Leila Heller Gallery will present a group exhibition of contemporary Middle Eastern artists living in the Diaspora at the first edition of Art Platform – Los Angeles, a new contemporary and modern art fair from October 1-3, 2011 at the L.A. Mart. The exhibition will feature new and recent work by Shiva Ahmadi, Negar Ahkami, Ayad Alkadhi, Shoja Azari & Shahram Karimi, Reza Derakshani, Amir H. Fallah, Pouran Jinchi, Soody Sharifi, and Firooz Zahedi. In addition to this group exhibition, there will be a solo presentation of recent work by American artist Rachel Lee Hovnanian. A site-specific installation of Hovnanian’s Fun House Dressing Room, 2009, will be exhibited in the fair’s public space on the lower level.

By exhibiting these nine contemporary Middle Eastern artists together for the first time, the gallery will generate a rich and dynamic dialogue that challenges conceptions of art coming from the region and its Diasporas. The work – including painting, sculpture, photography and video-painting – explores the tension between tradition and modernity that is very much at the heart of contemporary Middle Eastern art, as well as the life of the expatriate. While these artists have naturally inherited the artistic language of their culture, they have each successfully integrated it in ways that offer a unique expression and individual style. Ultimately, they have created work that can be experienced and appreciated by the contemporary art audience internationally.

Los Angeles is a city booming with Middle Eastern culture due to its large expatriate community, and has become an important influence on the production of contemporary Middle Eastern art today. Four of the artists being exhibition -- Ayad Alkadhi, Amir H. Fallah, Pouran Jinchi, and Firooz Zahedi--have strong ties to the city of Los Angeles, allowing for the opportunity to also explore the influence of Southern California on their working practices, as well as the similarities and differences therein.

Highlights from the exhibition will include a new series of never-before exhibited mixed media paintings by the Iraqi born artist Ayad Alkadhi. Alkadhi’s Story Teller series employs traditional and stylized forms of Arabic calligraphy.

Another highlight will be photographs from Firooz Zahedi’s Elizabeth Taylor in Iran series, which was recently on view at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). The photographs reveal an insider look at Zahedi’s experience of traveling with Elizabeth Taylor to Iran in 1976, and include gorgeous images of the late icon posing in odalisque costume and fashionable chadors.

In addition to the group exhibition, Leila Heller Gallery will feature a solo presentation by American artist Rachel Lee Hovnanian. Growing up in Texas informed Hovnanian’s abiding concern with our culture’s obsession with physical beauty. The pressure of conforming to conventional beauty, which is judged and valued by society, and the search for inner meaning, has provided a foundation and energy for her work. The city of Los Angeles and Hollywood have been sources of particular influence. For Art Platform – Los Angeles, Hovnanian will present recent paintings, sculpture, photography and installation that explore these themes. Exhibited outside of Leila Heller Gallery’s booth, and in the public space of Art Platform – Los Angeles, will be a site-specific installation of Hovnanian’s 2009 Fun House Dressing Room, a life size dressing room in which a distorting mirror magnifies the experience of trying on a bathing suit in public.

Founded in 1982, Leila Heller Gallery has established a worldwide reputation in both the primary and secondary art market. Known for an active and innovative exhibition schedule, the gallery shows works in various media from international contemporary artists, with a specialization in artists from the Middle East and its Diaspora.

Leila Heller Gallery is located at 39 East 78th Street at Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10075, 212.249.7695, ltmhgallery.com. For further information, please contact Lauren Pollock at Lauren@ltmhgallery.com