An exhibition of Jalaleddin Mashmouli’s drawings titled “Gol Gav Zaban” (“Borage”) will be held at Gallery No. 26 on May 22, 2015. The collection consists of forty-one ink wash drawings.
The “Gol Gav Zaban” series continues Mashmouli’s previous exhibitions—“Monday Market,” “Conditional Sale,” “Crossroads,” and “Remember the Seasons”—all inspired by childhood memories that have played a major role in shaping the artist’s vision.
In this exhibition, the cow serves as the main subject. Mashmouli’s inspiration comes from a local yellow-ochre cow found in Mazandaran, known among locals as “Zard Goo” (“Yellow Cow”), once considered an essential part of rural family life and economy. The artist expresses concern that this native breed, now rarely seen except in remote villages, is disappearing—taking with it an emotional part of his family’s past. The absence of the Zard Goo in his hometown sparked a renewed creative connection between the painter and his subject.
Mashmouli’s cows are intentionally simple—ordinary creatures rendered with ink wash using the wet-on-wet technique. The simplicity of form is heightened by minimal strokes and soft color patches. Most of the cows stand facing forward in open spaces with only faint hints of grass, evoking distant meadows. They graze calmly, untroubled, as if nothing is happening.
The artist follows no fixed concept beyond the “being” of the cows themselves. When flowers appear alongside them, he seeks a tranquil, poetic harmony between cow and bloom. Through subtle technique and fluid composition, Mashmouli creates a gentle, dreamlike atmosphere. The viewer quickly notices both cow and flower at the heart of the frame, a compositional balance that reinforces the serene tone of his work.
Mashmouli says:
“In my large-scale painting series Maahi (‘Fish’), I was searching for the meaning of my existence. The fish gradually decompose and vanish, symbolizing dissolution. But in the cow drawings, it’s different—I simply focus on the subject itself. My cows belong to Ordibehesht and Shahrivar (spring and late summer). The time between these months shaped my entire childhood. The cows of Ordibehesht in the village of Kotna wait for Shahrivar, when the rice harvest ends and they can roam the clover-covered meadows. That is the most beautiful rural landscape one can witness—a vast field filled with colorful cows adorned with clover flowers.”
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