Fallah’s visual signature has coalesced into the “veiled portrait”: a way in which he disguises the identity of his sitter, while including intimate details of their environment, their relationships, and their memories. Set against these portraits are elements (they can be physical or purely symbolic) of Fallah’s own backstory, as a young Iranian immigrant who found a safe space in skateboarding and graphic arts culture.
Two Sides is an amalgamation of over a dozen existing works in Fallah’s studio. Its composition is centered by a Janus-like, two-headed figure obscured by a decorative veil bearing the face of a Chinese dragon. Below it, a painted vase of relative origin. The gestures of the two pairs of hands resemble that of Buddha, as one gives, one receives. Surrounding the central figure are various images, including that of Humpty Dumpty (taken from a children’s book), a cartoon face in black and white, a graphic of a hand grasping money (pointing up towards the centre) taken from a 1900’s Polish matchbox, and an orb in the upper left corner representative of the light and dark side of the moon. Subtle movement can be detected in several areas of the composition, which can only be achieved in digital format: Humpty Dumpty seems to dance about, the moon-orb turns on its axis, a white square appears to wax and wane towards the two-headed being, and the cartoon face grows and recedes in its monochrome gradient.
Overall, the piece is a literal and symbolic commentary on political polarization. Two heads on one figure suggest that although they are inseparable, both sides are unable to see, hear or talk to the other in any meaningful way. The shifting white square and the cartoon face recall the fickle nature of wealth and poverty being taken away from the political engine that drives the world’s nations. Humpty Dumpty continues his carefree dance, edging dangerously close to a precipice that could spell his end; an apt metaphor for the fate of those blindly reveling in their own rationalized, cloistered beliefs and values. Fallah is careful not to ascribe his content to a named or particular ideology, rather he chooses to integrate diverse, international symbols to communicate his frustration with an inertia that plagues every citizen, aristocrat, and politician, alike.
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