What Are You Working On Now? Shahab Zargari

Shahab Zargari, *Just Before the Haunted TV Lashed Out*, 35mm film photography, 2021. Image courtesy the artist.

What are you working on now? is a Couch in the Desert series where we ask artists what they are making and thinking about in and outside the studio.

In late 2023, the brains behind SPCKRFT Studios invited me to put together a solo exhibition in their space on 310 W. Utah Ave, Suite 102, in Downtown Las Vegas. This marks a pivotal moment for me, because despite participating in numerous group exhibitions or being behind the camera, I will be stepping into the spotlight for this showcase. I’ve decided to focus on pieces created for pure personal enjoyment and creative fulfillment adding an intimate touch to the forthcoming exhibition.

We chose February 2, 2024 as the opening reception to give me enough time to visualize and put together what I need in order to make sure the exhibition is well received. I’m currently working on preparing everything that will be on view.

The show is called All Film All the Time because we will be showing films I’ve directed but also a large presentation of my film photography.

I was born in 1978, and throughout my childhood, photography was captured on film. I simply never stopped shooting on film even when digital cameras became available to the public. My Flickr account has thousands of these in scanned format. This exhibition will be the first time a large number of the prints will be available to be viewed together in a physical space.

I will have 150 film photography prints shot and developed over the past decade in frames on one wall of the studio. These will be placed along the wall in a “checkerboard” design. Nearby will be two photo albums of my cross-processed film photography from the early 2000s and two books that attendees can flip through: an art anthology published in 2005, and an “Art of the Film” book published in 2023 that breaks down all of the creatives produced for my directorial debut, The Crystal Crypt. In the next, much darker room will be a projection of a loop of ten years of my films.

Some of the photography will be for sale, but not all. What will be available for sale? The two books mentioned above, the vinyl record film score for Oh, the Guilt (the short film I directed in 2021), large stickers, The Crystal Crypt DVDs/posters, and some select photo prints.

Still, *The Crystal Crypt* set, 2013. Image courtesy Shahab Zargari.

I am excited for this solo show because it will be a true inside look at who I am as a human. Some people in Las Vegas know me as the UNLV guy. Some know me as the filmmaker guy. Others know me as the marketing guy. Still others know me as the portrait photographer. A few even know me as the record producer guy. All of these different versions of myself exist, but what will be on display during this exhibition will be the world through my eyes. The universe as I see it and capture it in film photography and in moving pictures.

Shahab Zargari on the film set of *The Crystal Crypt*, 2013. Courtesy the artist.

Shahab Zargari is an award-winning Iranian-American filmmaker and administrative faculty member of the UNLV College of Fine Arts.

Find out more about him on his website.

Posted and published by Wendy Kveck on January 30, 2024.