The One That Melts, 2022
Potency of the Conscious Crowd, 2022
Gone Looting, 2022
Omid Shekari: (Disruptive) 
On view May 13 – June 18, 2022
Main Gallery
Artist Statement
My work examines how force and violence still determine the rhythms of power structures in our society. I make art to reflect the events, hidden stories and feelings that I have grasped through observing a range of shifting political winds in the Middle-East, the cultural phenomena following the 1979 revolution in Iran, and comprehending the US socio-political conditions by living here.
My recent projects investigate how threats are employed by the state to ignite fear in order to justify violence. The idea of a state under the neoliberal economic policy results in exacerbating aggression, tension and war. The state as the ruling class has the ultimate power to use fear in order to justify military action, policing, and imprisonment to control and dominate disadvantaged people. Fear, on the individual level, creates anxiety, insecurity and a sense of unease for individuals, which can make them conformist and obedient citizens.
Through art I look at power and question the levels of violence that it causes, as well as possibilities to resist such a phenomenon.
Download a PDF of his in-depth artist statement short essay here: Disruptive Statement.docx
Artist Bio
Omid Shekari is an Iranian artist currently living in Cleveland, Ohio. He received his BFA from Sooreh University in Tehran and MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. His work has been exhibited at The Drawing Center, Wilmer Jennings Gallery, Akron Art Museum, Marginal Utility Gallery, NADA Art Fair, Gallery Joe, PAFA Museum, Fleisher Art Memorial, Tyler School of Art, Woodmere Art Museum, Greenfield Community College, and Ohio State University. Shekari is currently a visiting assistant professor at Oberlin College.
Visit Omid Shekari’s website.
Omid Shekari is a recipient of The Sculpture Center’s Revealed Early Career Exhibition Series.
