Laleh  Shaikhani

Spiritual and material world:

Spirituality vs materialism, secret world vs outside world, receiving vs giving, we can begin our discussion just here:
The very first thing I came to notice was this duality in the paintings that took me constantly to these two different and opposite " worlds ", then I tried to look at the paintings, and to pay attention, and to look closely; and gazed at these paintings, because I think we must. Otherwise, we cannot really see what Roee wants us to.

At first glance, these paintings have nothing in common, but they do!
Through contrast! : spiritual, heavenly world vs material, earthly world.

The "praying" series

Paintings of "praying", represent the spiritual world which Roee Suffrin has very beautifully painted through matching light and shade, which reflect spirituality and warmth in these series and by just looking at them, the spectator can " feel" the warmth. All the components of these paintings connect, profoundly, with our minds and emotions; which cannot be described but felt, just as enjoying a flower's scent, or the early morning breeze; as well as enjoying a soft voice. Why a flower's scent appealing, why morning breeze or a soft voice are pleasant? It cannot be answered logically, but can be felt. May be that is one of the things which brings us closer to spirituality and to religion.

Anyhow, the same sincerity put in these series of Roee Suffrin's works, has also had a major influence on me (the spectator).
I have heard or may be have read somewhere that a hand is always helped by the heart to paint on the paper (canvas); and I think, the same hand has found its way to my heart. But instead of painting, my hand expresses itself in writing.

In the "praying" series, there is a beautiful game of light and shade. In these paintings, Roee shows a beautiful combination of light and color. The colors are transparent, and look, a lot, like shining lights.
The paintings showing the spiritual world:
Rabanim and the boy and within persistence- shofar and the return: in these series of paintings, with religious themes, parts of which are in closed surroundings, and the other part in an open and divine space.
In the former, the " warmth" is caused by candles and by fire-like light, making an atmosphere of warm and spiritual ambiance- ascetically solitude which surround the people like a halo.
But in the latter, the light and the heat come from the sky which is blue, clear and pleasant and causes inner peace.
In the paintings of shofar a combination of light and sound is being exhibited, in a very interesting manner.

These paintings express feelings, unity, knowledge, asceticism and purity, just the opposite of the ones showing the material and industrial world which lack the sensation and warmth of the other ones, and everything is materialistic and connected to the " material "; the best example of which is " retouche", showing the fabricated side of this world, i.e. even the beautiful lady is not really beautiful, she is the product of photoshop and the other faces are colorless and vague, as if they do not even exist.
Choosing a woman as the main character, refers to the same fact stated before, meaning: "contrast". Why choose a woman and a doll-face one, knowing the importance of both womanhood and motherhood in Judaism!!

In my opinion, nowadays -times of machinism an alienation- and the steady deterioration of values echo in Roee's works, in a very special and true form.

The three paintings of Jerusalem

They also occupied my mind, mainly, because of the importance and the special value of this city in history and the fact that Roee Suffrin piched this city because he has a lot to tell us on the subject. This time, I really wanted to know more about it and not to rely, specifically on my own feelings, and not to even see the things: "I" wanted to see. That is the reason I talked to Roee Suffrin. The first thing that caught my eye was the " partition" in his works.
I believe Roee Suffrin tries, in a very unique way, free and without mediation, show a "spiritless" city. I observed how uniquely and artistically, he has painted this city with strong and separating walls, the antenna and the geometric figures very nicely.

War and woman

I would like, now, to write about the two paintings of war and woman, for they had more influence on me than the other ones, having experienced and sensed the two elements: one of being a woman and the other war :
I have always believed that war is for men. May be if us women were to rule the world , it would be a different world ; may be there were no more wars , may be I am a little naïve , and us women would act just the same as men do when they have power.
Nevertheless, having nothing to do with wars, we tolerate them and selflessly, take part in all the difficulties and hardships, and pay the price.
Once again, in these two paintings, we come across the same " contrast". A rough world at war vs a woman in her serene world and in her loneliness.
I use the word" rough "and not" manly", in order not to generalize; because not all men seek war.
These two lonely women at this war scene , very nicely, represent the only role a woman plays in these two different " worlds ". the role being , in both cases , a decorative one . in both paintings which may represent two different "worlds", each shows a woman who it -the world- wants and thinks might be the best: in a modern society she is changed into a decorative object. She must be beautiful , with such and such body and clothes, according to the codes of beauty and aestetics of her time and her society.
In the other painting, she becomes a second class human- being, used to give birth to children and to serve.
Every thing representing beauty -inner and superficial- must be covered. She must be kept captive between four walls ,or be covered in a veil because g-d forbid, she might shake the society's order.
But , after all, these two faces are made up, not real ones, the face of one victim- the woman.

Two societies, two cultures, both show what they "want to show". The woman is always a victim of the society and the culture that judge her not by her high human values but by those dictated by society and acted out by her. Humans no longer exist. It is just a man and a woman and Roee shows them to us: two different faces opposite each other and alone, in an atmosphere of war all around them. Roee Suffrin feels this and tries to see the relation and to put them into painting.
His works are more of a close look .

As Paul Gauguin puts it : "L'artiste ne doit pas copier la nature mais prendre les éléments de la nature et créer un nouvel élément. » "it is not for an artist to copy the nature, but to take "pieces" and make a new world out of them".
For me Roee Suffrin is THE ARTIST, because he has taken pieces of this world and has made a new one.

I finish by this beautiful poem by Hafez (14 th century). Even though it was written about 7 centuries ago, it still reflects us; we might say this poem was written for women. It seems timeless:

My body's dust covers my soul's face
I am impatient to take this mask off
I, a bird who sings beautifully, do not belong in this cage
I will go to the heaven's garden, where I belong
I could not find out why I am here, where have I been
Alas! I do not know what I am doing
How am I ever to fly in heaven
I am but a piece tied to this earthly body
If my heart's blood smells like musk
Do not be surprised
For I am like the bag of musk (taken out of gazal's belly)
I, who deserve to dwell with faries
Then, why am I dwelling in a pot-house
Do not be fooled by my gold garment
Like a candle, I am burning inside this garment
Come and take Hafez's life with you
Because wherever you are, my voice cannot be heard.

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The poem of Hafez that is cited by Laleh, is the quatrain 342 in the edition of Qazvini-Ghani and 302 in the edition of Neysâri, and 172 to page 974 in the edition of Khorramshahi. It is the 334 in the edition of Charles-Henri de Fauchécour who classes them in order of frequency of meter and rhyme. Charles-Henri de Fauchécour indicates that this poem is the most characteristic of the conception of life in authentic Sufism. "The body is a veil over the soul and the soul aspires to discard. The poet sees himself then as in a caged nightingale, and was come from the rose garden of paradise. Rezvan is the guardian of Paradise, in the Islam. The poet does not understand his condition of life on earth. It is made to fly in space of the World Saint, and he was nailed to his body as under the Mongols, the culprit is nailed on a board. Verse 7 says the most profound awareness that Hafez lives to the spiritual presence of Him (God) who is all for him, and because that he cannot longer says "it's me, man-am." The Beloved is requested to remove Hafez himself in front of Hafez to be Hafez".
Laleh Shaikhani expresses, by this poem, the fundamental tension that the artist Roee Suffrin expresses in his works between two poles (the ideal and the practical, spiritual and material), and that he does not eliminate them for the pretext of common ideas in the current ideologies of the society in which we live.

Biography
Laleh Shaikhani contribue activement au rayonnement de la culture iranienne en France, en particulier de la littérature et de l'art, depuis le cadre de la librairie Le Tiers Mythe dans le Quartier latin  à Paris.
Pour saisir la qualité de Laleh Shaikhani, il sera éclairant de savoir qu'elle est l'auteur d'une thèse  universitaire en 1995 à Paris 13 sur
l'absurde dans "La Chouette aveugle" (publié chez José Corti en 1953) de Sadegh Hedayat, écrivain iranien. Sadegh Hedayat, petit-fils du critique et poète iranien Reza Hedayat, est né à Téhéran en 1903. Hédayat s’est donné la mort dans son appartement parisien en 1950. Entre ces deux dates, il aura mené une existence discrète, modeste et indépendante, loin des tapages d’une gloire littéraire qu’il méritait pourtant. Selon Frédéric Saenen, ce roman est représentatif du malaise ressenti en Iran durant la première moitié du XXe siècle par une jeune génération coincée entre préservation des traditions et tentation de la modernité.
Petit-fils du célèbre poète et critique Reza Qouli Khan, il n’y a que peu à dire de sa vie extérieure. Son indépendance intellectuelle, sa modestie, sa pureté d’âme lui ont fait choisir en effet l’existence effacée et les souffrances d’un être d’élite qui se refuse aux compromis. Sa grande douceur de coeur, un esprit toujours prompt à saisir le ridicule des choses, son indulgence aussi pour ceux qu’il aimait, tempéraient seuls son mépris de ce monde.
Formé à la lecture des maîtres modernes de l’Europe, mais également pénétré d’un profond amour pour le folklore et les traditions de sa patrie, S. Hedayat a cherché son inspiration auprès du peuple de l’Iran. Cependant, la passion avec laquelle l’écrivain s’est penché sur les religions de la Perse antique, sur les superstitions et les pratiques de magie populaire qui en dérivent, a éveillé aussi chez lui le goût de l’insolite et, bien souvent, il écarte les étroites barrières de la réalité, pour laisser le merveilleux envahir la vie de ses personnages : l’action d’un roman comme La Chouette aveugle se situe très loin de l’espace et du temps ordinaires.
Voir: http://www.jose-corti.fr/titresetrangers/chouette-aveugle.html
Cela nous éclaire sur le contenu de l'appréciation de Laleh Shaikhani envers l'oeuvre de Roee Suffrin.