Last night we attended the opening of Mohsen Kahlili’s exhibition at Gallery Jones, here in Vancouver.

It is an impressive body of work! The 61 sculptures were laid out on three long tables beautifully custom built by a friend, complemented by the mixed media drawings on the walls. The gallery was packed the hour we were there, and more people were coming in as we left, in spite of the heavy downpour that started just when we arrived. If you’re in the Vancouver area, do go and see this show – it’s well worth it.

Congratulations, Mohsen! You have done a tremendous amount of strong and moving work in spite of, maybe even because of, your health difficulties. The work seems to be very much about your pain. (That’s Mohsen on the far right in the photo below.)

UPDATE: I’ve just learned at Beth’s blog Cassandra Pages that there is an exhibition of sculptures by David Smith at the Guggenheim in New York. Perusing through the site which features some images of Smith’s work, I’m struck by the similarity of Mohsen’s work to some of Smith’s, like Tanktotem III.