Farr Ligvani: Harmony and Grace Depicted by Conceptual Obstacles
By Liz Goldner
The paintings and hybrid artworks by Farr Ligvani are visual depictions of humankind’s desire to incorporate obstacles into the creative process. Yet the casual observer is likely to perceive his art pieces as innovative renditions of abstract art.
Working with acrylic and enamel paint on board, and with PV, he infuses his work with circles and dots, which represent obstacles. Alongside and overlaid on the circles and dots, he paints parallel and intersecting lines. Obstacles for Ligvani represent intrinsic aspects of creation and are welcomed, as without them, nothing can be created. Often employing red, gold and clay colored paint, he creates harmonious arrangements.
The genesis of Ligvani’s approach to and execution of his work is his personal philosophy, which has evolved over decades from his intense studies and fertile imagination. This philosophy, comprising his fascination with the structure and engineering principles of life, creation and evolution, has led him to search for common phenomena, present in the creative processes. His work explores life from a structuralist perspective, while exploring the realities of our world through repeating phenomena.
While constantly striving for simplicity of design, he probes the paradox between simplicity and complexity. He aims to declutter complex ideas, concepts and designs; and to reduce and illustrate these designs by using the most basic geometrical forms (circles and lines) and colors.
Ligvani was trained in architecture at Southern California Institute of Architecture and in industrial and graphic design at Art Center College of Design, Pasadena. Where he also taught. While pursuing an acclaimed career in designing, building, consulting and teaching for 40 years, he explored the many tools and visual concepts of professional design.
All the while, Ligvani was creating his individual style of artwork, which today encompasses the skills he developed as a designer, and his personal studies of Eastern and Western philosophies. His background in architecture and industrial design and pursuit of philosophy and psychology are reflected in his artworks.
His lifelong journey has inspired him to fuse the various influences in his life, beginning in Iran where he grew up, and in the United States where he has spent most of his adulthood.
His recent “Evolution: Noumenon to Phenomenon” exhibition, featuring his “Evolution” series, was shown at Soka University of America in Aliso Viejo, California in the spring of 2020. He explains that the “featured works [in this show] expand upon the fundamentals of change and transformation, as well as transitions between ideation, development, resistance, and amalgamation of what becomes reality.” This series depicts the progression, expansion and evolution of obstacles through two-dimensional and three-dimensional forms, with the latter representing physical creation.
The process of creation for Ligvani evolves through growth, metamorphosis, and transformation. Change for him gives form and shape to obstacles, while developing, transforming, and evolving them. Obstacles for him are transformed from theory in obscure two-dimensional symbols or codes, into reality, or into tangible three-dimensional forms.
To illustrate this phenomenon, Ligvani uses a computerized process, simulating the effects of long-term natural and environmental factors on the codes representing obstacles. He presents the resulting forms as reliefs, in their purest form, using single shades of color.
Ligvani’s previous series, ''Obstacleism” from 2010, explored his version of the structures and engineering principles of “life, creation, and evolution,” and especially the commonality of the three, which he refers to as the “structure of all creation.” His belief that “obstacles are the benevolent impediments without which life would not exist,” or “a cyclical phenomenon in which the opposing force between two entities, objects or ideas leads to the unity of both, and the creation of something new,” is manifested in this series.
The process of creation for him goes through growth, metamorphosis, and transformation over time. Change gives obstacles form and shape, while developing, transforming, and evolving them. Through evolution, obstacles transform from theory in obscure two-dimensional symbols or codes, into reality in tangible three-dimensional forms. The evolution is from the potential into actualization.
To illustrate this phenomenon, Ligvani uses a computerized process, simulating the effects of long-term natural and environmental factors on the code representing obstacles. He presents the resulting forms as reliefs, in their purest form, using single shades of color.
His ''Obstacleism” series includes the painting “Prophecy” in deep reds with white accents features a semi-abstract face, composed of tightly knit circles and lines. The studied abstract artistry of this work is exquisite and compelling. “Interlace” is a copper-colored baroque style design of larger circles and lines. “Coalescence” features an elegant outline of a female figure. “Untitled-T5” is a classic abstract painting, composed of large and small concentric circles, set against a deep red to nearly black background. “New Ancient” has a broader, more magnanimous aspect with a small circle in its center, which is echoed by increasingly larger circles.
Ligvani’s “Evolution” series reveals his growing fascination with the many possibilities of geometric shapes. His execution of these pieces, all created from deftly cut plastic, is experimental and partially derived from his expertise as an industrial designer. Yet the total effect of each hybrid uni-colored painting/sculptural piece is harmonious, with designs and depths created by sculpting lines, circles, askew rectangles, triangles and ovals.
“Quantum Leap” in this series is a study in reds, with vertical shapes throughout. “Let There Be Light,” a deep yellow vertical construction, also with vertical shapes, is like its counterpoint. “Metamorphosis II” is also vertical; but this construction in off-white achieves its beauty and unique qualities through deft cut-outs. “Z-Axis” is in coppery browns. “Encoded” is in grey/blue. “In Transition” is done in gold, and “Mahfel II” is off-white. This last art piece is the most complex in this series with its artistic cut-outs and decorative shapes.
Farr Ligvani’s artworks invite viewers to reflect on the nature and many varieties of art, while exploring the splendor and regenerative powers of our universe.