One and One

Nicolas Mehdi Pour Vahid

Artemin Gallery

Artemin Gallery is pleased to present One and One, the first solo exhibition in Taiwan by French-Persian painter Nicolas Mehdi Pour Vahid, on view from May 30 to July 4, 2026. Bringing together 13 paintings, the exhibition traces the artist’s personal history and inner journey. The artist is a passionate cinephile who holds a deep affinity for the Taiwanese New Wave, and cinema plays an important role in his artistic practice. This exhibition underscores a resonance with Edward Yang’s 2000 film Yi Yi (A One and a Two, Chinese: 一一), illuminating the significant personal connection the film holds for the artist.
The poem Silence, written by the artist for this exhibition, serves as its core concept through all the works. In the poem, the artist captures fleeting moments between memory and reality, using natural phenomena, plants, birds, and objects as metaphors. With a gentle sense of emotional detachment, it expresses a quiet lament for the passing of childhood. Handwritten by the artist at the entrance, the poem becomes a personal portal, inviting viewers into his world.
Silence Silence
The rustling of leaves Le bruissement des feuilles
The sound of my footsteps Le son de mes pas

I remember Je me souviens
The first times. Des premières fois

When I smelled that scent, Où j’ai senti cette odeur,
That breeze Cette brise-là
Caressing my face Caresser mon visage
Passing Passer
through my hair dans mes cheveux

A bird cries. Un oiseau pleure.
The light flickers La lumière tremble
Like a gentle fire comme un doux feu

The landscape seen In a dream Le paysage vu en rêve
Sings chante
without words sans parole

Icons of my childhood, Icônes de mon enfance,
I am a comic book hero. je suis héros de bande dessinée.

When was that? Quand était-ce ?
Before the waves Avant les vagues

And then Et puis,
The scarlet clouds. Les nuages garances.

A devoted admirer of Edward Yang, Nicolas Mehdi Pour Vahid deeply identifies with Yang-Yang, the introverted young boy in Yi Yi. Like Yang-Yang, who wanders alone with his camera, silently observing the adults around him and photographing the backs of their heads—as if secretly measuring the distance and hidden truths of the grown-up world—Mehdi Pour Vahid seems to project himself into this young observer. His paintings can be read as an artistic extension of Yang-Yang’s perspective, yet they feel even more personal: intimate first-person landscapes of his own childhood memories. The artist renders vast distances with broad, layered fields of color—endless grasslands and distant mountains—while rendering the figures with relatively finer and more detailed brushwork. A single boy appears repeatedly in his works, usually seen from behind or in profile, his face rarely revealed. Though the atmosphere carries a quiet melancholy, this young figure seems to hold countless unspoken stories.
Much like Edward Yang’s film, which employs long, understated takes to reveal life’s subtle emotional undercurrents beneath a surface of detachment, the artist uses painting as an extended, contemplative long take, offering a similarly poignant and introspective impression of time, memory, and human connection.
Does this also resonate with the lonely souls depicted in Charles Baudelaire’s Les Fleurs du Mal? Baudelaire once asked: “Que diras-tu ce soir, pauvre âme solitaire ?” — “What will you say tonight, lonely soul?” For Baudelaire, loneliness was not dramatic tragedy, but rather a drifting melancholy characteristic of modern urban life. Having not experienced an ideal childhood himself, Nicolas Mehdi Pour Vahid’s sensitive and precocious sense of distance quietly permeates his paintings.
Of the 13 works in this exhibition, nine were inspired by the artist’s 2025 artist residency in Kyushu, Japan. Known for its hot springs, ancient forests, and sea breezes, Kyushu offered the artist a setting of serene natural beauty and slow living, which he captured thoughtfully in his paintings. Though loneliness is a recurring theme for him at this stage, his works carry a quiet warmth and human tenderness. The layered natural environments serve as expansive, breathing backgrounds that grant his figures the freedom to wander and explore hidden mysteries. Using predominantly warm tones, he paints scenes reminiscent of wistful autumn landscapes, yet these settings beautifully illuminate the pure, innocent spirit of childhood. In his paintings, solitary souls dance gently with heaven and earth — neither fervent nor desolate, but quietly radiant in their own way.

One and One
Nicolas Mehdi Pour Vahid

Dates: 2026.MAY.30 ⭢ 2026.JUL.04

Opening Reception: 2026.MAY.30 | 15：00

Venue: Artemin Gallery (111 1F, No. 32, Ln. 251, Jihe Rd., Shilin Dist., 111, Taipei City, Taiwan)