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Fearless: The next wave of artists from Iran

March 2016

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Once there was a crack and a break and the bottom fell out and a great void appeared: a black hole.

 

Everyone who ventured near this magnetic whirlpool was sucked in and disappeared. At first, tears, chaos and terror reigned. Then, as each generation grew thicker skins and learned the ways of the black hole and how to feed and outwit it, the howling hole became a fact of life. By the fourth generation nothing had fundamentally changed: the black hole was there to stay. If the people had only one life to live it had to be lived on the edge and fearlessly. The people learnt.

 

Fearless is about 33 artists from Iran who have been working and working regardless of the market's madness because they are manically obsessed with what they do. These 33 artists have been expressly chosen from various generations (from 25 to 75 years old). There is no age limit to being an obsessive courageous lunatic working silently.

 

“It is always hard choosing 33 artists from so many unsung heroes but it has to be done so apologies for not having enough space to include every one,” says Fereydoun Ave, who has carefully selected pieces by these artists. “None of these artists have had media or market attention because of their obsession with work and not personal hype so I am glad to champion them.” In a time and space where nothing fundamentally changes, to continue working on personal visions is fearless and to see fear as the only real censorship is to come out of the shadows.

 

Fearless will open simultaneously at Total Arts in Dubai and three galleries in Tehran - Araan Projects, Lajevardi Foundation and O Gallery - showcasing these 33 artists who give visuality to fearlessness.

 

The paintings, photographs, sculptures and installations here encompass both figurative and abstract works, different in styles and media, and have been created by artists drawing on vastly different social, political and stylistic influences.

 

The full list of artists whose works are represented in the exhibition comprises Sara Abbasian, Sasan Abri, Nasser Bakhshi, Reza Bangiz, Afshan Daneshvar, Habib Farajabadi, Soussan Farjam, Nariman Farokhi, Farhad Gavzan, Kasra Golrang, Mohamad Hossein Golamzadeh, Vahid Hakim, Hadi Hazavi, Mehrdad Jafari, Ebrahim Kadem-Bayat, Nogol Mazloumi, Arsia Moghadam, Amir Mohamadzadeh, Omid Moshksar, Kaveh Najmabadi, Zahra Navaie, Farokh Nooroney, Mehrdad Pournazarali, Sepehr Mesri,  Mohamad Pirati, Ali Razavi, Ashkan Sanei, Baktash Sarang, Sadegh Sadeghipour, Sharvin Shahrokh, Parissa Tayebi, Mohamad Reza Yazdi and Hossein Ali Zabehi.

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