Mirage

"Kurab" in Persian, lexically synonymous with "sarab" (Mirage), refers to a saline land in the desert that appears like water from a distance. Thus, if we extend the title of the collection conceptually to the artworks, we will encounter a design of a mirage. In fact, in Azim Morakabatchi’s collection titled "Kurab," which is a link between painting, design, sculpture, and poetry, we encounter a design of water or a mirage. This design, from a desert where the artist, has placed us and himself, only makes the imagination of water and going towards it possible. This collection includes a 4-meter painting, an art book, a sculpture, and a poem, all of which constitute the "Kurab" collection. As we have discussed, this collection, in line with the artist's perspective, keeps us in a world of meaning and meaninglessness, water, and the illusory and absurd design of water: the characters are each in search of meaning, but in such a world, every search, although in its own way is an effort to live and not remain futile, ultimately reaches a mirage, and the search for water is only a meaningless mirage. The faces in this collection are each striving, but this striving is either forbidden or denied or lays out a design of meaninglessness. It should be said that in this collection we are in a flow between the abstract and the figurative, and we do not reach pure figurativity or pure abstraction: the figurative matter creates a general and narrative design of what is seen in terms of meaning for us, then our mind, by passing through the world of perception and initial understanding, with the connection of lines, colors, volumes, and shadows, can establish a more precise connection between the figurative matter and other visual logics such as cognitive and emotional. With these descriptions, although Morakabatchi depicts a mirage of meaning and meaninglessness, the viewer is always searching for knowledge between these two levels and in this search experiences and understands continuous emotional upheavals, so although the name of the collection is the depiction of a mirage and the characters are sometimes in a vain effort, the knowledge itself and the effort to know through the visual matter is an original and lasting innovation for Moarakabatchi.

Sohrab Ahmadi
 

As mentioned in the statement of this collection, "Kurab" is based on a poem composed by the artist. In this section, a summary of this poem, which has been rendered into prose by the artist, is provided for greater interaction between the audience and the collection:

One day, a passerby lost his way and stopped to rest by the roadside. Sleep overcame him, and he had a strange dream; he entered an inn and asked for a room when suddenly a shadow enveloped the world and everything went dark. The shadow asked the passerby who he was, why he had come there, and if he had any companions. The passerby replied that he was a traveler and had been wandering for several days, and that he had previously been accompanied by an old man who had died far from there, and he pointed to a faint light with his finger. The shadow inquired about the cause of the old man's death. The passerby said that the faint redness had a story, and he began the tale of the old man thus;

One day, Amir Arsalan unexpectedly entered his army's camp. He saw an old man sitting in a corner, weeping. Amir asked the reason for his tears and received the following answer: "O Amir! Since the day I was given the position of chief archer, my days have turned dark, and young and old mock me and give me difficult tasks that were not so before." At that moment, a fly landed on Amir's face, and the old man, intending to kill the fly, struck his bow on Amir's face, and Amir fell to the ground. Thus, they expelled the old man from the camp, without food or clothing.

The shadow asked the passerby, "Well, how did you come to see the old man?" The passerby narrated as follows: "It was the third day of Eid when I decided to visit my relatives. After eight days, I reached the city of Nova, a desolate city where I saw nothing but one-legged birds. A little while later, I saw the old man for the first time there, and I went to get directions from him. The old man was telling his story of being expelled from his army and coming to that strange city when night fell, and suddenly strong men came out of their houses and caught the birds one by one and skewered them, and they tore each other apart over the possession of the torn birds. I was shocked by this scene, and I asked the old man how to get out of this hell. He replied, "There is no way out, because the four sides of the city are blocked by dragons." I said, "One side is open." He said, "It was closed after you entered." I was looking for a solution when suddenly an idea came to my mind. I caught a bird and tied it with a string, and I went towards the gate. I released the bird, the dragon saw it, and as it came to catch it, I pulled the bird and took it to the second dragon. A fight broke out over the poor bird, and the dragons set each other on fire with their fiery breaths, and I took the opportunity to slip away silently. As I walked away, the city turned more and more to ashes, and that's how I came to your land."

At that moment, the sun rose, and the traveler woke up from his dream. There was no sign of the shadow, and the passerby didn't have such a dream for a long time.