Melting a False Monument is part of an ongoing series Athier began in 2018 that challenges the primacy of the public monument and questions their role within society. Though monuments stand with an invincible permanence, Mousawi considers their perceived ideological and physical stability as in fact, the very opposite: ephemeral, temporary, momentary and even false.

In this new series of paintings, each one numbered chronologically and titled Melting a False Monument 1-14 (with an additional 7 smaller works titled Small Moments 1-7) Mousawi’s canvases pile up tonally energetic forms within bombastic yet precarious compositions that jumble together to form surrealist landscapes. As such the sculptural objects within them read as false monuments, on the verge of collapse or perhaps melting into the calm ocean below.

Over recent years, Athier has created work from an array of different studios, each one lending a different layer to his practice: Beirut, Istanbul, Paris, New York, London and currently, Los Angeles, which is where this entire body of work was created.