Opening Celebration—Amir H. Fallah: The Fallacy of Borders

The Fowler welcomes you to the opening celebration of Amir H. Fallah: The Fallacy of Borders (Jan. 29–May 14, 2023). Artist Amir H. Fallah and exhibition curator Amy Landau will be joined by UCLA Design Media Arts professor and award-winning book designer Willem Henri Lucas and President of Judson Studios David Judson for a conversation about Fallah’s artistic practices, collaborations, and the significance of his work in Los Angeles, home to the largest community of Iranians outside Iran. The moderated discussion starts at 6pm, and will be followed by an evening reception with light refreshments and music.

6–7 pm: Moderated discussion | Lenart Auditorium

7–9 pm: Reception | Courtyard

Amir H. Fallah received his BFA in Fine Art & Painting at the Maryland Institute College of Art and his MFA in painting at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has exhibited extensively in solo and group exhibitions across the United States and abroad. In 2009, the artist was chosen to participate in the 9th Sharjah Biennial and in 2015 he received the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant. In 2019, Fallah’s painting Calling on The Past received the Northern Trust Purchase Prize at EXPO Chicago. Fallah was awarded the COLA Individual Artist Fellowship and the Artadia grant in 2020. The artist is in the permanent collection of such national and international museums as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles; The de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA; the Jorge M. Pérez Collection, Miami; Deste Foundation for Contemporary Art, Athens, Greece; and Xiao Museum of Contemporary Art, Rizhao, China.

Amy Landau is Director of Education and Interpretation at the Fowler Museum at UCLA. Landau previously served as Director of Curatorial Affairs and Curator of Islamic and South & Southeast Asian Art at the Walters Art Museum (2009-2018). In 2017, she was a fellow at the Center for Curatorial Leadership. Landau lectures and publishes on the arts of early modern Iran and her curatorial work has been generously funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. She received her Ph.D. from the Department of Islamic Art and Archaeology, University of Oxford.

David Judson is the fifth generation Judson family member to own and operate the Studios. David and his team bring a 21st century sensibility and technological savvy to this ancient craft, whether the client is a boutique hotel or a historic cathedral. A supporter of the arts like his great-great grandfather William Lees, David believes in maintaining a workplace that fosters creative expression. The Studio has hosted on-site art exhibitions, and our staff includes a diverse group of artists who bring fresh eyes to this meticulous process.

Willem Henri Lucas is a UCLA Design Media Arts professor and award-winning book designer He began his career by working on a contemporary art magazine in the Netherlands. He then served as a professor and chair of graphic design department at the Utrecht School of the Arts. In 1998, he designed the holiday postage stamp for the Dutch Post and telecom company. Lucas has been teaching typography and graphic design classes at UCLA since 2007. In the classroom and in the projects he undertakes, he is committed to “bringing design back ‘to the street,’ and ‘humanity’ back into design.”

Image: Amir H. Fallah (b. 1979, Tehran, Iran), Protector 1, 2022; acrylic on canvas; Ginsberg Family Collection; image courtesy of the artist and Shulamit Nazarian, Los Angeles