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Iranian Bodies

Posted by Zand-Bon on Jun 11th, 2010 and filed under Art & Culture, Photos, Sections, Video, video gallery. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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Opening Reception: Friday 19th February at 8pm

Curated by Edward Lucie-Smith and Janet Rady.

Fereydoun Ave, Mitra Farahani, Ramin Haerizadeh, Narmine Sadeg, Nikoo Tarkhani.

Iranian contemporary art, with the exception of the cinema, has only swum into western consciousness fairly recently. Because of the political tensions between the West and Iran, it is still largely misrepresented and misunderstood. Before looking at the specific cases offered by this exhibition, there are some general observations to be made. The first is that Iran possesses an extremely ancient culture, going back some three thousand years. The art of the present day has deep roots in that culture – to an extent often missed by western observers. The second is that Tehran, the largest city in the Middle East, with a population of nearly 8 million, has a lively indigenous art world. Most of the leading Iranian artists still live in their own country, at least part of the time and are proud to do so. The third is that, despite the Iranian Islamic Republic’s reputation for moral repression, the Iranian art of the present is often paradoxically very much concerned with the human body, and is frequently subtly infused with sexual connotation. The present show is designed to illustrate that fact.

Its contents will come as no surprise to anyone who has either visited Tehran, or who has any acquaintance with earlier Persian art and literature. Safavid miniatures from the time of Shah Abbas (1588-1629) often illustrate erotic subject matter. Hafez, Iran’s best-loved poet (ca. 1320-1390), as the entry on him in Wikipedia notes, “took as his major themes love, the celebration of wine and intoxication, and exposing the hypocrisy of those who have set themselves up as guardians, judges and examples of moral rectitude.” Striking features of today’s Tehran cityscape are huge propaganda murals. Many celebrate the tragic heroes of the bloody Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88. They are linked to an age-old Shia cult of martyrdom, but the protagonists are represented as if they were Hollywood film stars, looking out from the billboards on the Los Angeles Sunset Strip. With their handsome features and swimming eyes, these handsome young men seem designed to appeal to men and women alike.

The exhibition offers the work of five artists, two men and three women. The work of the men, Fereydoun Ave and Ramin Haerizadeh, demonstrates clearly how firmly rooted Iranian contemporary art is in Iranian popular culture. Fereydoun Ave’s series of digital prints, Rostam in Late Summer Revisited, refers to one of the heroes of the great Iranian epic, the Shahnameh or Book of Kings, written by the poet Ferdowsi around 1000 a.d. As Iranians know, Rostam’s symbolic attributes of manly strength and martial valor reappear today in the wrestlers known as pahlavans, who are practitioners of a traditional Sufi cult of physical exercise. This cult of wrestling permits a greater degree of male nudity than is usually permitted in Iran, and encourages an admiration of the male body.

Ramin Haerizadeh’s Men of Allah series, with its lubricious, effeminate mullahs, based on self-portraits of the artist, is inspired by a kind of Iranian folk theater called Taaziye, popular in the 19th century and still current today, where women’s roles are played by men. In one scene, much liked by the Iranian public, Ghassem, the brother of Imam Hossein, the founder of the Shia branch of Islam, is married to a chador-clad female who turns out to be a bearded man. The result, in Harizadeh’s hands, is a sly satire on clerical manners and morals. It is worth noting that Iran is the only Islamic nation with a strong theatrical tradition, which often relates, as here, to an equally strong tradition of figurative art. This tradition embraces images of effeminacy as well as images of strength, as is witnessed by the numerous portrait miniatures of seductive page-boys from the time of Shah Abbas.

The images offered by the three women artists are even bolder than those offered by the men. Aficionados of contemporary art who know little or nothing about Iran are always surprised to discover how many gifted women artists the country produces. Yet the Iranian artist with the biggest international reputation is undoubtedly Shirin Neshat, who remains true to her roots though she has now lived for many years in America. Another reaction, when westerners discover that women create a good deal of the most interesting art now being produced in Iran, is to assume, despite this, that women artists are constantly inhibited by a struggle against the conditions Iranian society imposes on them. The truth is that Iranian art made by women does have a strongly feminist streak, but that this feminism is different from its western equivalent. In particular, women artists living and working in Iran do not want to give up their roots in Iranian culture, and are offended to be thought of as being victims perpetually preoccupied by victimhood.

Mitra Farahani Bath (1) charcoal on cardboard, 100cm*70cm, 2008

Mitra Farahani Le Couple Bleute acrylic on canvas, 170cm*100cm, 2009

Mitra Farahani The Shower charcoal on cardboard, 120cm*80cm, 2008

Fereydoun Ave Rostam in late Summer Revisited Inkjetprint on paper, 100cm*75cm, Ed. 30/50, 2009

Mitra Farahani Hammam Foldingscreen, arcrylic on canvas, 170cm*400cm, 2009

Fereydoun Ave Rostam in late Summer Revisited Inkjetprint on paper, 100cm*67cm, Ed. 30/50, 2009

Ramin Haerizadeh Men of Allah C-Print, 100cm*150cm, Ed.10, 2008 Courtesy B21 Gallery

Narmine Sadeg Balancing Figures Man & Woman Mixed technique – steel, wood, plaster, fabric and wax. ca.150cm*100cm*150cm, 2009

Ramin Haerizadeh Men of Allah C-Print, 100cm*150cm, Ed.10, 2008 Courtesy B21 Gallery

Ramin Haerizadeh Men of Allah C-Print, 100cm*150cm, Ed.10, 2008 Courtesy B21 Gallery

Nikoo Tarkhani From the series This is not a woman, oil on canvas, 120cm*100cm, 2008

Nikoo Tarkhani From the series This is not a woman, oil on canvas, 120cm*100cm, 2008

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