An Investigation into Vahid Chamani’s Works of Art based on Mikhail Bakhtin’s Theory of Grotesque Body

Comprehending the world by internalizing social signs and employing them by social actives are all fulfilled through Body. Therefore, the body must be considered as an axis which makes understanding the relation with the world by human possible. Man’s relation with the outer world becomes reality through the body. First of all, Man’s existence is a bodily existence. Human subjects and their bodies in visual arts have always been Noteworthy for the artists in decades and hence, the man and his body has always been a challengeable subject. Paying attention to body is seen in historical rituals and ceremonies and gradually it was documented in some aspects of art. But in recent years for some reasons like sociological regards or artists individuality and stuff like these that critical approaches have discussed, the body has been the center of attention. So, the body has been mentioned again as an important matter in Iran contemporary art. Mentioning anew the figurative art as a recent tendency in contemporary art, has the attention to the body in itself being accelerated after the Islamic revolution. In recent years the body and corporeality being the center of attention in Iran contemporary art, the artists reveal critical objective aspects in their works by using grotesque moods. So, by considering the sociocultural contexts and observing the contemporary paintings, we find implications leading us to discover social philosophical issues in body and its representation in images. Through this, we can analyze different aspects of these concepts in visual arts and define its general characteristics in the contexts in which the work of art has been created. It must be taken into consideration that since the 70s there are various inventions and new experiences in concepts, techniques and ways of expression in Iran contemporary art. Moreover, Iran effective presence in international exhibitions and biennials reveals the necessity of studying the contemporary artists at the present time. According to Bakhtin’s theory and his approach to grotesque body, the representation of grotesque body in Vahid Chamani’s works of art is discussed here in a descriptive-analytic method by utilizing library documents and references. Explaining Bakhtin’s theory adaptability with visual arts is the goal of this research with which a grotesque situation resulting from the peripheral conditions can be analyzed. Grotesque body is one of Mikhail Bakhtin’s key concepts in literary critique and theory applicable to other majors such as visual arts. By proposing grotesque body and carnival, Bakhtin expresses a satirical and illusive approach toward what happens in society. In analyzing the artist’s works of art, we face three main themes which makes interpreting possible according to Bakhtin grotesque body: Contradiction and Inversion, Mask (Metamorphosis) and Death. There are Grotesque bodies in the artist’s paintings with no eyes, sometime their mouth seems like a hole, or their organs are not fully shaped. The grotesque body challenges our expectations from proportions; it constantly changes. It never ends, nor becomes complete. Grotesque bodies in Chamani’s works of art with masks on their face have a metamorphosed state, showing dual aspects with an ambiguity of death in a carnivalesque space with a taste of inversion and carnival contradictions, not a space of festivity. These contradictions can also be seen in the title of the artist’s collection (Amino Acids), too. This Scientific word have a conflict in concept and appearance. This lexical combination proposes destruction, disintegration and death through part one, and the second part discusses the emergence. Mask is the sign of wasting individuality, accepting anonymity and admitting plurality of identities. Mask is the symbol of motion and change. It never deals with formal culture. Metamorphosis shows how one has become something other than what it was. Various and different images of a specific one are in front of us, images in which one unites as the eras and different levels of existence in his life. There is no real evolution in fact, instead it is another milestone. On the other hand, the double face idea of mask refers to death. It means that mask represents absence, and after death, the presence of one is possible with mask in another way. Death appears here in dark and mysterious places and bodies with damaged unfinished identity seeking to rebuild previously experienced spaces and a new life. In this space, in contrast to classical aesthetics, bodies are exaggerated in a grotesque state, with pores and openings to existence, expressing the purpose of their narrative through a repugnant-shocking picture hard to imagine. Finally, Grotesque is a result of our world, created by that, but is omitted from it. Chamani astonishes us with representing an alien world. This body includes new obscure realms and gives us a new sight of social life.