- Title
- Rostam II and Zaal join forces
- Date Made
- 2009
- Medium
- Digital print on canvas
- Dimensions
- Image: 30 1/4 x 47 1/4 in. (76.84 x 120.02 cm); Sheet: 40 3/8 x 64 in. (102.55 x 162.56 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.2011.45.10
- Collecting Area
- Art of the Middle East: Contemporary
- Curatorial Notes
In his ingenious mixed-media series "Rostam 2 – Return," the Iranian artist Siamak Filizadeh transports the mythical Persian hero Rostam into the context of the present day. Riding a souped-up hybrid vehicle—half horse, half motorcycle—Rostam 2 performs his deeds of valor against the backdrop of twenty-first-century Tehran. Filizadeh has cleverly and seamlessly refashioned this ancient account, enacted across four generations and set amidst tragedy, romance, and heroism, in much the same manner as director Baz Luhrmann modernized Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet in the 1996 film version. But in his retelling of this classic Persian tale from the Shahnameh or Book of Kings, the Iranian national epic, Filizadeh bypasses its universalities in favor of more specific social commentary. As with other literary masterpieces, the Shahnameh has an appeal and an elasticity that has allowed successive generations to discover or invent new meanings.
Here, the father and son, armed with high-power rifles and ready to do battle, stand beside a blue truck with puffs of clouds where its tires should be. That this is a special vehicle intended for the ultimate in off-road driving is further indicated by the blue wings emanating from the truck bed and rendered in the same manner as the wings of the fantastic carved stone guardian beings from ancient Persepolis. In the background is a United Colors of Benetton, one of the dozen branch stores in Tehran.
- Selected Bibliography
- Komaroff, Linda. "The Return Engagement of Rostam," In Ferdowsi, the Mongols and the History of Iran: Art, Literature and Culture from Early Islam to Qajar Persia: Studies in Honour of Charles Melville, edited by Robert Hillenbrand, A.C.S. Peacock, and Firuza Abdullaeva, 381-90. London: I.B. Taurus, 2013.
- Milz, Manfred, ed. Painting the Persian Book of Kings Today: Ancient Text and Modern Images. Cambridge: Talking Tree Books, 2010.
- Selected Exhibition History
- Rostam 2 -- The Return Series by Siamak Filizadeh. June 2 - December 16, 2012
- Rostam 2 -- The Return Series by Siamak Filizadeh. June 2 - December 16, 2012
