SEPTEMBER 16 - OCTOBER 31, 2026

SOCO Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of What The Wind Carries, a solo exhibition of paintings, works on paper, and sculptures by artist Amir H. Fallah. This will be the artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery. SOCO Gallery will host a public opening reception with the artist on Wednesday, September 16th from 6:00 – 8:00 PM.

What The Wind Carries is a continuation of Fallah’s practice of crafting intricate and layered narratives through the use of seemingly disparate elements. Fallah often utilizes ornate patterns from West Asia, Persian miniatures, and folklore images to juxtapose American and European imagery and graphics. Through thorough archival research, Fallah combines ancient and modern images to build pointed personal and political narratives.

In What The Wind Carries, Fallah explores these narratives of identity, migration, and community through the greater integration of botanicals into his work. Flowers hold unique identities and meaning. In this body of work, the flowers appear windswept, the fruits of a migration. In Orange Haze, poppies, native to California, are placed next to Clematis, native to Asia, and Daffodils, native to the Mediterranean. Each flower is presented in harmony as part of one functioning ecosystem, yet has migrated from every corner of the earth to be together. The botanicals become the subject throughout all of his maximalist compositions to craft narrative, instead of relying solely on the figure as an arbiter of meaning. 

Even in compositions with figures, flowers hold central presence. Although the figures are presented centrally in the compositions, one's eye is forced to wander and slowly take in the layered elements and botanical motifs due to Fallah’s collage-like style of painting. In This Too Shall Pass, Fallah crafts a roughly symmetrical composition of multiple figures that is then cut by a central floral shape reminiscent of that of an Islamic mihrab, while the figures sit on a large saturated shape not dissimilar to that of a Persian carpet. The narrative is both fractured and cohesive, made of seemingly unrelated elements and figures, united by a common, lush, botanical environment. 

Fallah was born in Tehran in  1979, the same year as the Iranian Revolution and a time of a significant political and historical shift. His work has always reflected his identity and experience as a young immigrant. In What The Wind Carries, Fallah interprets these same experiences and narratives but through the universal language of flora and fauna. Just as a shift in the wind, Fallah reflects on moments of migration and political change through his paintings and sculptures. In turn, the works mirror the melting pot that is American society and encourages the viewer to find common humanity in the works presented.

Amir H. Fallah (b.1979 in Tehran, Iran)

Amir H. Fallah (b.1979 in Tehran, Iran) received a BFA in Painting from Maryland Institute College of Art and his MFA from University of California, Los Angeles. His practice bridges painting and collage to craft personal and political narratives. 

He has enjoyed previous solo exhibitions at The Fowler Museum, Los Angeles, CA (2023); Center of International Contemporary Art, Vancouver, BC (2022); Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN (2021); MOCA Tuscan, Tuscan, AX (2020); South Dakota Museum of Art, Brookings, SD (2019); Schneider Museum of Art, Ashland, OR (2017); San Diego Art Institute, San Diego, CA (2017); and Nerman Museum Of Art, Overland, KS (2015), among others. Amir H. Fallah has several forthcoming solo museum exhibitions in 2027, including at the  Van Every/ Smith Galleries at Davidson College, Davidson, NC, the Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, WA and the Michigan State University Broad Museum, East Lansing, MI. 

Fallah has been the recipient of numerous grants, awards, and residencies, including the 9th Sharjah Biennial, the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant, and the COLA Individual Artist Fellowship. His work has been featured in several publications, including Hyperallergic, Colossal, and The New York Times,  among others. The artist lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.