Visual Dialogues | The Book of Kings | Shirin Neshat & Fereydoun Ave | March 2019
Secret of Words
Mehran Mohajer & Sadegh Tirafkan
November 2006
Total Arts Gallery at the Courtyard and Massoud Nader Present exhibition of Photography by Sadegh Tirafkan with support of Silk Road Gallery this exhibition is accompanied by photographs of Mehran Mohajer Sadegh Tirafkan is a persevering artist who navigates through time and culture in search of his place and identity as an Iranian man in the contemporary world. The medium of photography has become his main platform to construct powerful visual plays, using a combination of elements that he seasons sufficiently with symbolism.
The significance of symbolism throughout Tirafkan’s body of work comes from his Persian root in which direct dialogue is rarely used, but frequently replaced by symbolic languages. How do you inform a culture that has three thousand years of history, rich in tradition and essentially a homogenous and male dominated society? Tirafkan expresses his concerns through images of numerous self-portraits and portraits of friends. He once said, "I began photography by recording what surrounded me. Now I take what is around me in the studio and make it into what I see through the prism of my life and culture." Tirafkan poses himself and others in the studio time after time to explore the meaning of being a contemporary Iranian. Blending tradition, history and memory, he recreates visually compelling scenes that build visceral connection to his ancient country. And this is where the strength and beauty of Tirafkan's work lie.
In reinventing and revisiting Iranian tradition he is also criticizing and challenging his ancestors' long-standing authority. In spite the highly eloquent appearances; I see two hidden trends in his work, which the artist has perhaps introduced even without realizing it: a theatrical staging of all the historic drama of his country, all the painful events of which he experienced intensely, and a discreet journey towards a spirituality which emanates from his whole vision. Here, Tirafkan surreptitiously rejoins the mystical quest which remains, whether we like it or not, the key-stone of any metaphysical edifice of the Iranian world. Born in Iran in 1965, Tirafkan trained as a photographer at the University of Fine Arts in Tehran. Since the late 1990’s he has participated in numerous solo exhibitions and group shows, in Tehran, Paris and New York.
Tirafkan’s work offers an eloquent meditation on modern Iranian man’s relationship to his past and on his search for a meaningful identity in the present. Identity, history and memory have been central concerns in the work of non-western artists since the era of colonialism. Tirafkan, frequently using himself as a model, revisits and reinvents these themes in his series of enigmatic yet visually compelling photographs. He uses words and symbols to communicate with the audience and
Abstract & Lanscape
Mohseni Kermanshahi
February 2005
A. Mohseni was born in 1960, in Kermanshah west of Iran. He started painting with Master Rahim Navesi before moving to Tehran. He held his first one-man show in 1994 and has come a long way from his humble beginnings. Landscape, traditional life and nature were always his main subjects to paint and after moving to UAE he found this passion in the local scenery. T
his exhibition would be an exceptional one in Mohseni’s career since he is entering a new period after 10 years of professionally painting landscapes and still life witch is still the close to Mohseni’s heart in a different way. Mohseni has participated in more than 40 solo and group exhibitions in Iran including Tehran Contemporary Art Museum, Australia, Kuwait and the UAE. Mohseni has won a special award from Tehran Contemporary Art Museum as the best Artist of the year in 1996. Mohseni has published 2 books, which are: 1. Nature in the painting of Abdol Hossein Mohseni 2. Painting of Abdol Hossein Mohsenis He is working on two new books at present.
MOZHDEH ZANDIEH-GRAYSON
Tehran, Iran
Mozhdeh Zandieh-Grayson is an interdisciplinary visual artist whose work spans various disciplines. Her poetic and phenomenological practices encompass installations, sculpture, mixed media, drawing, photography, and motion art, challenging viewers with thought-provoking dichotomies within conceptual spaces. Mozhdeh's art delves into the fragility and sensitivity of human perception, blending opposing elements to evoke a unique sense of both familiarity and unfamiliarity in the sense of inside and outside.
Mozhdeh is a Dubai-based interdisciplinary visual artist, born into an Iranian family amidst the terror and chaos of war in Tehran. Her first sense of art was a refuge from fear to the solace of imagination. This childhood discovery and the subsequent experience of contradiction deeply influence her artistic expression and exploration of perception's personal and collective impact on humanity's future.
She received a BA Degree in graphic design from Soore Art University of Tehran and later in 2020 a Master’s Degree in Fine Arts (MAF) from UCA University, UK. She began her career as a Co. Founder and creative designer at Line & Design House studio in Tehran, collaborating with the leading Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults. She transitioned and has been establishing roots in the Dubai creative scene since 2006. While engaging in various creative disciplines such as graphic design, set design, product design, and digital art, her focus and curiosity always gravitated towards unconventional fine arts mediums.
In 2014, Mozhdeh's mixed-media paintings gained recognition at a biennale in Paris, where they were exhibited and sold. Since then, she pursued her career as a Visual Artist and her work has been showcased in various art events, awards, publications, and exhibitions across Dubai, France, and the UK. Notably, her large-scale installations, both digital and physical, were featured in prominent venues such as the Dubai Financial Center, and DIFC Art Nights and her pieces also being featured in Art Dubai. Mozhdeh was an active member of the Tashkeel artists community, the featured artist of the Emerging Artists Scene and has been collaborating with Total Arts Gallery, presenting works like "Hands, Hearts, Skins, Eyes" (November 2021) and "The Darker The Brighter" Dark-room Installation (January 2023). Her ongoing project, "Every You, Every Me" Site-specific Installation (2023) with the subject of “Hope” is her most travelled installation in the UAE, aims to dismiss the wall between art and people by taking the installation to the public spaces.
