The Phillips Collects: Hedieh Javanshir Ilchi

Through its 2020–2022 Contemporaries Acquisition Fund, The Phillips Collection has recently acquired a work by DC-based artist Hedieh Javanshir Ilchi (b. 1981, Tehran, Iran). Created with acrylic on individual Masonite panels and incased together as a floor-piece, Ilchi’s work (to be completed in spring 2022) fluctuates between abstraction and representation, depth and flatness, evoking unknown landscapes and inner psychological spaces. “While her paintings merge fluid layers of poured paint with imagery derived from old Persian paintings and illuminated manuscripts, Ilchi’s intricately executed tile works—including the Phillips piece—join geometric patterns taken from Islamic architecture with the modernist grid, bridging distinct cultural traditions,” explains Vesela Sretenović, Cross-departmental Director for Contemporary Art Initiatives and Partnerships. 

 The artist describes her work as “the product of my multifaceted experience as an Iranian-American immigrant. It provides a space where my two disparate histories come together to reflect on cultural traditions and notions of belonging. By combining conventions of Western abstraction with conventions of Persian art, I explore contradictory painting processes and the ways in which they can be melded into a hybrid visual language.” Ilchi’s artwork was selected by the Phillips’s Contemporaries Steering Committee (CSC), a young professionals membership group invited to deepen their connection to the Phillips through cultural and social events, including the Art Acquisition. The group has previously acquired works by Nara Park and Ellington Robinson in 2018, and Zoë Charlton in 2019.