Exhibition opening Thursday, April 16, at 6:00 PM.
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In the exhibition 56 Million Lines, Masoud Alireza explores drawing as a spatial and physical event. The artist creates large-scale installations consisting of dense graphite lines on paper that extend beyond the two-dimensional surface. In this way, drawing becomes not just an act that can be seen, but something that can be experienced as a material presence.
What happens when a line refuses to represent, yet insists on existing? Can drawing be perceived beyond the eye — as weight, as tension, as movement in the air?
Masoud Alireza's practice is rooted in drawing, which he approaches at the threshold of its own limitations in order to extract new forms and functions from the medium. Rather than representation, his work investigates drawing as a material and spatial condition. The exhibition at Tegnerforbundet continues his ongoing exploration of what he defines as de-drawing – a gesture in which drawing moves beyond the narrative and transforms the nature of perception and encounter.
"As drawings, the heaviness and size of Masoud's installations transcend the format of drawing and become landscapes, or maybe rather weather. Hanging there in the gallery as a dark, greyish river, the works might be seen as a series of heavy black clouds entering the landscape. As 'a darkness falling from on high'."
– Frans Jacobi (excerpt from his 1781 text: When the night comes falling from the sky, written on the occasion of the exhibition.)
Masoud Alireza (b. 1985, Tehran, Iran) graduated with a Master's degree in Fine Art from the Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design (KMD) at the University of Bergen. He has participated in a number of national and international exhibitions, including at Tag Team Studio, Bergen (2025), Bomuldsfabriken Kunsthall, Arendal (2024), Telemark Kunstsenter (2023) and Hordaland Kunstsenter (HKS) 2022. He has also received several awards and scholarships for his work, including the Art Student Scholarship from Bildende Kunstneres Hjelpefond (2018) and Norske Kunsthåndverkeres debutantpris(2022). Masoud Alireza currently resides in Bergen.
Other exhibitions during the period: Siv Bugge Vatne, Unknown Alphabet .
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Photo: Guttorm Glomsås.
