islamicists, republicans, all working within this field and giving their own voice. so we wanted to represent that dynamic period of modernism, when iranian artists were really exploring different ways of expressing their own modernity. we have oil paintings, and sculpture, and photography. we have film, installation work, and animation. and over half our artists are women, so really creating a very dynamic voice. within the era of modernism, it's interesting to look at some of those key artists, all of whom are iconic today. so we can look at someone like sirak melkonian —
so we can look at someone like sirak melkonian — his work, "veiled woman", won the first prize of the very first tehran biennal in 1958. he has explored local idioms and nuances, and his portrayal on these flat washes of colour of a woman emerging from a bathhouse in downtown tehran, looking at you sideways, really exemplifies the kind of exploration that artists were interested in doing then. the incredible thing is that there is this misnomer in western art history that modernism was something that was invented in the west, and then exported like a good around the world. whereas, in fact, in the kind of transnational modernisms that are being explored now, we re—understand
it's interesting to look at some of those key artists, all of whom are iconic today. so we can look at someone like sirak melkonian — his work, "veiled woman", won the first prize of the very first tehran biennal in 1958. he has explored local idioms and nuances, and his portrayal on these flat washes of colour of a woman emerging from a bathhouse in downtown tehran, looking at you sideways, really exemplifies the kind of exploration that artists were interested in doing then.
within the era of modernism, it's interesting to look at some of those key artists, all of whom are iconic today. so we can look at someone like sirak melkonian — his work, "veiled woman", won the first prize of the very first tehran biennal in 1958. he has explored local idioms and nuances, and his portrayal on these flat washes of colour of a woman emerging from a bathhouse in downtown tehran, looking at you sideways, really exemplifies the kind of exploration that artists were interested in doing then. the incredible thing is that there is this misnomer in western art history that
all working within this field and giving their own voice. so we wanted to represent that dynamic period of modernism, where iranian artists were really exploring different ways of expressing their modernity. we have oil paintings, sculpture, and photography. we have film, installation work, and animation. and over half our artists are women, so really creating a very dynamic voice. within the era of modernism, it's interesting to look at some of those key artists, all of whom are iconic today. so we can look at someone like sirak melkonian — his work, "veiled woman", won the first prize
The Middle Eastern financier Mohammed Afkhami is putting his collection of Modern and contemporary art by Iranian artists on public display once again. The exhibition
Rebel, Jester, Mystic, Poet: Contemporary Persians is due to open at the Asia Society in New York this autumn (10 September-16 January 2022), featuring works by 22 artists including Farhad Moshiri, Shirin Aliabadi and Afruz Amighi; the touring show has already been seen at the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
This time though, the political context is different. When the show opened in Canada in January 2017, it coincided with Trump’s controversial travel ban targeting travellers from mainly Muslim countries. “The timing is very good for a couple of reasons: New York should be fully open from July and the US is driving ahead with its vaccination programme. The Biden administration and the Saudi government are keen to come to an accord with Iran; it’ll come to a head around the UN meeting due to take place late September in New York. This gives the exhibition a topical perspective,” Afkhami says.