The Alchemy of Being: Shirazeh Houshiary on Unity, Materiality and the Essence of Existence

Shirazeh Houshiary’s artistic vision is firmly rooted in the rich tradition of existential inquiry, drawing upon a lineage of thought that echoes the philosophical concerns of figures such as Martin Heidegger and Ludwig Wittgenstein. Her expansive oeuvre—encompassing painting, sculpture, and installation—exists at the intersection of abstraction and metaphysics, where the boundaries between dualities are not merely blurred but actively dissolved. By interrogating the visible and the invisible, the material and the immaterial, the individual and the cosmic, Houshiary seeks to reveal the underlying unity that permeates existence, transcending the superficial divides that structure our perception of the world.

Over four decades, her work has become a meditation on the nature of being itself, engaging with time, space, and consciousness in ways that resonate with Heidegger’s concept of Dasein and Wittgenstein’s reflections on language and reality. At Frieze Masters, Houshiary’s work reaffirms her sustained commitment to these fundamental concerns, offering viewers a contemplative space where materiality becomes a vessel for the ineffable. Through her masterful manipulation of form and substance, she invites us to embark on an aesthetic and philosophical quest, one that transcends mere representation and delves into the very foundations of existence.

In a detailed and insightful conversation with Houshiary, she reflects on how her practice has evolved over time, exploring the philosophical and material underpinnings of her work. Her responses offer a profound glimpse into her thought process, which integrates a deep curiosity about the world with an acute awareness of the human condition.

A Desire to Work with Materials that Feel Alive

Houshiary’s early career was defined by large-scale sculptures, but over time, she began to feel a sense of detachment from the works. This led her to shift toward painting, where the immediacy of the medium allowed her to create a more intimate connection with the material. “In the early years of my career I was making more sculptures than paintings. As my work developed, the sculptures became increasingly large and I had to work more with fabricators to realise them. This process brought about a detachment and distance in the working methods which led to the development of my two-dimensional works.” This transition was driven by a desire for closeness, a need to work with materials that felt immediate and alive. In her search for intimacy, she turned to the most fundamental element of existence—breath. “What is intimate and near to us? It is our breath… and breath is life and if you don’t breathe you are no more.” Breath, for Houshiary, is a profound metaphor for life itself, a reminder of the fragility and the immediacy of existence.

Houshiary’s art delves deeply into the connection between breath and language. Drawing on Wittgenstein’s philosophy, she views language as a manifestation of breath, and in doing so, ties together the act of speaking with the act of being. As she explains, “Words are the manifestation of breath. In my paintings, the markings are made up of two words, one of affirmation (I am) and the other of denial (I am not). It is an expression of the self and an act to ultimately transcend the self.”

“It is an expression of the self and an act to ultimately transcend the self,”

Shirazeh Houshiary

Lush Paintings Link Language, Breath, and Existence

Wittgenstein’s assertion that “the limits of my language mean the limits of my world” resonates strongly in her work, where language, breath, and existence are inextricably linked. Houshiary’s paintings, inscribed with words that blur into one another, create a space where affirmation and denial, presence and absence, intertwine and dissolve. “As the words intertwine, similar to breathing, the dialectical expiration and inspiration, action and passion coalesce, and it becomes impossible to distinguish between the painter and what is painted.”

This exploration of language and breath extends into her engagement with Heidegger’s concept of Dasein—being-there. “These paintings are nothing but the image of existence itself. Existence or ‘Dasein’ in Martin Heidegger’s terminology… you could say there is no ‘Dasein’ without time and no time without imagination.” Houshiary’s work invites viewers to consider the profound connection between being and time, between existence and imagination.

“These paintings are nothing but the image of existence itself,”

Shirazeh Houshiary

Exploring Creation and Destruction Through Fire

One of the central themes in Houshiary’s work is the duality of creation and destruction, which she explores through the symbol of fire. Her 1981 work Fire Stolen by Bird stands as a pivotal moment in her career, reflecting her fascination with the human desire for knowledge, even at the risk of destruction. “I’ve always been fascinated by human’s urge to know the secret of fire, even if the cost may be our own destruction.”

Fire Stolen by Bird involved torching materials like sand, wood, earth, and wax, resulting in a surface that was charred and cracked—symbolizing both the destructive and creative power of fire. Although the work no longer exists, its legacy endures in Houshiary’s continued exploration of these elemental forces. “This Promethean idea and man’s desire for knowledge has been at the heart of everything I have made to date.”

Fire, for Houshiary, represents more than just a destructive force; it is a symbol of transformation, a means through which matter is reshaped and reborn. Her works on paper from 1990–91, which revisit the theme of Fire Stolen by Bird, explore the connection between fire and flight, with the bird symbolizing the “aerial imagination” that lifts humanity toward higher knowledge. “The winged forms found in my early sculptures, a formative image, recur in works on paper also titled Fire Stolen by Bird produced in 1991. The bird, rising from the earth, symbolises flight and with it an aerial imagination that has taken us into astonishing realms.”

“This Promethean idea and man’s desire for knowledge has been at the heart of everything I have made to date,”

Shirazeh Houshiary

Shirazeh Houshiary, “Dew,” 2024. Pigment and pencil on Aquacryl on canvas and aluminium. © Shirazeh Houshiary. ©Lisson Gallery.

Unearthing Duality with Nature and Architecture

One of the most compelling aspects of Houshiary’s work is her persistent challenge to the notion of duality. Whether in her paintings, sculptures, or installations, she seeks to dissolve the boundaries between opposites—inside and outside, visible and invisible, material and immaterial. In discussing her 2022 sculpture Just So, she explains how she achieves this by juxtaposing forms found in nature with architectural elements. “Transparency and opacity, what is solid and what is empty, can coalesce in the most meaningful way, as in the sculpture Just So (2022), which is made from aluminium bricks in varying shades of light and shadow.”

The brick, a recurring motif in her sculptures, mirrors the repetition of words in her paintings. Both are building blocks—of civilization and communication—and in Houshiary’s hands, they become instruments for exploring the tension between form and emptiness. “This sculpture juxtaposes the form of the brick with forms found in nature—here, the curving symmetry of opposite parts, held in invisible tension.”

This tension reflects her broader philosophical inquiry into the nature of reality. Houshiary critiques the divisions that humanity imposes on the world, recognizing them as artificial constructs that obscure the fundamental unity of existence. “In constructing the booth at Frieze Masters, I aimed to represent this concept of inside and outside, and how these boundaries can be dissolved.”

“In constructing the booth at Frieze Masters, I aimed to represent this concept of inside and outside, and how these boundaries can be dissolved,”

Shirazeh Houshiary

Shirazeh Houshiary, “Outside in”, 2003. White ink and white pencil on black Aquacryl on canvas. © Shirazeh Houshiary. ©Lisson Gallery.

Deeply Engaging with the Fluidity of Time

Houshiary’s work is deeply engaged with the concept of time, not as a linear progression but as a fluid, looping continuum. Drawing inspiration from Aristotle’s idea that “time is the measure of change,” she explores the relationship between time, movement, and consciousness. “We can only become conscious when we move freely through time…past, present, and future, but it requires our imagination to experience the memory of the future and to anticipate the past.”

Her 2023 sculpture Time Curve exemplifies this non-linear understanding of time. In Houshiary’s vision, time is not something that can be neatly ordered or divided. Instead, it exists in a state of constant flux, where past, present, and future merge into one another. This cyclical conception of time aligns with her broader engagement with the cosmic rhythms that govern the universe. “These ideas are embedded in the structure of the wall sculpture Time Curve (2023), where the order of time is not linear but knotted, looping and unfurling.”

Revealing the Unity of All Things Through Art

At the heart of Houshiary’s artistic philosophy is the belief that duality is a construct that can—and should—be transcended. She recognizes that human consciousness is often shaped by the divisions we impose on the world, but through her art, she seeks to reveal the underlying unity that connects all things. “We need to train our mind to transcend the dualistic thinking that is the product of how our brain is constructed and to see the cosmic process as a perpetual dance of creation and destruction at the same time.”

This “cosmic dance” is an invisible force, one that cannot be fully apprehended by the senses but nonetheless shapes our experience of reality. Houshiary’s work seeks to bring this dance into view, revealing the dynamic interplay between presence and absence, creation and destruction, material and immaterial. “It is this universal flow that vibrates to the harmony of nature’s law, where fleeting patterns rise in space-time to exist briefly as objects and then vanish.”

Her paintings, particularly her most recent works such as The Hours (2023) and Cradle (2024), evoke this sense of impermanence. Pigment and water, two elemental materials, are layered and manipulated to create surfaces that seem to shift and move. In these works, Houshiary invites viewers to engage with the transient nature of existence, to confront the fluidity of time and space. For Houshiary, the human experience is intimately connected to the natural world and the cosmos. She draws on scientific and biological knowledge to inform her understanding of existence, recognizing the profound interconnectedness of all things. “I believe that my origin is in algae and lichen. Life emerged from the ocean onto land.” This recognition of humanity’s place within the larger ecological and cosmic framework grounds her work, infusing it with a sense of awe and wonder.

Offering a Perpetual, Cosmic Dance at Frieze Masters

Her use of water in her paintings is a direct reflection of this connection to the natural world. “I use pigment and water because, as you know, life emerged from water into air.” This process of emergence, of transformation from one state to another, mirrors the themes of creation and destruction that permeate her work.

In her presentation at Frieze Masters, Shirazeh Houshiary continues her profound exploration of existence, materiality, and the dissolution of boundaries. Her art invites viewers to engage with the fundamental questions of life, to confront the dualities that shape human experience, and to transcend them in search of a deeper understanding of the self and the universe. Through her engagement with philosophy, science, and the natural world, Houshiary offers a vision of reality that is both intricate and expansive, where the material and immaterial, the visible and invisible, exist in a perpetual dance of creation and destruction. As she reminds us, “It is this dance that is at the heart of my work.”