Abbas Kiarostami: Trees and Crows, 2006; 23 C-prints; each: 28-1/2 x 41-1/4 in.; collection of the Iranian Art Foundation, New York.

BERKELEY, CA.- The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA) is proud to present Abbas Kiarostami: Image Maker, an exhibition of photographs by one of the world's most critically acclaimed film directors. The exhibition features four series of photographs, including two series never previously exhibited on the West Coast. The exhibition accompanies a major series of Kiarostami's films at the Pacific Film Archive, beginning July 7 and continuing through August 30. Together, the exhibition and film series provide an unusually rich and comprehensive presentation of Kiarostami's work. Abbas Kiarostami: Image Maker will be on view at the Berkeley Art Museum from July 8 through September 23, 2007.

"One single picture could be the mother of cinema," Kiarostami has said. "That's where cinema starts, with one single picture." A sense of minimalism permeates all of Kiarostami's work, including his photographs and films as well as his writing (Kiarostami is a published poet, as well as a painter and illustrator). Concurrent with his international acclaim as a filmmaker, Kiarostami has pursued a passion for photography since the 1980s, at the time of the Iranian revolution. He regards photography as a more pure medium than film, since it is relieved of the burden of narrative or entertainment, and in each photograph he sets out to distill the image to its barest essence. Lire la suite http://www.artdaily.com/section/news/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=20904

Abbas Kiarostami: Roads and Trees (detail), 2006; 6 black-and-white photographs; each: 28-1/2 x 41-1/4 in.; collection of the Iranian Art Foundation, New York