Amir H. Fallah
Amir H. Fallah is an artist living and working in Los Angeles, CA. Amir received his B.F.A. from The Maryland Institute College of Art and his M.F.A from UCLA in 2005. He has exhibited both nationally and internationally. Exhibits include shows at The Nerman Museum, Weatherspoon Art Museum, The Sharjah Biennial 2009, LA Louver, The Third Line, Gallery Wendi Norris, Charlie James Gallery, Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, 18th Street Art Center, Cherry And Martin, Frederieke Taylor gallery, Mary Goldman Gallery among others.
He has been a visiting lecturer at a range of respected institutions, including Columbia College, USC, UCLA, Cleveland Institute of Art, California State University, University Of New Mexico, Otis College Of Art, and Maryland Institute College of Art.
Amir H. Fallah approaches painting as an investigative, analytical historian, though a knowingly imprecise one. The process begins with field research - Fallah enters people’s homes and assembles “evidence” of their stories and identities from among their things. He particularly gravitates toward those mundane objects that seem loaded with sentimental meaning, and then arranges these selected objects around his subjects in order to photograph them. It is clear from the outset that Fallah will be the final arbiter of how personal histories are told. He will have editorial control and will not attempt to beautify or flatter his subjects. But such freedom brings some danger, and the figures are often cloaked in patterned fabrics in order to protect his subjects from being implicated in his own interpretations.Does the imposing of the artist’s self on to the image-making process make it egotistical? If the only insight art can really communicate is about its own limited ability to tell the truth, is it still offering something of value? If nothing more, obsessive consideration of truth’s limitations can help us understand each other, and that’s no small feat.
