Dariush Vaziri "Within"

Based in Georgetown, in Washington DC, Vaziri was born in Tehran – Iran in 1962. His apprenticeship was under master painter Ali Ashraf Vali, a student of Kamal-ol-Molk. At 16, Dariush immigrated to the United States just prior to the Iranian revolution in 1978. His early jobs included producing advertising art and he was also an in house illustrator and draftsman in architectural firms. Since 1985 he has been engaged in producing commissioned watercolor illustrations for architects and designers, a position he holds to this day. Besides producing these technical illustrations, Dariush has produced a large body of artworks including portraits and contemporary paintings and installations. His work has been shown in several solo and group shows and are held in private and public collections. He lives and works in Georgetown DC.

The artworks in the exhibition "Within" were created during a period of self inquiry, energized by existential musings that are perhaps common to the mid-life years. The ego driven mind is uncomfortable, even fearful to navigate the dark and pathless path of the inner world, so it avoids it. The journey within can start with the question “who am I”, which is the beginning of the end of the ego or the false self. Who is it that is experiencing this life, seeing through these eyes and feeling through these sense organs? Mystics throughout the ages have deeply pondered this unsolvable mystery. The Persian Sufi repeatedly chants the mantra “man na manam na man manam” (I am not the self, I am the not-self) until he arrives at Nothingness. The Buddhist yogi equally chases and marvels at the multi faceted jewel of silence embedded in Nothingness. The modern scientist cannot explain the vast void of the dark matter that engulfs the universe, yet out of this darkness everything has come to be. How is this paradox explained? It cannot be defined or depicted because it is not a thing, and yet it is the universal breath within us all. It has been referred to by many names, God, Yahweh, Allah, Brahman, Presence, the Now, the Force, the Source, but perhaps best of all, Love. The artist longs to shed light on this Truth whereas in reality, it is this Truth that uses the artist to create.
The exhibition is on till May 28, 2016