Mehdi Ghadyanloo combines minimalist themes and a surrealist aesthetic in his trompe-l'œil paintings, using acrylic, oil, or watercolour. He began his career as a muralist in Tehran in the early 2000s, when, following a call for proposals by the city, he produced almost one thousand gigantic wall paintings, including dreamlike landscapes and science-fiction scenes.
Read MoreGhadyanloo's works envision a fictive architecture of playground slides, tubes, and ladders situated in shallow, walled spaces and lit from above by ocular skylights. Meticulously painted in acrylic and oil, their rounded forms are defined by dramatic chiaroscuro that represents the reflectivity, translucency, and opacity of polished steel, plastic, and other materials. The enigmatic paintings convey Ghadyanloo's fascination with perspectival construction and illumination, and prompt metaphysical interpretations.
