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Iranian artists Icy and Sot are back in Paris with an exhibition that shows the depth of their evolution in recent years. Still very politically-minded, their work unfolds in an array of mediums that keeps expanding. The two brothers have practically reinvented metal fences, one of the key components in their creations, while including other materials like steel, wood, or crafting beautiful paintings using very unusual tools. A body of work becoming, as the years go by, more and more sculptural, intricate and ambitious.
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Remains II, Icy & Sot, 2021, Alloy steel round bar, 44.5 x 38 x 30.5 cmAn immersive exhibition
The exhibition was conceived as a mise en abyme where video footage, sound and sculptural shapes intertwine, with a big installation recalling the video’s house on fire greeting the visitors at the entrance of the gallery. An elaborate presentation that works like a conceptual mirror room, where the artists’ statement gets refracted into overlapping images populating the space, creating the odd impression of being immersed in what the artists call "familiar / strange": the feeling of witnessing an alien reality that is very much ours. The eerie state of being caught in the rapid changes that affect society, not quite knowing if our role is that of an observer or a participant.
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Shadow, Icy & Sot, 2021, Steel sculpture, 40.6 x 20.3 x 40.6 cm
From Iran to the United States
The two brothers began their artistic journey in the early 2000s by a spontaneous production of stickers and stencils, which they used to put up on public walls while skateboarding around the city. Street art at first was for them a remote and foreign thing they gradually got acquainted with on the internet, learning about international urban artists on photo-sharing platforms like Flickr. From the start their works were already political, dealing with themes like child labor, gender inequality or state repression. Censorship was systematic, the works would be taken down in no time, sometimes overnight. Time and again, the artists would get in trouble with the police, to the extent of being locked up for several days. Taking advantage of one of their exhibitions taking place in New York in 2012, they decided to move to the United States, where they have been living ever since, allowing them to grow as artists.
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“It was really frustrating to be detained for doing art during the last year living in Iran. Working and life became super stressful, we would get paranoid for everything we did. It became so hard to continue working as artists that we decided to leave the country to be able to work more freely and internationally.”
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Borders II, 2021, Welded chain link fence and paint, 114 x 86 x 10 cm
A great variety of techniques
Icy and Sot have a very hands-on approach to experimenting with new techniques. Throughout the years they have been adding to their vocabulary an impressive range of materials, often chosen for their symbolic significance. “We decided that whatever idea we had, we would make it happen in whatever medium or material that makes the work stronger.” With time their pieces have gotten more and more sophisticated and innovative. Recently the artists have started making graceful abstract works that highlight the intrinsic properties of materials, demonstrating once again their ability to outgrow themselves and deliver surprises.
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ICY (Saman, born in 1985) and SOT (Sasan, born in 1991) grew up in Tabriz in northern Iran. Their work has been shown in major institutions such as the Museum of Urban and Contemporary Art in Munich, the Southampton Arts Center in New York, the Museum of Fine Arts in Calais, France, the Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum in Mesa, USA, the Lancaster Museum of Art and History in Lancaster, USA, the NUART Festival in Norway, and the Modern, Contemporary and Street Art Museum in Amsterdam, among other places. They live in New York.
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Familiar / Stranger,
