Akkaashi Gallery: Captivating Works

Mahmud Kianush, Compulation

 

An exciting expansion of the Art-Arena website, a new gallery of Mahmoud's Akkaashi images with introduction and commentary.

The current selection focusses on his works in bark. He also did series based on plywood and bricks, so, further chapters will unfold. Art-Arena is a labour of love by Katy and Jim Wallace, showcasing the works of Mahmoud Kianush, Pari Mansouri, and Katy Kianush: a bountiful offering of literary and visual arts and translations, alongside informative essays on the arts of Iran through the expanses of time.

More about Art Arena here.

Rostam and his Rakhsh

 I am Rakhsh, the heavenly horse,
The twin of Rostam, the mighty hero;
We were born for each other,
We were one with each other,
And together we created a myth.

~MK

 

[from the mailbag, 27 August 2014]

 

Yesterday I found the image of a wonderful horse among my recent photo-paintings (akkaashi). It reminded me of "Rakhsh", the mythical horse of Rostam, the Champion of the World (جهان پهلوان), in Ferdowsi's "The book of Kings" (Shahnameh - شاهنامه). 

Suddenly I was inspired with the idea that in the mythologies of many nations, great heroes are existentially one with their horses in their lives, their triumphs and their fates. So I titled the image "Rakhsh, the Horse of Rostam", and wrote the following lines as its caption: [as above]

Then, I search in the Internet and found some suitable words and images about "Rostam" and "Rakhsh", as well as the Sassanid king, Khosrau Parviz's legendary horse, Shabdiz. Here are those words and images.

~MK
 

 

 

  The light of thought, the love of truth, and the Goddess of Poetry be with you.

~MK

[happy Norooz!

xojo]

Blessed are the Wolves

 

Aksh, My Magic Mountain, Mahmud Kianush

 

 

Blessed Are the Wolves

 

Who art Thou?

Only Thou mayest know,

                                  no one else!

                  

 

 

The wolves are perfect

                                 and sincere

                                             in what they are;

and what they are

is what Thou wantedest them to be.

 

 

 

Yes,

          I know:

Their state of existence is,

                                       in essence,

                                                        almost,

the same as those of Thy other living things:

a struggle for survival,

with,

          perhaps,

                        only one goal:

passing their selfish genes

to their next generations,

                                 with glorious success,

and they themselves

having to be vanished

                                into thy eternal mystery.

 

 

 

The wolves,

like all the rest of Thy living things,

have never been,

                        for a good and proper life,

 in need of any guidance

 through a fellow species

                                      appointed by Thee

as Thy messenger,

to propagate the words of Thy mouth.

 

 

 

What is wrong with us human beings,

proud of being created in Thy likeness,

Oh Thou,

              who remainest unknown forever?

 

 

Mahmud Kianush

1 May 2015

Perhaps (in Farsi & English)

   

دیاش 

ناهگان 

          دیشروخ

                      ؛ دعلب یم ار نیمز 

قلطم ِتوكس و یهایس و

؛ دریگ یم ار اج همه 

نامز و

، دتفا یم سفن زا

                     ؛ دریم یم 

ناسنا ِشوماخ یادص و

                                ناهنپ ِشتآ اب 

                    دازآ یدایرف رد

                دریگ یم ار اضف : 

دیاش

 دیاز یم ار دوخ تیدبا. 

    

     7  هیوناژ2002 

PERHAPS

Suddenly

               The Sun

      devours the Earth;

And everywhere is sunk

In absolute darkness and infinite void;

And Time stops breathing and dies,

And the silent voice of Man,

With a hidden fire,

In a cry of relief

Fills the Space:

Perhaps

The Eternity is giving birth to herself.

Mahmud Kianush

akkaashi images by MK: Window I, Window II, 2008

 

Escape (in Farsi & English)

 

گریز

اینك من و نظارۀ پروانه ای سپید
بر پلّه های قصر زمرّد؛
اینك من و گریز.
آه، ای پرندۀ پنهان
در كوچه های عطر و طراوت،
آوازهای پاکِ تو آیا
بانگی ست تا كه من
آیم برون زِ محبسِ تاریك خویشتن؟

 

 

Escape

Here I am, watching a white butterfly
On the stairs of an emerald palace,
Here I am, on the way of escape.
Oh, you the invisible bird
In a cool fragrant nook
Of the green tower of seclusion,
Is your pure song
An awakening call for me
To break out of the dark prison
Of the Self?

Mahmud Kianush, an excerpt from Thorns & Pearls

https://www.twirpx.com/file/2134815/

image: Compulation (ده) 2 Jan 2008, Mahmud Kianush

The Journey & Other Poems (review)

 

Review (excerpt)

"The Journey And Other Poems" by Mahmud Kianush, pub. Knives Forks And Spoons Press.   2020   147 pages   £12.00

...

The mix of abstraction and lyricism, of modern and traditional, has a playful aspect which combines high-minded philosophical titles (Reality and Illusion/Being and Nothingness) with a more sensual language which is both down-to-earth and more immediate while also retaining a succinct sophistication. This is poetry which can be read aloud, declaimed in fact in a high rhetorical mode while embracing a sense of complexity within apparent simplicity. It’s beautiful stuff indeed.

 

The Journey & Other Poems is an astonishing book which combines different philosophical and literary traditions to create a celebration of the world and of our experience of it in a manner which feels both fresh and yet is based on accumulative materials. I could say a lot more about this but it’s the sort of collection which the reader should discover and ponder for his or her self. I hope this short review provides a useful way in and at least registers the existence of a body of work which I was totally unaware of.

 

Copyright © Steve Spence, 2021

to read the full review visit Litter Magazine:
https://www.littermagazine.com/2021/03/review-journey-and-other-poems-by.html

~

Cover art is by Mahmud Kianush:
here are a few related akkaashi

KarB Life is Colour

Compulation (هفده)

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