012 | group show Iran Via Video Current, 2011 | Yamini Nayar Head Space, 2011 | group show Focus Shanghai, 2010 | Rose Wylie What with What, 2010 | Barbad Golshiri Nothing Is Left To Tell, 2010 | group show Thomas Erben at Travancore Palace, 2009 | group show Looped and Layered – A Selection of Contemporary Art from Tehran, 2009 | Sheela Gowda, Yamini Nayar Arrested Views, 2009 | group show Thomas Erben at Chatterjee & Lal, 2008 | Krishna Reddy A Life's Movement, 2008 | Dona Nelson in situ, 2008 | Ashok Sukumaran Glow Positioning System and Other Forms of Address, 2008 | group show Contemporary Art from Pakistan, 2007 | Chitra Ganesh Upon Her Precipice, 2007 | Tejal Shah What are You?, 2006 | Dona Nelson Brain Stain, 2006 | Senga Nengudi Asp-rx, 2005 | Jutta Koether I Is Had Gone, 2005 | group show Contemporary Art from India, 2004 | Fang Lijun Woodcuts, 2004 | Senga Nengudi Répondez s’il vous plaît, Nylon Mesh Pieces, 1975-77, 2003 | Tom Wood Looking for Love, 2002 | Adrian Piper Early Drawings and Other Works, 2001 | Preston Scott Cohen Toroidal Architecture, 2001 | Helena Almeida Pintura Habitada, 2001 | Tom Wood The Bus Project, 2000 | Oladélé Ajiboyé Bamgboyé The Unmasking, Part II, 2000 | Adrian Piper The Mythic Being, 1999 | Lorraine O'Grady Studies, 1998 | Adrian Piper Food for the Spirit, 1997/98 | Lyle Ashton Harris Early Works 1987-88, 1997 | Senga Nengudi Wet Night – Early Dawn – Scat-Chant – Pilgrim’s Song, 1996 | Lorraine O’Grady Photo Images 1980-91, 1993