24th June - 11th July 2009 at Asia House, London
|
Peyman Hooshmanzadeh, Ali, Windshields Series, Courtesy the
artist |
Made in Iran is a group show, providing a rare chance to
see some of the most exciting work by young contemporary artists currently
living and working in the modern Islamic Republic of Iran. Opening at Asia House
on 23rd June, the exhibition celebrates the vibrancy of this new generation of
artists, revealing how they reconcile their artistic practice with working in a
post-revolutionary landscape dominated by a complex political and religious
hegemony.
The artists featured in Made in Iran have developed their
own visual practices in response to their experience of life in Tehran - a city
where 70% of the population are under 35. Working in diverse media from
photography to digital drawing, the exhibition highlights how they and their
peers attempt to circumvent authority by evolving their own strategies of self
expression. Although life is full of constraints, there is a desire to live in
Tehran and, through their art, create a bearable alternative whilst examining
issues of tradition and modernity, the public and the private experience of
daily life, nostalgia and belonging.
The contradiction between ancient traditions and new way of life
can be seen in Nazgol Ansarinia's digital drawings; in which she
transforms traditional motifs and gives them an edge by working in scenes of
contemporary life from Iran. Thus we are prompted to re-examine what at first
glance appears to be a classic form of imagery but is in fact a visual
representation local Iranian life - men, women and children queuing, chatting,
playing and driving.
|
Shirin Aliabadi, Hybrid Girl 6,
2008, Courtesy the artist |
Shirin Aliabadi's works capture how Iranian women reshape
their own images - transforming themselves as acts of cultural rebellion. Her
photographic series features women with blond hair, coloured contact lenses, and
surgical nose tape (Iran has the highest rhinoplasty rates in the world); and
explores the cracks in monolithic societies that allow small subcultures to
flourish.
Themes of self expression are also evident in Peyman
Hooshmandzadeh's 'Windshields' series of photographs. Displaying various
people behind windshields together with the decals and car stickers Iranians use
to customise their cars in order to express their personalities.
Behrouz Rae's Gulliver series of postcards examines t
he
contradiction between a desire for escape and that of belonging. Gathered during
his travels or sent to him by his mother he frequently superimposes his own
images into the frames.
After a life spent surrounded by different sets of slogans
Arash Hanaei's works 'City Land Escapes' and 'Billboards' show Tehran as a
palimpsest - with its physical structure being built and rebuilt over and over
again, and on which political, economical and social texts are superimposed.
Vahid Sharifian's series of digital photographs
recontextualise images of Sophia Loren culled from an out of print 1972
cookbook. Sharifian's work touches on themes as wide-ranging as public
personality, individual identity, sex and food, and the recent political history
of the artist's home country.
Simin Keramati explores female identity with her portraits
of women wearing a mask like excesses of make up. Her portrait 'Make Up'
features a woman with closed lips and blood red lipstick smeared across her
cheek as if she wishes to speak of an objection to a society where sensuality is
stripped from the female form, but cannot. The artist herself explains, "Make
up" is a painting from the series "self portrait", all the works are about the
objections I have to the society I live in as an artist. The work "make up" is a
bitter portrait of a woman tired of wearing too much make up, her skin reminds
us the plastic texture of a mask, the red lipstick around her lips reminds us of
the color of blood... In the society I live in you are not permitted to wear
make up but on the contrary women love to wear too much of it, but it is much
more complicated when you want to talk about your needs, you could bring your
life at risk (like the movement of women in Iran, they've put them in jail for
demanding their basic needs), this portrait shows a woman with closed lips with
the color of blood, she wants to say something."
About the curators A&E
Made in Iran is the first collaboration by curators and art
consultants Arianne Levene and Églantine de Ganay who have spent the last 5
years travelling to source the most interesting emerging artists for foundations
and private collectors.
Arianne Levene
Since completing a Masters in Contemporary Art at the Courtauld Institute,
Arianne Levene has worked within the art world, most notably at Sotheby's, UBS
and for Lord Jacob Rothschild. She has since set up her own art consultancy, New
Art World, advising major collectors on contemporary art from India, Pakistan,
Iran and the Middle East.
Eglantine de Ganay
After studying law, Eglantine de Ganay completed a Masters in Art Management
at the EAC in Paris. Scouring the globe she invests a great amount of personal
time and energy into sourcing the best in contemporary art from emerging
markets, particularly China, for clients all over the world.
"While there is a lot of interest in Iranian art, often
the focus is on the more established artists who fit with an exoticised view of
Iran," says Levene, "we wanted to show a vibrant new generation of
artists whose practice reflects a more heterogeneous view of life there."
Key information
Made in Iran will take place from 23rd June - 11th July 2009 at
Asia House
Address: 63 New Cavendish Street, London W1G 7LP
Opening hours: 10am to 6pm Monday to Saturday, closed Sunday
Nearest tubes: Oxford Circus, Regents Park and Portland Street.
Participating artists
Shirin Aliabadi
Born in 1973 in Tehran, Shirin Aliabadi studied Art History and Archaeology
at the University of Paris. She has exhibited in New York, London, Paris,
Germany, Denmark, Dubai, Germany and Sweden.
Nazgol Ansarinia
Born in 1979 Ansarinia lives and works and Tehran. She is one of three
short-listed nominees of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative 2008. She
is also, with curator Leyla Fakhr, one of three artist/curator team winners of
the inaugural Abraaj Capital Art prize, 2009.
|
Nazgol Ansarania, Patterns
Courtesy the artist |
Arash Hanaei
Born 1978 in Tehran Arash Hanei graduated in Photography from Azad
University of Art, Iran in 2002. He went on to complete the Photo-Dialogue
Contest, Iranian Artist's Forum, Tehran, Iran and showed at the 9th Biennial of
Iranian Contemporary Photography, Tehran. He has completed residencies in New
Delhi and Johannesburg and has participated in numerous group and solo
exhibitions globally.
|
Arash Hanaei, City Land Escapes 3,
2008-2009, Courtesy the artist |
Peyman Hooshmandzadeh
Born 1969 in Tehran he studied a BA in Photography at Azad University in
Tehran. He has exhibited in numerous solo and group shows within and outside
Tehran including: Switzerland, UK, Paris, Bulgaria, Turkey, Australia, Denmark,
France and Germany. He won First Prize in 2007 for the Second Humorous Photo
Festival in Tehran and in 2006 First Prize for the First Shoukha Photography
Award.
Simin Keramati
Born 1970, in Tehran, Kermati took a B.A. in English Language and then went
on to complete a B.A. and MA in 1996 in Fine Art at the University in Tehran.
She was in 2004 winner of the Grand prize at Asia Art Biennial and was
shortlisted for the 2009 Magic of Persia Contemporary Art Prize.
|
Simin Keramati, Make Up,
Courtesy the artist |
Berhouz Rae was born in Azerbaijan in 1979, he moved to
Tehran in the 1980's where he still lives and works. He has a B.A. in
Photography from Azad University, Tehran. He has participated in numerous solo
and group shows outside Tehran including Switzerland, France, Australia, Spain
and U.K.
|
Behrouz Rae, Untitled. Gulliver 3, Courtesy the artist |
Vahid Sharifian
Born in 1982 in Isfahan, he received a B.A in painting from the University
of Tehran where he is still based. He is represented by the renowned XVA Gallery
in Dubai and has exhibited in London and Paris.
