You never know what's going to happen next!
When I arrived, he said that he had pain in his chest and could not lie down. I called my doctor (and my guardian angel) Dr Shahnaz Atabak and explained the symptoms. Immediately she said that I must take him to an emergency unit, he most probably has had a heart attack. -Syma Sayyah, Tehran - 5/8/08
Natural Dyes Return To Oriental Carpets But Without The Famous Insect Reds
When Iranian photographer Javid Tafazoli was walking through a weaving village in the mountains of Chaharmahal va Bakhtiyari province, far to the west of Isfahan, he saw an arresting sight. It was a cascade of recently dyed red wool hanging from a tree. -Charles Recknagelis - 5/7/08
Tanavoli's Persepolis sculpture breaks record at Dubai art sale
Tanavoli's sculpture 'The Wall (Oh Persepolis)' reportedly fetched some $2.84 million at Christie's fourth auction of modern and contemporary art in Dubai on Wednesday. - 5/2/08
Iranian painter Ovissi to open gallery in homeland
An exhibition displaying 38 works of the U.S.-based Iranian painter Nasser Ovissi until May 16 will serve as the opening show of the gallery, which is located at No. 20, Azar Alley, Nateq-Nuri St., Gol-Nabi St., Pasdaran Ave. -Tehran Times - 5/1/08
Profile: Iranian-American Artist, Rassouli
RASSOULI is a visionary artist who has come to the attention of the international art world in recent years. What makes his art so unique is the way he translates spiritual experience from his subconscious onto canvas through meditation at sunrise. - 4/30/08
Iranian Artists Star in Christie's $10 Million Dubai Auction
Works by Iranian artists, including Parviz Tanavoli and Charles Hossein Zenderoudi, will star in a Christie's International art auction that is expected to raise at least $10 million in Dubai tomorrow. -Bloomberg - 4/30/08
Drawing Oriental Carpet Designs Is An Artform Of Its Own
Long before most town and city carpets are woven, the design is recorded on paper. The drawing, or 'cartoon,' is what the weavers follow to create their patterns. And when the designs are complex, preparing the cartoons becomes an art form in itself. -Charles Recknagelis - 4/23/08
PROFILE: Parviz Homai, Parviz Art Fashion-NYC
Persians made their greatest contributions of art and culture through long and complex historical experiences that spread through many countries, and now its intricacy has reached the USA. - 4/23/08
Politics, cartoons and more: An interview with Nikahang Kowsar
Nikahang Kowsar, an Iranian cartoonist, radio producer, news-wire editor, blogger and photographer, recently attended a conference hosted by the International Center for Journalists (ICFJ), which brought together journalists to discuss social, economic, and political issues in Iran. -Fariba Amini - 4/21/08
Exhibition by Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian in London: GEOMETRY OF HOPE
Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian is one of Iran's most inspiring artists, whose distinguished career has spanned more than five decades. - 4/14/08
Veteran Iranian artist Abbas Katuzian dies
Veteran artist Abbas Katuzian died at his home in the capital on Saturday morning. He was 85. Katuzian passed away two days after the opening of his painting exhibit at Tehran's Niavaran Cultural Center. - 4/13/08
Tehran's Assyrian association to pay tribute to photographer Yaghobzadeh
The Assyrian Association of Tehran and its representative office in Majlis are to pay tribute to world famous Iranian photographer Alfred Yaghobzadeh for his great endeavor in registering the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war scenes. - 4/6/08
ART: Taraneh Hemami's Spring Projects
Iranian-American artist Taraneh Hemami is participating in three events this spring: An exhibition opening at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, a Residency and show at the Lab, and a show she was co-curator of at SomArts as well as several other shows and panel discussions related to these works. - 4/3/08
NEVER BEEN TO TEHRAN
Imagine a city that you've only seen in reproductions or perhaps have merely heard about. A place, like many others, that only exists for you through indirect sources--the nightly news, hearsay, literature, magazines, movies, and the Internet. - 4/2/08
After the Revolution: Contemporary Photography from Tehran and California
The San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery is pleased to present After the Revolution, a groundbreaking group exhibition of contemporary photography by Iranian artists from Tehran and California as part of our ongoing Art at City Hall program. - 4/2/08
New Art Pieces by Sara Rahbar: On Tolerance
Iranian-American artist Sara Rahbar has completed new flag pieces for a commission for the Queens Museum of Art on the subject of tolerance. - 3/28/08
Inner Eye: The photographs of Riccardo Zipoli at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art
Last month we were invited to attend the opening of one of the major artistic events of the year, a photographic exhibition at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art. The event was organized by the new director of the TMCA, Dr Sadeghi and Mr Toscano, the Italian Ambassador in Tehran with the relentless efforts of the Italian cultural attaché in Tehran, Ms. Felicetta Ferraro. -Syma Sayyah and Paul Sanford, Tehran - 3/18/08
Winners of 7th Iran Contemporary Painting Biennial announced
The winners of the seventh edition of the Iran Contemporary Painting Biennial were announced here on Wednesday at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (TMCA). - 3/14/08
Inside Iran's Billion-Dollar Art Basement
When some of the collection briefly went on display in 2005 Andre Derain's "Golden Age," a 1905 painting of female nudes, was notably absent. Also hidden was the centerpiece of a Frances Bacon painting triptych. The center panel could be taken as homoerotic, showing two naked men asleep in bed. -ABC News - 3/10/08
Record Sale at Bonhams Puts Iranian Painter in $1 Million Club
Farhad Moshiri became the first artist from the Middle East to sell a work of art at auction for more than $1 million yesterday when ``Love'' sold for $1,048,000 at Bonhams's first Dubai auction. -Bloomberg - 3/5/08
Photos: Teahouse Paintings Exhibition in Tehran
During our visit to Iran in August 2007, we paid a visit to the House of Artists in Tehran. In of the galleries there, an exhibition of teahouse paintings was in progress. The paintings were simply fantastic. Many of them were depicting scenes from Shahnameh (Ferdowsi's The Book of Kings) or those of Imam Hussain's martyrdom. -Ali Moayedian - 3/3/08
Tehran's "Seven Views" exhibition wraps up with $300,000 in sale
The second edition of the exhibition entitled "Seven Views" displaying works by the giants of Iranian visual arts drew to a close on Saturday, having sold 180 artworks with takings of approximately $300,000. -MNA - 3/2/08
Iranian illustrators enter Venetian talent hunt
Ninety Iranian artists are to take part in the 14th International Competition of Illustrations which is being held by the Venetian Teatrio Cultural Association in Italy on March 25 and 26. -MNA - 3/1/08
Picasso would like Persepolis
Written by an Iranian immigrant to France, Persepolis is the autobiographical life story of the author, Marjane Satrapi, a truly artistic and visionary woman with rare courage. Her ability to take extremely intense and confusing subjects such as Marxism, Leninism, dictatorship, democracy, theocracy, freedom, rebellion, materialism, sex, love, drugs, cultural differences and more, and accommodate them inside a short book of diagrams and a two-hour animated movie, is indeed ingenious......Persepolis is the story of all of us - Mehr “Jay” Shahidi - 2/22/08
Help Cyrus the Great Project
Filmmaker Cyrus Kar was captured by U.S. forces in Iraq on May 17, 2005 and jailed in solitary confinement for nearly two months while filming his documentary "In search of Cyrus the Great" the founder of the greatest and most just Empire the world had ever seen. - 2/20/08
"Jan-i-Gal" screened in U.S.
"Jan-i-Gal" has been selected to represent Iraq in the category of Best Foreign Language Film at the 80th Annual Academy Awards this year. - 2/20/08
Washington Theatre Group - Dirt
Dirt is a powerful, dramatic and gripping melodrama that confronts prejudice and hatred. The award-winning play is directed by David Levin and stars Shahin Shakibi - University of Maryland - 2/20/08
Italian show lauds Iranian cartoonists
Three Iranian cartoonists have won prizes at the 40th edition of the international show of humorous graphics, Umoristi a Marostica, which was held recently in Vicenza, northeastern Italy. - Mehr - 2/19/08
Egypt summons Danish ambassador over cartoons
The Egyptian government has summoned the ambassador of Denmark in Cairo to protest at the reprinting of cartoons lampooning the Prophet Mohammed in Danish newspapers, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday. - Reuters - 2/19/08
Iraqi Deaths Pain Sharon Stone
The star of "Basic Instinct" and other movies criticized both Arab countries and Israel for failing to resolve their decades-long conflict. She said she also opposes any military conflict with Iran. - AP - 2/19/08
Over 100 artworks sold on first day of "Seven Views"
One hundred and fifteen artworks were sold on the first day of the second edition of the "Seven Views" expo, which opened on February 15 at Tehran's Niavaran Cultural Center. - 2/16/08
PAF presents Weaving the Common Thread: Perspectives from Iranian Artists in New York
In its third successful year as an organization devoted to providing a platform for Persian artists and visionaries, Persian Arts Festival (PAF) has joined forces with the Queens Museum of Art (QMA) to present a groundbreaking exhibition, Weaving the Common Thread, that investigates how contemporary Persian art has been influenced and inspired by the post-revolutionary Iranian Diaspora. - 2/15/08
7th Iran Contemporary Painting Biennial kicks off in Tehran
The 7th Iran Contemporary Painting Biennial was inaugurated at the Saba Art and Cultural Institute on Tuesday. Five hundred artworks by 430 artists have been put on display and 30 veteran guest artists are also participating. - 2/13/08
Dream of Peace in Persian Gulf: 15th Environmental Art Festival in Iran at the Persian Gulf (January 2008)
On the 26th of January 2008, fifty artists accompanied me and we traveled to the Persian Gulf (Hormoz Island). More than 50 local artists joined us and we realized a new environmental art event. I was responsible to select artists and act as an art director. So far, I was responsible for 15 environmental art festivals in Iran. There were many more event and projects. -Ahmad Nadalian - 2/12/08
Iran: Photographer of dessert terrains Nikol Faridani dies
Iranian photographer of dessert terrains Nikol Faridani died on Wednesday at his home, beside his photos and cameras. He was 72. - 2/7/08
Mahdokht Khanboluki: A lovely princess with chic silence
One of the best things that happened to me toward the end of the year was to come to know a lady painter who just paints for the love of it. I had seen an example of her work in the restaurant at the Artists Forum and asked for her contact details, and last month I went to meet Ms Mahdokht Khanboluki at her house and was impressed with the warmth of her works. -Syma Sayyah, Tehran - 2/5/08
A flower in the middle of the desert!
On our 3rd day in Tehran, we visited a couple of museums and then went to the House Of Artists. On our way back, we were passing through Fakhrabad, one of the old neighborhoods in central Tehran, when my niece pointed at a glass gallery. The contrast couldn't have been more. -Ali Moayedian - 1/31/08
World land artists flock to Hormoz Island in Persian Gulf
A group of Iranian and foreign artists are heading to Hormoz Island in southern Iran on January 26 to take part in Iran's 15th Persian Gulf Environmental Art Festival. American conservation artist Barbara Roux and German artist and musician Sibyll Kalff are currently in Iran to attend the program - 1/22/08
Persian Gulf Environmental Art Festival to be held on January 26th
Iran's 15th festival of environmental art focusing on campaign against war and militarization of the Persian Gulf will be commenced in Hormuz island on the 26th of January. -ISNA - 1/21/08
Report: Second Persian Gulf Environmental Art Festival
During the last week of 2007 (25 -29, 2007) a new environmental art festival was held on the coast of Hormoz, in the Persian Gulf. More than 80 artists gathered on this beautiful island to create environmental installations and sand sculptures. The festival also included a number of art performances. -Ahmad Nadalian - 1/15/08
Children worldwide invited to enter Tehran's painting biennial
In an announcement released by the Public Relations Office of the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIDCYA), all Iranian and foreign children aged from 3 to 12 are invited to submit paintings to the secretariat of the biennial before February 19. - 1/13/08
Profile: Iranian-American Artist Vahid Reza Ramezani
Vahid Reza Ramezani is an Iranian American living in Rockville, Maryland. He studied applied mathematics and electrical engineering at the University of Maryland at College Park and received his PhD from there in 2001. - 1/10/08
Portraits of Ahmad Shamlou
Recently we had the opportunity to see some interesting watercolor portraits of Iran's most well known modern poet, the late Mr Ahmad Shamlou (1925-2000) by Mr Hossein Bahmanpour who is from Shiraz. -Syma Sayyah, Tehran - 1/7/08
The secret lives of us
From beauty salons to traditional male strongholds, Iranian women are using photography to show their country in a different light. Kate Connolly reports -Guardian - 1/3/08
Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art to showcase Riccardo Zipoli photos
Zipoli is a professor of Persian language and literature at the University of Venice where he himself studied. Iranian photographer Seifollah Samadian is acting as secretary of the event. - 12/30/07
Exhibition: Paintings of Koroush Shishegaran in New York
Koroush Shishegaran, the famous Iranian painter who has been awarded in various national and international painting competitions, is going to display his paintings in New York. - 12/30/07
Winners of fifth Tehran Sculpture Biennial announced
The winners of the fifth Tehran Contemporary Sculpture Biennial were announced during a ceremony held at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art on Wednesday. -MNA - 12/30/07
You are Not Alone!: An exhibition by Mina Momeni
Mina Momeni is one of Iran's most promising young women artist photographers who combines intellect, sorrow and the art of her time through her photographs of ladies. At her latest exhibition at the Elahe Gallery we met her and had a chance to talk to her. -Syma Sayyah, Tehran - 12/28/07
Dutch children decorate ministry with Persian-style tableaus
The main entrance of the new building of the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science will be decorated with tile-work tableaus reflecting the style of Persian miniatures. -MNA - 12/22/07
Iran/PHOTO PERSANE
French Documentary on History of PHotography and Cinema in Iran - - 12/21/07
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