Kamrooz Aram exhibit: SoA alum waves a painted flag at Perry Rubenstein Gallery in Chelsea

The creative talent of the Columbia community manifests itself in diverse ways and in various settings, frequently including New York galleries. Kamrooz Aram, SoA ’03, currently has a show on view at Chelsea’s Perry Rubenstein Gallery (527 W. 23rd St., between Tenth and Eleventh Avenues) called “Negotiations,” which is open until March 26. The show is comprised of two different series of large paintings and a series of small collages.

In his “flag paintings,” in which oils are painted on flag-shaped rectangular canvases, Aram toys with the nationalist imagery of the flag by inserting texture and color gradation into an ordinarily solid and geometric iconography. In doing so, he calls into question the boundary between art and ideological, state-dispensed imagery.

He also incorporates elements of Persian carpet design, creating images in which modernist geometries coexist with abstract textures and traditional decorative forms. The viewer is left to negotiate this aesthetic amalgam, which can be especially challenging given Aram’s unusual color palette. The task of deciphering is a worthwhile one, but viewers might find the stylistic tensions of the paintings unsettling at first glance.

More immediately pleasing to the eye is Aram’s series of collages entitled “7,000 Years.” The title refers to the phrase “7,000 years of history,” which many Iranians use to evoke a nostalgic sense of pride for their culture’s accomplishments. The collages are made up of clippings from mid-century catalogues of traditional Iranian art objects, which Aram arranges into simple, elegant images that please a modernist geometric sensibility. Aram performs the important task of mediating the relationship between traditional and modern forms, in addition to investigating his own transnational identity as an Iranian-American. His juxtaposition of different objects, such as ceramic sculptures and carpets, produces works that celebrate the aesthetics of different cultures and time periods.

Aram’s “Fana” paintings are finished through the process of wiping away and sanding down the surface of the paintings at their centers, leaving behind a glowing space of exposed canvas. These works are interesting in their exploration of gradual erasure and their creation of a focal point from the absence of form. However, they lack the compelling complexity of the flag paintings, which make better use of symmetry for conceptual exploration and better straddle the line between abstraction and representation. The use of decorative floral imagery set within hazy, dreamlike environments creates a mood that is too romantic and even sentimental for truly thought-provoking contemporary art.

Despite the shortcomings of Aram’s “Fana’” series, the artist raises compelling and uniquely personalized questions through his other works in the show. His collages in particular achieve a level of balance and sophistication missing from the work of many contemporary artists too preoccupied with irony or concept. Columbia ought to applaud Aram’s ability to creatively interpret and impact his world.