Parsa Khalili – Apparitions / paper position

The project Apparitions brings together two ongoing bodies of work that both interrogate the unstable boundary between material form and immaterial effect. The Reliefs operate through absence: shallow incisions into the surface generate depth not by mass but through the play of shadow, creating sculptural presence inseparable from the voids they summon. The Emissions, by contrast, transpose luminous phenomena into chromatic language: fringes, distortions, and spectral residues become painterly construction, where pigment itself acts as light’s proxy.

Together, these works articulate a dialectic of apparition and imprint, in which paper becomes both carrier and agent. Khalili’s use of the medium underscores its dual condition — fragile yet enduring, immaterial in effect yet profoundly physical in presence. It is precisely this tension that makes his contribution to Paper Position so compelling: his works do not merely rest upon paper, they expand its conceptual potential, revealing it as a threshold where visibility and disappearance continuously negotiate with each other.

By situating his practice within the discursive field of paper, Khalili extends painting into an expanded terrain — one where perception, matter, and apparition coalesce. His works thus contribute not only to the reimagining of the medium, but also to a broader reflection on how art shapes, destabilizes, and redefines the conditions of appearance in contemporary visual culture.