Shown in the United States for the first time, Forgetting the Word (2020) offers a form of abstraction that is both corporeal and dreamlike. The surface buzzes with labyrinths of delicate pencil-work over a plumage of blue pigment. Mesmerising and voltaic, the painting is the result of Houshiary’s meditative practice that employs breath as both medium and conceptual structure.

Houshiary’s process, developed over the artist’s forty-year career, begins by placing the canvases flat on the floor. Carefully moving around them, Houshiary produces layers of inscriptions on top of the sediments formed from pouring water mixed with pure pigment. Two words, the physical manifestation of breath, are repeated, layered and interwoven. Web of Light (1999), Untitled (2008), Presence V and Presence VII (both 2012) feature these careful markings in stark contrast with a black ground. ‘These paintings are very contemplative and encourage the viewer to look within. Here, synchronicity is the point of connection between the inner and outer event,’ Houshiary says of this body of work.

This October, Shirazeh Houshiary will be featured in the special section at Frieze London titled Indra’s Net. Curated by Sandhini Poddar, Adjunct Curator at the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, Indra’s Net features 10 dedicated presentations as well as a number of cabinet-style displays throughout the main section of the fair from October 12–16.

Lisson Gallery’s East Hampton space continues its focused format featuring both influential, historical artworks and debuting new bodies of work in an experimental, intimate setting. Following Shirazeh Houshiary exhibition, the gallery will present a selection of archival work by Peter Joseph. The gallery is open to the public each Thursday through Saturday, from 11am to 4pm, Sundays from 11 – 4pm and Wednesdays by appointment.