Maintenant 20 Dada Journal - Nicky Nodjoumi

The cover of this issue features the painting “The Shadow of the Storm” by celebrated Iranian-American artist Nicky Nodjoumi. Born in Kermanshah, Iran, Nodjoumi received his Bachelor’s of Art from Tehran University of Fine Arts and his MFA from CUNY, before returning to Tehran to teach at his alma mater. During this period, he began designing political posters inspired by the revolutionary spirit sweeping the country, only to be forced into exile once again following the 1979 revolution. Nodjoumi’s political engagement in his work continutes today, with the cover painting alluding to collective experiences shaped by sociopolitical struggle, articulating a full spectrum of emotions ranging from aggression to victimhood. His work work is held in numerous prominent institutional collections worldwide, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the British Museum in London, the Guggenheim Museum in Abu Dhabi, the DePaul Art Museum in Chicago, and the National Museum of Cuba. He lives and works in Brooklyn.

The Maintenant Dada series, established in 2008, explores themes of politics, humanity, philosophy, and current concerns from an antiwar, anarchic (and often eye-opening) perspective. Past issues include work by artists Mark Kostabi, Raymond Pettibon, Joel Hubaut, Heide Hatry, Avelino de Araujo, Pawel Kuczynski, Inas Al-Soqi, Giovanni Fontana, Nicole Eisenmann, Syporca Whandal, and Kazunori Murakami; past writers have included Gerard Malanga, Charles Plymell, Andrei Codrescu, Harry E. Northup, Malik Crumpler, Maw Shein Win, and more, with a strong contingent of artist-writers from the world of punk rock, including Thurston Moore, Mike Watt, Bibbe Hansen and more.