Hossein Valamanesh

Australian artist Hossein Valamanesh's discrete interventions utilize tiny fragments of flora in abstracted, formal arrangements. Wrapping themselves around the room, across walls and windows, the works appear as remnants, or relics of the outdoors, blown in perhaps by the wind. A stark band of squared lotus leaves echo the blank minimalism of abstract painting, their impassive grid formation on closer inspection revealing a myriad of tiny lines and patterns in the leaves.

Present in Christchurch for a residency at the University of Canterbury, School of Fine Arts, Valamanesh worked directly with the gallery space, utilizing the idiosyncrasies of the room itself, the art deco pillars, a meter box in the corner. His materials were substances collected locally: pine needles, flax leaves, grasses and elm branches from the university grounds, while the lotus leaves were brought from the Asian foods store across the road from The Physics Room. This scavenger approach to collection could be seen to replicate the actions of a tourist, acquiring and collecting debris from the city, to be collated, recombined, and displayed, rather in the manner of a photo album, or museum.