In Search of Meaning

“In Search of Meaning, Semio-semantic Analysis of Mehdi Sahabi’s Visual Artworks” in the continuation of the two books "Mehdi Sahabi A Retrospective" and "In Search of Words, a collection of articles on traductology with a look at Mehdi Sahabi’s way of visual and literary expression" which is the beginning of the research on the visual artworks of this late artist has been published by Tehran Museum of Contemporary Arts in collaboration with Mojdeh Art Gallery and Sahabi Foundation. This bilingual book (Persian-French) consists of three articles by French professors of Sorbonne and Limoges universities, which were translated into Farsi by Dr. Marzieh Athari Nikazam and Sohrab Ahmadi. In the introduction of the book, the translators give a brief introduction to Mehdi Sahabi and the importance of searching for meaning in his works and provide a history of semio-semantics. The overall structure of the book includes three scientific-research articles by the authors, which ends with a table of images referred to the first author's article. First, Professor Jacques Fontanille examines the issue of the mysteriousness of the artwork in Mehdi Sahabi's paintings in terms of the semio-semantics of the effect of art as the effect of meaning, and his emphasis is on the collection of Sahabi's "Graffities”.Professor Denis Bertrand addressed the issue of the face and faciality and the visual-image concern by Mehdi Sahabi and by emphasizing on the portraits that Sahabi sometimes made with the medium of photography, sometimes painting and sometimes using plaster and paper and created them directly and indirectly in the form of Masks in his different collections including "Portrait" "Figures", "Hoards of Achaemenids" and "Photographs", acknowledges faciality between figurality illustration and figurativity illustration as Sahabi’s artworks main characteristic. Finally, Professor Ivan Darrault-Harris presents the key concept of non-genericity as invariability in the readability of painting, relying on the collection of Sahabi’s "Junkyard Cars". The mentioned book is a comprehensive reference for students and those interested in semio-semantics.

Saadat Afzood