PARTOU ZIA AT THE EXCHANGE
PARTOU ZIA AT THE EXCHANGE
From the 6th December to the 28th February 2009, The Exchange in Penzance presents a major exhibition of evocative paintings and drawings by the late Partou Zia. The pieces, which date from 2003 to 2008 and include her final piece finished in February 2008, demonstrate a proliferation in the work of the Newlyn based artist in the run-up to her untimely death in March of this year, aged just 49.
This is the first time that these particular works have been brought together in one exhibition and the accelerated evolution and power of her work over the last years of her life is apparent for all to see.
Partou Zia’s visionary canvases draw the viewer into her dream-like memory and a personal mythology of motifs and symbols that include lovers, sleepers, dreamers and readers, set within suggestive interiors and luminous landscapes. In scale her works range from a few inches to several feet high and her serious subject matters, from self-portraits to 17th-century Dutch-influenced domestic interiors, sometimes juxtapose private elements such as light switches or stoves, with the main elements of the painting or drawing. These perhaps not so incidental objects appear instilled with their own life and permeated with a sense of mischievous mystery. Partou Zia was born in Tehran, Persia in 1958 and came to the UK with her parents and sister in 1970. Her insatiable appetite for understanding and knowledge later led her to acquire two bachelor's degrees and a PhD, studying Art History at the University of Warwick (1977-80) and Fine Art at the Slade (1986-91) then in 2001 she completed a PhD at Falmouth College of Arts and the University of Plymouth. In 1993 Partou Zia moved to Newlyn where she lived and worked with her husband, the painter Richard Cook, until her death after a courageous three year battle against cancer, in March 2008. The first recipient of the Tate St Ives residency programme in 2003, Partou Zia’s residency culminated in a series of enigmatic paintings, entitled ‘Entering the Visionary Zone’, which will make a reappearance at The Exchange. Further solo exhibitions followed, including two at Art First in London, ‘Thought Paintings’ (2004) and ‘The Grey Syllable’ (2005), and several group shows which drew on a career of nearly 20 years, embodying a maturing gift for unique storytelling and personal journeys of self discovery.
The show at The Exchange will also include the two large and extraordinary paintings she produced during the final months of her life between October 2007 and March 2008, both of which clearly illustrate the unique painterly language, with characteristic free brushwork and energetic handling of layers of paint, which she was developing before her death. Unbeknown to many is Partou Zia’s work as a writer of originality and verve.
At her death, she was preparing a number of plays, stories and reflections for publication, all of which are written in a clear and original voice characteristic of her approach. These writings convey a strong sense of her lightness and charm, and enrich the understanding of her use of mythological allusion in painting.
Uploaded on: Nov 20th 2008
Taken by: Editor
Taken near: Newlyn
