Edwynn Houk Gallery will present "Revelation," a groundbreaking new body of work by Vienna-based artist Sissi Farassat, running from September 2 through October 18, 2025. The exhibition showcases Farassat's innovative approach to vintage photography, where she reframes the past through a unique artistic process that challenges traditional photographic presentation.
In "Revelation," Farassat transforms anonymous vintage photographs, many touched by the glamour of Hollywood's Golden Era, by revealing only carefully selected fragments of each image. The remainder of each photograph is concealed behind precisely cut overmats, creating what art historian Michel Poivert describes as "anti-collage." Poivert explains: "For those familiar with Sissi Farassat's work, Revelation is above all a surprise. The desired object reveals itself only through concealment. What we don't see takes center stage. What is primarily addressed here is the off-screen as a space that is both real and imaginary."
Unlike traditional collage techniques that build through accumulation, Farassat's method works through subtraction. What remains visible becomes charged with the tension of the unseen, creating a powerful artistic statement that resists the completeness of the found photograph. This approach creates space for ambiguity, speculation, and invention, allowing viewers to engage with the work on multiple levels.
Many of the source images are vernacular portraits of women, originally shaped by both the conventions of their historical moment and by the sitters' own self-presentation. Farassat's curated windows disrupt these conventions, setting aside the fiction of the whole portrait and transforming the hint of mystery present in each image into its defining feature. What remains suggests more than it reveals, with each portrait becoming a meeting place between what viewers see and what they imagine.
Born in Tehran, Iran in 1969, Sissi Farassat moved to Vienna in 1978 and has since developed a distinctive approach to photography that treats images as both visual content and physical objects. Working with both found and self-made photographs, she transforms prints through meticulous, hands-on methods ranging from intricate embroidery and beadwork to her most recent technique of overmats cut into unexpected forms. Her work draws from the visual language of vernacular photography while emphasizing the tension between what a photograph reveals and what it withholds, touching on themes of memory, desire, and the shifting role of women in visual culture.
Farassat's artistic evolution shows a fascinating progression in techniques and concepts. Her early portraits and self-portraits were densely encrusted with beads and sequins, with each stitch reframing the subject through the gradual accumulation of surface elements. In contrast, her recent "Revelation" series conceals much of the image behind overmats so that only select fragments remain visible. This distillation reduces the photograph to its most charged elements, allowing the mystery to become the image itself.
The artist's work has gained international recognition through exhibitions across Europe, the United States, and the Middle East. Her pieces are held in numerous prestigious public and private collections, including the Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna, Fotomuseum Winterthur, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, demonstrating the significant impact of her unique artistic vision.
The exhibition will be held at Edwynn Houk Gallery, located at 693 Fifth Avenue, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10022. An opening reception with the artist is scheduled for Thursday, September 18, from 5-7 PM, providing visitors with an opportunity to meet Farassat and discuss her innovative work. Additionally, Edwynn Houk Gallery will be participating in The Armory Show 2025 in New York City at the Javits Center from September 4 to 7, 2025, where they will be located at Booth 223, offering another venue to experience Farassat's compelling artistic vision.
