A solo exhibition with paintings by Iranian artist Mostafa Sarabi has just opened at The Island Club in Limassol, Cyprus. Sarabi’s work often includes symbols and a kind of supernatural storytelling that becomes convincing and accessible thanks to its naïf mannerism and whimsical use of perspective. The exhibition A Stranger in the Island at The Island Club includes works that were inspired by or are illustrating the artist’s dreams. Instead of a press release, the organisers have sent out a statement by the artist where he describes some of his dreams: a recurrent one with footballer Roberto Baggio, a scene of him waking up in bed with a zebra grazing nearby, himself transforming into a half-human creature with many heads and more. For Sarabi, his dreams are “the world of displaced forms and colours, a world where you can enact visual laws and be your very own self or not be your very own self”.

Mostafa Sarabi (b. 1983, Kermanshah, Iran) lives and works in Tehran. He received an MA in Painting from Shahed University, Iran. He has presented solo exhibitions at Balice Hertling (Paris, 2020), the Delgosha Gallery (Tehran, 2020, 2018, 2017), and the Atashzad Gallery (Tehran, 2009). His work has been included in group shows at the Passerelle Centre d'Art Contemporain (Brest, 2020), the Peres Projects Gallery (Berlin, 2020), the Giardino Segreto (Milan, 2019), the Delgosha Gallery (Tehran, 2019, 2018), the Shirin Gallery (Tehran, 2011), and the 5th Visual Art Experimental Festival Youth Art (Tehran, 2010).