AMIDST SHADOW AND LIGHTContemporary Iranian Art and Artists

AMIDST SHADOW AND LIGHTContemporary Iranian Art and ArtistsEdited by Hamid Keshmirshekan

Published in 2011 by Liaoning Creative Press Ltd

Copyright © 2011 Hamid Keshmirshekan for editorial and introductory materials;individual extract © the contributorsAll rights reserved. Except for brief quotation in a review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, reprinted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical or photographing without the prior written permission from the copyright holder. Unless other-wise specified, copyright on the works reproduced lies with the respective artist, photogra-pher.

The authors have asserted their moral rights to be identified as the authors of this book.

Published in 2011ISBN: 978-780-2134-95-9 Layout: Pasha Darabi, Pouya darabiCover Design: Daryoush Boncheh

Cover: Barbad Golshiri, Detail, Portrait of the Artist as A One Year-Old Child, 2005,

photograph and digital retouch

Printed in Hong Kong

AMIDST SHADOW AND LIGHTContemporary Iranian Art and ArtistsII

AMIDST SHADOW AND LIGHTContemporary Iranian Art and Artists

Edited byHamid Keshmirshekan

Acknowledgments

Preface

Notes on Transliterations

Introduction

CHAPTER IPERSPECTIVES ON CONTEMPORARY ART AND ARTISTS IN IRAN

1. Concerning Modernity in Iranian Painting: A Historical PanoramaMehdi Hosseini

2. Contemporary Art in Iran and Its Relation to Other Non-European ArtEdward Lucie-Smith

3. Reproducing Modernity: Post-Revolutioary Art in Iran Since The Late 1990S Hamid Keshmirshekan

4. Globalisation and the Question of Identity: Discourses on Contempo-rary Iranian Art During the Past Two DecadesHamid Keshmirshekan

5. The New Generation of Iranian Art Photographers: Approches and Chal-lengesHamid Severi

6. Pardigms of Paradise in Contemporary Iranian ArtFaryar Javaherian

7. Locating the Evolutionary Journey of Institutional Art Training in the Processes of Transition and Continuty Mehri Honarbin-Holliday

VI

VII

IX

X

20

34

44

64

82

96

110

Contents

AMIDST SHADOW AND LIGHTContemporary Iranian Art and ArtistsIV

Content V

8. Lithographic Illustrations of the Qajar Period as a Source of Inspiration for Contemporary Iranian Art Ulrich Marzolph

CHAPTER IIIRANIAN DIASPORIC ART

9. Searching For Tooba: Reflections on Exile and Art in the Work of Shirin Neshat and Shoja AzariShiva Balaghi

10. Cultivating a New Identity: a Self-Referntial Experience for Iranian-American ArtistsHengameh Fouladvand

11. The Fabric of Life and Art: the Emergence of a New Aesthetic Lan-guageRose Issa

12. Embodying Memory: Taraneh Hemami, Samila Amirebrahimi, Minoo Asaadi and Haleh NiazmandSharon L. Parker

CHAPTER IIIART AND REVOLUTION

13. Posters of Revolution and WarPeter Chelkowski

14. The Revolutionary Art in Iran: Variety of Forms Aydin Aghdashloo

15. The Impact of Shiite and Revolutionary Beliefs on Contemporary Iranian ArtAbdolmajid Hosseini-Rad

Selected Bibliography

Index

Contributors

124

142

150

166

180

190

202

210

218

224

230

Acknowledgments

This book is based on the Barakat international conference on Contem-porary Iranian Art: Modernity and the Iranian Artist, held in Oxford University in July 2005. The entire enterprise would not have been pos-sible, without unfailing support, encouragement, and invaluable advice of Professor James Allan, Professor of Eastern Art, Oxford University and

the Chairman of the Academic Advisory Committee of the Barakat Trust, to whom I am very grateful. I am also grateful to the members of the Academic Advisory Commit-tee of the Barakat Trust for their support and enthusiasm throughout the project.

Although this book took a lot of energy and time, the project is truly the result of a collective effort. So I should foremost like to acknowledge all the contributors to this volume. The volume could not have been completed without the financial support of the Barakat Trust and also the Ilex Foundation. The initial conference also gained the generous support of the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art; in particular I am very grateful to the former Director of the Museum, Dr. Alireza Sami Azar, for his atten-dance and generous support. Other thanks should go to all the chairs at the conference for their enthusiasm, time and contribution to the event. My special thanks go to Dr. Shiva Balaghi, one of the volume’s contributors, for suggesting the initial title of this book. In addition, my gratitude goes to the artists, galleries and institutions for permis-sion to reproduce illustrations.

Hamid Keshmirshekan

AMIDST SHADOW AND LIGHTContemporary Iranian Art and ArtistsVI

Preface

As an historian of Islamic art, I have always been interested, and indeed challenged, by the way in which contemporary artists in the Muslim world react to the art being produced today in the west - whether they adopt it or adapt it, use it or refuse it. For this is one of the on-going dilemmas facing artists in Islamic countries, and especially in Iran. In

Iran nationhood is rich and complex. It encompasses an international history; an interna-tional faith, Islam, but in this case an Islam with a strong Iranian, Shiite identity; a nation-al Iranian language with a rich literary history; and an Iranian artistic and architectural heritage which goes back millennia and has continued to influence works of art pro-duced by Iranian artists up to the present time. Combine this with western abstract art, and the unlimited possibilities of interaction between artists of totally different cultural and ethnic backgrounds in our ever more globalised world, and though the possibilities may be rich indeed, the problems of choice which now assail artists in Iran should not be underestimated.

We were delighted to have Dr. Hamid Keshmirshikan in Oxford in 2004-5 as the Barakat post-Doctoral Fellow, for this gave us all the opportunity to begin to see Iranian con-temporary art through the eyes of one of its own intellectuals and artists. Hamid’s year culminated in organising the Barakat Trust Conference on “Contemporary Iranian Art: Modernity and the Iranian Artist”, which was also generously supported by the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art. Hamid discusses the different papers in his Introduc-tion to the present volume, but I am delighted here to record the presence of one of the “fathers” of contemporary Iranian art, Parviz Tanavoli. During the conference we also had the opportunity of watching videos by Simin Keramati, “Through the Small Gate of Loneliness” (2004) and Barbad Golshiri, “What has befallen us, Barbad?” (2002), and there were two documentary films shown, one on The First Conceptual Art Exhibition in Iran, exhibited at the TMoCA in 2001, and a film by Bahman Kiarostami on the exhi-bition of “Gardens of Iran, Ancient Wisdom, New Visions”, exhibited at the TMoCA in 2004. This publication is the result of the papers given at that conference, and I am very grateful to Hamid for all the work he put into both the conference and the editing

Acknowledgment VII

of this volume. Like all conferences, it was limited in the numbers who could attend, and the availability of speakers and participants. It is therefore our hope that this book will bring the conference papers into the orbit of a much wider spread of academics, artists and others. Moreover, in a world in which there is so much prejudice, usually based on total ignorance, we hope that this volume will make Iranian contemporary art much bet-ter known, appreciated, and enjoyed in the 21st century western world, and thus help to bring about more cultural and political understanding.

Professor James AllanProfessor of Eastern Art, University of Oxford

AMIDST SHADOW AND LIGHTContemporary Iranian Art and ArtistsVIII

Notes on Transliterations

The system of transliteration adopted in this book is that of “International Journal of Middle East Studies” with some simplifications in diacriticals. This system, however, has been applied according to modern Persian. Persian words, terms and phrases as well as titles of books and articles in Persian have been fully transliterated. In a number of cases, however, this

system has been abandoned for the use of more familiar forms of certain Persian names, places and names of cities. In these cases, the spelling has been in accordance with the usual way those names are spelled in the Roman alphabet. For example: Tanavoli, Azarbaijan and Niyavaran. However, names in Arabic, especially those from before the twentieth century, have been transliterated strictly. For example: Kamāl al-Mulk. Some Anglicised forms of words such as Shiite have also been used with the exception of Qur’rān.

Preface IX

Introduction

It would hardly be an exaggeration to claim that the question of modernity–its appropriation, its rejection, or its transformation–currently constitutes the central issue in many Islamic societies at both the theoretical and the practical level. It is true to say that the art of these societies is also experiencing a com-plex transition. It has faced complexities of modernity on the one hand and its

own heritage on the other. In this situation, the majority of contemporary artists have grappled with questions of how to reconcile modern concerns with their country’s artis-tic heritage.

The fact is that studies in the field of Islamic art have focused solely on the classical tradition of the past-rather than exploring recent Islamic art. Nevertheless, it seems that this now would be inadequate. Contemporary Islamic art, however, is not as homoge-neous as the art of the past. Given that ideas, ideologies and cultural imaginaries pro-duce social realities, despite common traits in what we call the Islamic world, there are many differences caused by the present diversity of the socio-political and even cultural backgrounds that lead to a like diversity in art and its development. On the other hand, globalism, or rather the contest between the local and the global, dominates many dis-courses today, cultural, economic and political, so that it is inevitable that it would affect studies in art history. So it is more necessary now to study the contemporary non-West-ern art, which are striving to contribute to the world of contemporary art, in today’s glo-balising world where a variety of multi-faceted ideas have the chance to be propounded. The developmental nature of contemporary Iranian art, particularly during recent years, and its eagerness to contribute to contemporary art worldwide is one of the main char-acteristics of this art. Modern Iranian art, grounded in the great complexity of Iran’s socio-political culture, experienced a period of development in the second half of the twentieth century. It then had to re-establish itself in deep socio-political and cultural changes including the Islamic Revolution, its aftermaths and a period of reformism, each of them competing for the articulation of various artistic trends during the late twentieth

AMIDST SHADOW AND LIGHTContemporary Iranian Art and ArtistsX

century. Although contemporary Iranian art has just recently been recognised outside the country, there is, however, no sign of any critical academic discussion or theorising. Unlike other fields of contemporary Iranian studies mainly engaging social and politi-cal scientists and of wide interest to scholars with the consequent production of many invaluable works in these fields, art has not had such attention of scholars and the focus of their analysis. Very little has been done on the contemporary art of the Islamic world in general and Iranian art in particular. One of the main purposes of the Barakat inter-national conference on “Contemporary Iranian Art”1 on which this book is based, held in Oxford in July 2005, was to respond to this need. The conference provided an oppor-tunity to bring together scholars, artists, art historians, curators and critics from Iran, the US, the UK and Germany in order to discuss the existing varieties and transformations of contemporary Iranian artistic practice.

This book aims at examining the works of artists and their interpretation of contempo-rary Iranian culture and how they share a critical interest in social, political and aesthetic norms of Iran. It is not the task of this book, however, to fully examine all various aspects of contemporary Iranian art; but to examine how contemporary Iranian artists contribute to post-revolutionary culture. Analysing how the socio-political context can be used to understand art and culture and assess the conceptual structure of works of art, this book seeks to explain how artworks are created as representations of critical junctures of Iranian society. This book’s focus, however, is on the current situation of Iranian art and its affinity with modernity in Iranian society and culture while address-ing the common challenges experienced by Iranian artists both inside and outside the country. It discusses artistic strategies and artistic production within the context of Iran as well as of Iranian artists in the diaspora. Accordingly, the book is thematically divided into two main areas: art within Iran and also the relatively neglected aspect of contempo-rary Iranian art namely that of Iranian art in the diaspora.

The book’s contributors discuss the impact of the Islamic Revolution on art, on the formation and development of revolutionary art, as well as its effects on the emergence of artistic communities in the diaspora. The book thereby intends to provide an account of the theoretical and ideological conflicts between art and the forces of the Revolution. It addresses the issues such as how new contemporary means of expression displayed by Iranian artists; the problems and challenges that artists should face on the light of profound and sometimes troubled way modernity which has unfolded in Iran; as well as they examine dominant contemporary questions such as the question of cross-cultural interpretations, notions of “self,” cultural memory and its relation to the geographical location, the effects of living in a new cultural context and questions of identity and cultural engagement etc. Also the relations between artistic policy and artistic production, the question of space, place and their role in artistic practice by Iranian artists both in-side the country and across the diaspora, their preoccupation, engagement and dilemmas, issue of trans-national cultural and social links are examined. Questions of psychological challenges as well as religion and spirituality; how and why artists choose their artistic

Introduction XI

strategies and ways of expression; analysis of the issue of hybridity and artists attempt to achieve it are other main themes and questions which are addressed in the book. The book also seeks to assess the current nature of contemporary Iranian art in the broader context of contemporary art and the potential parallels between this and other non-European cultures and art.

These aims are addressed through examination of artistic productions, trends and events, by clarifying the contextual meaning of artistic trends in contemporary Iran. The book discusses the necessity for constant repositioning which has led contemporary Iranian art to a dynamic development in new forms of expression and a variety of artistic forms originating from various ideological voices. Also, it shows how the eclectic texture of Iranian culture has made possible such a variety. It argues that feeling of duality and continuous negotiation of the past and present across the diaspora resulted in artistic challenges which presented in the works of Iranian artists living outside Iran. It discusses that the development of the Iranian visual art has to be appraised as a response to the challenges confronting Iranian society during the twentieth century and the present.

Essays have been thematically categorised in three main chapters: Perspectives on Contemporary Art and Artists in Iran, Iranian Diasporic Art, and Art and Revolution. The first Chapter consists of eight essays in which the authors examine different aspects of art and artistic production in Iran. The chapter starts with Mehdi Hosseini’s essay: “Concerning Modernity in Iranian Painting: A Historical Panorama” which, in a histori-cal approach, addresses the process of modernisation in art beginning from the “Dār al-Funūn” in 1851, then Faculty of Fine Arts at Tehran University in 1940 and through-out the subsequent decades to the Islamic Revolution and aftermaths. He examines the years when modern art was formally introduced to Iran and became dominant during the 1950s. It is during this time that Tehran experiences new spaces for viewing modern painting. With the Islamic Revolution and the eight-year war and the Cultural Revolution, modern art ended in an abrupt halt. Now young revolutionary artists crowded exhibition halls, civic institutions and public spaces with large propaganda paintings, commemorat-ing the Islamic Revolution, martyrs and revolutionary struggles which were much remi-niscent of social realism of the eastern block and Mexican revolutionary mural art.

Edward Lucie-Smith in: “Contemporary Art In Iran and Its Relation To Other Non-Eu-ropean Art” argues that when the idea of “contemporary” or “avant-garde” art was first invented, it remained within the parameters of the western tradition. However, he tries to trace a different definition of those concepts in non-European art, here in Iranian art. He outlines several points about contemporary Iranian art such as the medium chosen. This is true of other major non-western cultures as well–India, China and Japan. Images produced on the computer do not carry the weight of expectation that is aroused by using media traditionally associated with western art. Essentially the computer arts offer a level playing field to non-western artists, when they attempt to compete with western counterparts. The second is about sexuality and gender. Post-revolutionary Iran is com-

AMIDST SHADOW AND LIGHTContemporary Iranian Art and ArtistsXII

monly seen as a society in which discussion of such topics is discouraged. Therefore, it is fascinating to see how often these themes recur in current Iranian production. Thirdly, though the vehicle through which the idea is expressed may often, in a purely technologi-cal sense, be very new, there is an increasing fascination with and respect for, the Iranian past. Here traditional archetypes are used to express intensely contemporary meanings.

In my first essay “Reproducing Modernity: Post-revolutionary Art in Iran since the Late 1990s” I look at the effects of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and its socio-political and cultural consequences on artists and artistic trends in Iran by examining first the analyti-cal debates on modern art, and secondly the practical effects of the cultural policy of the state, which together brought about a set of fundamental changes in artistic enterprises. I argue that if the Revolution initially constituted a watershed with regard to the issue of modernity, about a decade later an urgent post-revolutionary need to cope with moder-nity emerged both in Iranian society and art. This essay aims at identifying the structural changes in Iranian art as well as artistic policy over the recent years. It seeks to examine the role of the artist in shaping an image of modernity in Iran, and discussing how art-ists by criticism of the status quo have interpreted contemporary art in the light of this period’s imperative need to cope with modernity. By pursuing these objectives, it seeks to demonstrate the reciprocal links between Iranian society and art.

My second essay “Globalisation and the Question of Identity: Discourses on Contem-porary Iranian Art During the Past Two Decades” deals with the discourse of cultural globalisation and related issues such as the global market and cultural industry, which emerged as recent seminal factors within the context of Iranian culture, art and artis-tic practice during the recent history of Iran, specifically from the late 1980s until the present day. Moreover, it seeks to explore the inevitable issues drawn from the process of globalisation, namely the question of identity, i.e. local, historical, imaginative and collective identity, which was followed by artistic production and thereafter other conse-quences and critical discussions. I then address how an intellectual and aesthetic change that is also intended to initiate a contribution to global culture becomes almost a mania for the new generation. The essay seeks to show the sometimes contradictory relation-ship between international markets and local expectations and domestic forces opposed to globalisation. It addresses questions such as how the locality of artists has been estab-lished, and how an effect of the globalisation process and globalizing forces can directly influence the representation of such a locality in their art (with reference to tradition, expressing views of contemporary local problems or as having the nature of a localised culture).

Hamid Severi in his essay: “The New Generation of Iranian Art Photographers: Ap-proaches and Challenges” introduces the key debates and challenges that Iranian art pho-tographers have to be grappled with. He also traces the dominant approaches in recent productions by these artists including formalist approach whose emphasis is on aesthetic aspects and stressed less on social and political issues, or overt use of local motifs, and

Introduction XIII

even self-exoticised use of images or a formula to catch the attention of western cura-tors and audiences. The essay then singles out the effective factors, such as the political and social issues and interaction with the rest of the world, in emergence and develop-ment of art photography. He, however, argues that the young generation of photogra-phers are still challenged by difficulties and potential restrictions, but must choose their approach accordingly. Severi then addresses the major problems that they are facing, including the old-fashioned curriculum and so deficiency of theoretical background, lack of role models, and the crisis of identity. Examination of works of a number of artists beginning with interviews with artists is the final section of this essay.

Faryar Javaherian in “Paradigms of Paradise in Contemporary Iranian Art” first elabo-rates the concept of Iranian garden arguing that the paradigm of the Iranian garden comes from this Imaginal World and it is based on a perfectionist geometry, differen-tiating it from the chaotic “nature” which surrounds it. She also traces the history of Iranian garden and its definition. Then the essay provides a survey of the works of art-ists exhibited in the show: Garden of Iran: Ancient Wisdom, New Visions at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art in 2004 which had been curated by Javaherian herself. She maintains that it is with the assessment of authenticity which erases the dichotomy between modern and traditional, and the strong linkage between philosophy and art that the seven works from the exhibition are examined. This will cover a range from the most literal metaphor to the most abstract, but they all have a scenario and a strong concept which gives them shape.

Mehri Honarbin-Holliday’s essay “Locating the Evolutionary Journey of Institutional Art Training in The Processes of Transition And Continuity”, arises from an interdisci-plinary qualitative study of the development of art education and its relationship with the concept of identity, at the visual art departments at Al-Zahra and Tehran Universi-ties in Iran. In a set of interviews with students and instructors, and examination of the curriculum vita, she addresses how a space or an occasion is created to demystify the processes of art training in the Islamic Republic where the student body and their tutors routinely engage with ideas in theory and practice. Ending with a set of interviews with a number of students, Honarbin-Holliday then provides an examination of voice of student’s body in her essay. She concludes that the student body demonstrates alertness to issues and engage with ideas conceptually and critically. They appear to be reflexive, imaginative, and complex in their search; theirs is a sensory path and an inner revolution, it is a quiet march of self-realisation which ought to exist at the core of the processes of art education anywhere.

Ulrich Marzolph’s essay: “Lithographic Illustrations of the Qajar Period as a Source of Inspiration for Contemporary Iranian Art” is an examination of the secondary existence of lithographic illustration in the works of contemporary Iranian artists. He maintains that if one were to collect or document the phenomenon in any comprehensive, let alone exhaustive manner, a large amount of highly interesting items would surely deserve

AMIDST SHADOW AND LIGHTContemporary Iranian Art and ArtistsXIV

mention. The few examples from the past four decades presented here should, however, succeed in conveying a representative impression of the potential of lithographic illustra-tions as a source of inspiration for contemporary Iranian art after the period of their primary existence had terminated. He then examines works of artists in particular the US based Iranian artist Ardeshir Mohasses who used lithographic illustrations in their works. He finally concludes that for most of the quoted images, whether book-covers or cartoon-style drawings, the relationship between the meaning of the lithographic illus-tration in its original context and its message in secondary use is extremely hard, if not impossible to discern.

Chapter II examines varieties of the Iranian diasporic art and begins with Shiva Balaghi’s essay: “Reflections on Exile and Art in the Work of Shirin Neshat and Shoja Azari”, in which she examines the contested positionality of contemporary Iranian exile art-ists by looking at the entwined artistic production of Shirin Neshat and Shoja Azari. In particular the essay focuses on Neshat’s video installation, “Tooba” (2002), and Azari’s film, “Maria de Los Angeles” (2003). Balaghi argues that the idea of home, of exile and of belonging is a central theme in the work of Shirin Neshat. But for Shoja Azari, the obsession focuses on borders. Partners in life and work for nearly a decade, their artistic and exilic identities reflect commonalities and differences that can help unpack the very loaded term “exile.” Balaghi shows that the ability to construct and define one’s own identity-as an artist, an Iranian, an exile-has become a site of contestation. This disso-nance is symptomatic of the condition of living as an exile artist.

In her essay: “Cultivating a New Identity: A Self-referential Experience for Iranian-American Artists” Hengameh Fouladvand argues that the early modernist identity of the Iranian artists in the US, which valued singular and unique styles, and was interested in an individual identity is being substituted with an emerging self-referential identity or subject position, that challenges notions of essence and authorship and suggests dissolution of the modernist boundaries. The boundaries dividing the contemporary Iranian-American artists from other American artists seem less essential, since the new identity is more and more composed of multiple alternatives. She also argues that any art criticism of the second generation Iranian-Americans should advocate relativism and focus on contex-tualism. It is because this art is not a reflection of the “universal reality” but a personal and subjective experience that is a result of a particular social, historical and linguistic situation.

In “The Fabric of Life and Art: The Emergence of a New Aesthetic Language” Rose Issa concentrates on new strategies for artistic expression in Iranian art which, she argues, were found through brave negotiation and experimentation. By creating a simple, humanistic means of expression, which holds great power, Iranian artists transcend restrictions through metaphor, poetry and symbol. She then maintains that whatever the method of portrayal, all the contradictory elements of Iran’s culturally schizophrenic life provide a rich source of material. No matter how diverse the approaches, what emerges

Introduction XV

in the work of the Iranian artists is a sense of detachment, playfulness, longing and love for a country whose history, rich in poetry, has engrained in them an acute sense of observation and patience. The essay argues that artists’ visual language mirrors society’s flaws and dreams, challenges social realities, and assumes the shape and colours of life with its new patterns of engagement.

Sharon L. Parker’s essay “Embodying Memory: Taraneh Hemami, Samila Amirebrahimi, Minoo Asaadi and Haleh Niazmand” offers an examination of artworks created by four contemporary Iranian and Iranian-American artists. Throughout the study, she argues that although the specific form that their individual works take is shaped by each artist’s location, inside the United States or inside Iran, a corporeal relationship between the art-works they have created, and the narratives embedded within them are found within their paintings, installations or collages. While cultural memory and estrangement is indicated in the artworks that they have made, the body implicitly implied or explicitly expressed is the thread that weaves the works together. The body is the site upon which govern-ment regulations are enacted, particularly in regards to the societal and legal changes in Iran after the Revolution, and in the United States immediately following the events of September 11th.

Art and the impact of the Islamic Revolution, and various forms of revolutionary art are discussed in the third Chapter. Peter Chelkowski in his essay: “Posters of Revolu-tion and War”, traces first the introduction to the development of graphic arts in Iran in the 1960s and 1970s which was directly connected to the process of modernisation taking place under Pahlavi. Posters were first used primarily for commercial and cultural purposes, but over time also were increasingly used to promote political programmes. He then shows how in 1979 Iran, the artistic, popular and mechanical means of mass-producing graphic images in poster form and the psychological receptivity of the public-at-large to this type of communication was firmly in place. The essay examines the decade of Revolution and war in Iran which was a flourishing period for the graphic arts. Now an army of painters and photographers worked day and night to create im-ages that would inspire the people and boost the morale of the Iranian armed forces and the revolutionary fighters. Aydin Aghdashloo argues in his essay: “Revolutionary Art in Iran: Variety of Forms” that Iranian revolutionary art, like all revolutionary arts, is propagandist and slogan-bearing. Like others of its kind, it draws a sharp and explicit line between good and evil, right and wrong, justice and injustice. Therefore, it is perhaps difficult to place it in the realm of the adventurous, complex and futuristic art of the twentieth century. He main-tains that if this art did not succeed in surpassing certain boundaries in music, poetry or literature, it did instead developed in photojournalism, photography and mural painting. In certain disciplines, the revolutionary art succeeded in validating the existence and the extent of the Revolution and developed a relationship with its audience. However, it failed to reject or to bring to an end the well-established arts of the past, and in many

AMIDST SHADOW AND LIGHTContemporary Iranian Art and ArtistsXVI

areas–such as in fine art–it benefited from and relied on these. Aghdashloo then high-lights one of the developments of the “revolutionary” and “wartime” art in Iran in his essay: that of mural paintings.

Finally, Abdolmajid Hosseini-Rad in “The Impact of Shiite and Revolutionary Beliefs on Contemporary Iranian Art” examines the approach towards religious and revolutionary beliefs in the works of Iranian artists after the Islamic Revolution. The Revolution and the ensuing afterwards produced an approach in the work of a group of artists known as “artists of the Islamic Revolution”. He argues that these artists, whose works are examined here, shaped their works based on issues associated with the Revolution and its aspiration. Since the Revolution was the integration of Islamic–more precisely Shiite–and revolutionary beliefs, from this viewpoint, their works are more relevant to the ideas and principles of Shiism.

Hamid Keshmirshekan

Note1 The precise title of the Barakat Conference was “Contemporary Iranian Art: Modernity and the Iranian Artist”, held in Kellogg College, Oxford University on 11th and 12th July 2005.

Introduction XVII