india mahdavi recreates iconic works in all-white marble for latest carwan gallery exhibition

Carwan Gallery introduces ‘Achromia’ by India Mahdavi

Athens-based Carwan Gallery has commissioned architect and designer India Mahdavi to create Achromia, a sculptural marble object collection that explores form in the absence of color. On view until 13 August 2022, the series reflects the connection between Mahdavi’s oeuvre and the subtraction of color from classical art and architecture. The challenge given to the Paris-based creative was to momentarily leave her signature polychrome language behind and strip her iconic works of their vibrant tones leading them to achromia — which lends the exhibition its title.

India Mahdavi’s ‘Achromia’ will also be exhibited in Paris, coinciding with Paris Design Week 2022. From September 12 to October 29, 2022, the sculptural marble commission will be on view at the India Mahdavi Showroom, in 3 rue Las Cases.

all images by Giorgos Sfakianakis, unless stated otherwise

the colorful world of India Mahdavi

Paris-based architect and designer India Mahdavi is widely known for using color generously and innovatively in her work, with her colorful language serving as her famed signature. The Iranian-born designer is also widely acclaimed for referencing different cultures, thanks to influences drawn from her nomadic childhood that guided her through Middle East, New England, and Europe. ‘[Colors] are the light and shade of all the Souths I originate from, which have become the expression of the nostalgia of a paradise lost and which animate in me the desire to imagine others.’ notes Mahdavi.

exploring form through the absence of color

‘Whiteness is one of the identifying marks of classicism — or so we have come to believe. Although museums all over the world are filled with sculptures of pearly white marble, archaeology has revealed that the Ancient Greeks and Romans used to lavishly paint their statues and buildings as a norm.’ Carwan Gallery shares in the exhibition’s official press release. ‘In essence, the achromia celebrated by European neoclassicism, and which later influenced the dichotomy between Western whiteness and Eastern polychromy, is rooted in a historical oversight.’

Delving deeper into this newfound information, the Athens-based art gallery has invited India Mahdavi to create a colorless series of her iconic sculptures, thus changing the way they are perceived and experienced. Indeed, in ‘Achromia’, Mahdavi has solely rendered her works in white Pentelic marble. The appearance of the objects changes as soon as their color is taken away, immortalizing them in a ‘historic error’ of interpretation. Their new look highlights the power of color through its absence. More specifically, the series presents how color conditions our perception of space and its psychological impact.

In addition, this unique new expression of them being colorless unveils each object’s true lines and geometries. The form of each piece reveals itself, while its grooves become even more apparent without the presence of color distracting from their expressive nature.