Perspectives: Y.Z. Kami

As part of the Perspectives series of contemporary Asian art, three new works by artist Y.Z. Kami are on view. Untitled (2005) and Untitled (Marina I) (2007) are two monumental portraits from his current series depicting individuals in meditation—each subject emanates a sense of peace and introspection. In Rumi—The Book of Massanvi e Manavi, the third and largest work that is on view, poetry and religious architecture also give form to the divine. Using collage and verses from the Mathnawi of Jalaluddin Rumi (1207-1273), Kami arranges words like bricks in a spiral of calligraphy that invokes the feeling of looking through a dome or the ecstatic movement of a ritual dance. Born in Tehran, Y.Z. Kami draws from Eastern and Western aesthetic and mystical traditions to create large-scale works that explore the movement between the physical world and the inward spiritual journey.