Palimento, an exhibition of more than 40 works by painter and new media artist Behdad Najafi Asadollahi, curated by Rosa Matinfar, opened at Nian Gallery on Friday, December 18, and will run for ten days until December 29, welcoming visitors daily except Saturdays.
In Najafi’s works, newspaper pages become the canvas for abstract painting. Texts that once narrated events with certainty fade beneath layers of color, while headlines, logos, and page layouts linger like whispers of history.
The exhibition title fuses two related concepts: “palimpsest”, a multi layered text that retains traces of earlier writing, and “pentimento”, a phenomenon in painting where underlying sketches or colors resurface over time.
Najafi’s pieces are emotional and interpretive responses to news consumption and media experience. Feelings of grief, anxiety, joy, and anger born of daily headlines are reimagined through the interplay of color and texture on the newspaper surface.
Created over four years, the collection treats newspapers not merely as carriers of information but as historical and emotional media, layered with the artist’s personal experiences. A striking aspect of the exhibition is that many of the newspapers used as raw material are no longer in circulation. These “silenced voices” add historical and symbolic weight to the collection.
Parts of the exhibition incorporate new media and interactive elements. The “Rewriting Wall” invites visitors to move beyond passive observation, encouraging them to touch, write, and mark the surface, thus sharing in the collective narrative. This participatory act transforms the idea of pentimento into a communal experience.
Exhibition Highlight
Among the newspapers recreated as abstract paintings is the English language “Financial Tribune”, once printed daily. The work recalls the historical course of the publication, which, after a two-year hiatus, now operates as an online outlet. Najafi noted that the artistic and emotional manifestation of this paper became one of the exhibition’s highlights, drawing positive feedback from many visitors.
Speaking to the Financial Tribune, Najafi said newspapers have held a special place in his life since childhood. “Since 2021, I began working on the papers I read most often. I would read the headlines and, based on my interpretation of the news and the newspaper’s approach at that time, I shaped my emotional reaction with color directly on the page.”
He stressed the importance of newspapers as the oldest and most rooted form of journalism, and their reciprocal influence on society. This perspective, combined with Matinfar’s support, encouraged him to pursue the project further, ultimately resulting in the creation of an archive of these works over four years and the exhibition itself.
“In fact, I built an emotional archive of my own interpretation of the news in the form of artworks.”
Regarding the Financial Tribune piece, Najafi said his choice of colors reflected his emotional response at the time of creation, while the texture of the painting embodied his personal style.
He added that the reception from visitors, artists, and media professionals exceeded expectations. This shows the enduring place of newspapers in people’s minds, despite the transformation of many into online platforms.
