Maryam Ayeen and Abbas Shahsavar (born 1985, Bojnord, Iran, and 1983 Kermanshah, Iran / live and work in Tehran, Iran) are the most conceptually stimulating Iranian artists working in the miniature painting tradition today. Their sumptuous illustrations of intimate scenes between couples, humorous observations of social mores and modest yet biting political critiques infuse this revered medium with contemporary subjects and creative verve.

Comprised of a series of realist self-portraits of the couple in their apartment, Fall in dopamine 2020–21 relates back to Ayeen and Shahsavar’s celebrated work Misunderstanding in the blue room 2014.¹ The latter depicts the artists going about their daily activities, such as folding the washing and getting ready for work. These unremarkable moments brim with sexual suggestion. In unadorned rooms, protruding pipes and electrical sockets take on heightened meaning. The casual appearance of underwear lying around the house evokes parts of the body the items are supposed to hide. This method of subtle suggestion continues the miniature painting convention of including multiple storylines through layered metaphor.²

The title Fall in dopamine refers to a depletion in the neural chemical that assists the brain to feel pleasure, and there is a dark mood that lingers over the artwork. The protagonists’ faces are rendered with a subtle fuzziness contrasting with the clarity of the rest of the scenes, resulting in a feeling they are desperately trying to escape the confines of their claustrophobic apartment. Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iranian citizens have retreated to their homes, seeking privacy and refuge from the prying eyes of authority in the form of government officials, or even neighbours. The tight physical limits of Ayeen and Shahsavar’s painted spaces, emphasised by bare green walls and repetitive patterns of golden tiles (whose flattened perspective is at odds with the figures) mimic the confines of political and social rules in Iran, which can take their toll on the mental health of citizens. This is alluded to in the painting where a figure’s hairy leg can be seen along the edge of the scene, to the side of the couple conversing in the centre. It is unclear if the limb belongs to a third person within the relationship or is an apparition. This whiff of paranoia may be associated with drug use; Ayeen and Shahsavar, however, insinuate it could also be a by-product of the psychological strain of living under extreme conservative conditions.