By Syma Sayyah, Tehran

Kambiz Derambakhsh is a cartoonist whose work delights the viewers while at the same time makes them think.  A native of Shiraz, the city of love and poetry in central Iran, he is one of Iran's most prominent caricaturists. He is well known internationally and his work has been exhibited in more than 50 exhibitions in Iran and Europe, including Aida Arts in Hamburg, Wilhelm Busch Museum, Dusseldorf Art Gallery in Germany and Basel Caricature Museum in Switzerland.  He has also been a professor at Tehran university Arts School as well as having his work printed in many newspapers and magazines in the world such as Die Zeit, Le Monde and the New York Times.

Kambiz Derambakhsh has won many international awards from Italy to Brazil, from Belgium to South Korea and from Japan to Canada.  He has compiled two books of his works which have already been published and is working on more, and his Iranian special calendars go like hot cakes every year as soon as they come out.

Kambiz uses his cartoons to define the humor that he wishes to express.  He said once that he is always looking to find inspiration for his work.  His cartoons use many lines and they are to bring out his art and he keeps drawing them until he gets the exact line that he wants.  He uses characters from the alphabet and turns them into human figures.

Most of his works are in black and white, although in the past two decades he has began to use color in his work but still they are quite subdued.  Everything in his work, like himself, is delightful and simple yet they enjoy a deep meaning and are powerful without being overriding and ostentatious.  His cartoons are simple and do not use any language, yet they are able to convey their message powerfully.

I have met him many times in Tehran and we were delighted to attend the opening of his recent exhibition at the Haft Samar Gallery where again we saw some of his recent works where as always their simplicity speaks a thousand words but they are nonetheless mind provoking. To me he is a first class minimalist artist who can say it all with a few lines.

He told me that an artist's duty is to "sooth and relieve the suffering of the people's souls"� and what you see is like a medicine for that.

Here are a few examples of his past works and a few from his recent exhibition:

Haft Samar Gallery, No. 25, 5th St., Kooh-e-Noor St., Motahari Ave. Tel: 88731403.