"I care about form more than anything else," Morteza Khakshoor told us recently, "Color is important, but it’s secondary for me. When things are not working in my paintings, I know something is wrong with the shapes and forms. Things are much easier when the shapes are good in my eyes." This felt relevant in looking at Morteza's new show, an online presentation with London's Taymour Grahne Projects. Diving Into Oblivion is a "haunting new series of works on paper that explore the complexities of selfhood, psychological tension, and the past, through fragmented narratives and dreamlike figures. Each piece could be part of a larger story—but also exists independently, within its own self-contained universe." The color used by Morteza captures a significant mood here, something quite a bit darker than his past bodies of paintings but a tone that moves the work into a more personal tension. It's another stunner from the Iranian-born painter. —Evan Pricco