In Ali Banisadr’s The Mirror World, mirror-gazing figures are embedded in—or emerge from—an imagined world constructed from an energetic vortex of color and brush- strokes. Though Banisadr’s paintings can appear from afar like intricate abstractions, close inspection reveals that each painting is a world unto itself, rich with narrative suggestion and mysterious imagery.
In The Mirror World, many of the figures have their backs to the viewer; their faces are visible to us only in their mir- rored reflections. While calling to mind artistic precedents such as Jan van Eyck’s The Arnolfini Portrait and Diego Velázquez’s Las Meninas, the painting offers a thoughtful rumination on the function of self-reflection across time, drawing on references ranging from classical mythology to our screen-dominated age.