from the "Civil War" series: by Barbad Golshiri

Despite internal political turmoil and outward appearances, Iran continues to cultivate a thriving contemporary art scene, and work by artists from Iran has been gaining a strong international profile over the last decade. Los Angeles is home to a robust diasporic Iranian community, but the city has been slow to highlight contemporary art from the country in its gallery and museum exhibitions.

That has begun to change over the last few years and the opening of Postcards from Tehran at the 18th Street Art Center in Santa Monica this January is a valuable example of the increased local attention to the subject.

Guest curator Nazila NoebashariThe exhibition is comprised of work made from 2009 to 2011 by seven artists living and working in Iran, alongside that of two Iranian-Americans residing in California. Curated by Nazila Noebashari of Tehran's Aaran Gallery, the show presents snapshots of life in Tehran, ranging from the literal to the eccentric. The primary theme emerging from the work in the exhibition is the tension between the fascination and alienation felt by Iranians concerning the changing landscape of Tehran. Many of the artists lament the obscuring of collective and personal cultural history as a result of what they perceive as the globalization and commercialization of their capital city.

Much of the work combines to form an archive of experiences of being in Tehran today; these experiences unfold amidst the din of urban activity. Barbad Golshiri captures political and commercial billboards and murals visible from busy roadways in his postcard-size photographic series "Civil War." The cacophony of images and messages bombards the senses of city-dwellers, drowning out other thoughts and ideas. Against this same backdrop, Arash Fayez places relics from his childhood—a striped plastic ball, a bear-shaped ketchup bottle, a pale blue aftaba—on the rooftop of a building surrounded by the towering minarets of nearby mosques. Each image in the group of Polaroid photographs, called "Decadence of Memories," includes a handwritten Farsi caption that details the year, Fayez's name, and the title of the piece, framing each object as an anthropological specimen to be preserved and studied by future generations.

from the "Decadence of Memories" series: by Arash FayezTaking less of a documentary and more of a voyeuristic approach, Behrang Samadzadeghan records the curious dance of a man on a city sidewalk in "Lost in Highway 2." Samadzadeghan spied on the man's stolen moments from a neighboring building for months before capturing them on video. The spirited playfulness the man exhibits is underscored by the cold anonymity of the surrounding steel and asphalt of his environment.

Jinoos Taghizadeh's video "Fatness" is a provocative intervention into the notion of Tehran as booming metropolis. The artist focuses the camera on an image of Tehran printed onto a cake, which she proceeds to consume one forkful at a time as she narrates her experience of gaining 30 kilograms over the past year. The beginning of her weight gain coincided with the contentious 2009 elections in Iran. Watching the city disappear at the hands of what one imagines is a gluttonous, Godzilla-like narrator sparks the question of whether it is external or internal forces destroying the character of the city. Are global or local actors to blame?

"Father Killing Son": by Siamek Filizadeh

In the group of works explored above, the layering of visual cues and the assorted messages they point toward make for a dynamic exhibition. However, this depth is impaired by the inclusion of two lackluster items. The first is the series of three pieces by Ala Ebtekar showing photographic images of modern women dressed as ancient warriors and embellished with weapons and decorative elements the artist rendered in ink. These works fall flat, both visually and metaphorically, bearing no connection to the primary focus of the rest of the exhibition, life in today's Tehran. Hung next to Siamek Filizadeh's richly kitschy, and somewhat over-the-top, collection of mixed media depictions of a 21st century incarnation of the Persian hero Rostam, Ebtekar's work feels one-dimensional. Secondly, curator Nazila Noebashari's narrative contribution to the exhibition also avoids any specific reference to Tehran, and instead generically exalts the enduring greatness of the Persian creative spirit.

Despite these stumbles, Postcards from Tehran is a nuanced and engaging look at contemporary Tehran through the eyes of reflective artists working there today.

Postcards from Tehran is on display at the 18th Street Art Center, 1639 18th Street in Santa Monica, through January 28th. The opening reception will be held on January 20th and will feature a performance by Los Angeles-based artist Amitis Motevalli. Info.

Allison White writes about contemporary art from the Middle East and South Asia. She works at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles.