Amin Roshan

2013 Lion and The Bull

The lion has come to be recognised as the King of the jungle, therefore in some way he is linked to Kings and Sultans. In truth, it so happens that in the same way that the lion reigns supreme over other animals, so a King reigns supreme over his people. The last Iranian lion was hunted some eight decades ago, however the essence of the lion remains to this day, ever present in the culture and beliefs of the Iranian people. In eastern culture, the bull symbolises the moon and the lion is a symbol of the sun. Just as the lion overcomes the bull, so it follows that the sun prevails over the moon, the day over night and light over darkness. With this work, the artist has tried to demonstrate such prevalence but this time we see the bull surmounting and hunting the lion. The image of the bull overcoming the lion is to illustrate all at once that everything has been reversed and to suggest the prospect of darkness triumphing over light.

گردی از راهی نمی خیزد سواران را چه شد           مرده اند از بیم یاران نامداران را چه شد