The latest in our ongoing “Lists” series, we bring you Art Radar‘s eight best articles on Iranian contemporary artists. Ranging from photography and painting to calligraphy and embroidery, Iran’s art is diverse, versatile and powerful.
“Our House Is on Fire” series, 2013. © Shirin Neshat. Image courtesy the artist and Gladstone Gallery, New York and Brussels.
March 2014
Iranian-born artist Shirin Neshat and Christy MacLear, the Executive Director of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, spoke to Art Radar about the Foundation’s One-to-One artist initiative, the exhibition “Our House is on Fire” in New York City, and Neshat’s internationally acclaimed works on culture, gender and politics.
Katayoun Karami, ‘Untitled’, from “Stamp” series, 2005, digital photographs, 16 x 21 cm. Image courtesy Brunei Gallery, SOAS.
January 2014
The exhibition “Recalling the Future: Post-revolutionary Iranian Art” (January to March 2014) at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) presented post-revolutionary Iranian art to London audiences. The 25 contemporary Iranian artists on show challenge the assumption of a single national identity and the existence of “authentic Iranianness”.
Click here to read more about and see images from the exhibition.
Melodie Hojabar Sadat, ‘Persian Style’, 2013, marker and pen on paper, 42 x 20 cm. Image courtesy the artist.
January 2014
Iran’s tumultuous history and troubled relationship with the West has, for many decades, overshadowed the wealth of culture and artistic innovation to be found there. The Culture Trip tells us more about “Good News from Iran”, a 2013 exhibition at Endjavi-Barbé Art Projects in Switzerland that revealed a fresh and positive aspect of the Iranian contemporary arts scene.
Click here to read more about the exhibition and its featured artists.
Golnaz Fathi, untitled, 2011, acrylic on canvas, 150 x 200 cm. Image courtesy the artist.
September 2013
Trained as a traditional calligrapher in Iran, artist Golnaz Fathi exhibited her Persian-inspired works for the first time in China from 15 September to 10 November 2013 at Pearl Lam Galleries in Shanghai. The exhibition included 23 new works in a wide range of media including pen on canvas, LED light works and acrylic on canvas. Art Radar spoke to the artist about her hopes and expectations for her major debut in China.
Click here to know more about Fathi’s exhibition “The Living Road” and her artistic practice.
Boushra Almutawakel, “Mother, Daughter, Doll” series, 2010, chromogenic prints. © Boushra Almutawakel. Image courtesy the artist, East Wing Contemporary Gallery and Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
August 2013
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston’s exhibition “She Who Tells a Story: Women Photographers from Iran and the Arab World” (27 August 2013 to 12 January 2014) showed works by twelve women photographers from Iran and the Arab World. The first exhibition of Arab women photographers in North America, it challenged stereotypes of how women are perceived and represented across the region.
Click here to read more about the exhibition and why it was important.
Farhad Moshiri, ‘Self portrait on flying carpet’, 2009, embroidery and acrylic on canvas, 180 x 180 cm. Photograph by Guillaume Ziccarelli. Image courtesy Galerie Perrotin.
July 2013
Iran’s top contemporary artists command high prices at auction. Do you know who they are? In the 35 years since the Revolution, Iran has emerged as one of the most prolific and productive countries for contemporary art in the Arab region. As a number of exhibitions and cultural fairs are highlighting Iranian art in 2013, Art Radar spotlights eight of Iran’s best known contemporary artists.
Click here to read profiles of eight influential Iranian artists.
Mitra Tabrizian, ‘The Long Wait’, 2005. Image courtesy the artist and Wapping Project Bankside.
June 2013
On 3 June 2013, the Royal Academy of Arts, London, announced Tehran-born, London-based photographer Mitra Tabrizian as winner of the Rose Award for Photography. The Long Wait is a portrait of a female Iranian exile who is anonymous and whose story remains unknown to the public. The photograph brings together ideas of East and West in its exploration of migration, belonging and contemporary culture.
Click here to read more about Mitra Tabrizian, her award-winning photograph and the “Border” series.
Mashaallah Mohammadi, untitled, 2001, oil on canvas, 47 x 67 cm. Part of “Animation & Painting” at Merg Gallery, Arbil, Kurdistan.
July 2012
In Kurdistan, the Ministry of Culture and the Iranian-British arts organisation ArtRole joined forces to show new media art. PressTV reporter Dale McEwan was in Erbil, Kurdistan in June 2012 to cover an exhibition of work by Mashaallah Mohammadi, an Iranian-Kurdish painter and animator.
Click here to read more about the exhibition and artist Mashaallah Mohammadi.
Want to look through our archives yourself? Click here to take a look at what else we have written on Iranian contemporary art and artists.
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Related Topics: Iranian, photography, lists, identity art, Islamic art, political art, art about war, women artists
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