“Surfing the Galleries” captures the prolific gallery scene in Iran, little known outside the country, based on Zahra Nouri Zenouz’s observations. Part of a larger series, Zenouz here portrays the people in the gallery as an anonymous, amorphous crowd of bodies appearing as a cloud of black fabric with heads emerging. The two paintings on the wall feature a trio of vibrant peonies growing from verdant stems beyond the confines of their imaginary canvas, and a composition comprised of lips with female faces. Yet Zenouz subverts the typical image of a gallery goer by seeing the viewers as a part of the composition, a tongue-in-cheek commentary on those she hopes will purchase her works. Born in 1986, Zahra Nouri Zenouz is part of a younger generation of Iranian artists now gaining prominence through Tehran’s thriving art world. She received her Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees in painting from the School of Plastic Arts at the University of Tehran. She has also worked with Kanoon, or the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults as an illustrator.