In the summer of 2001, the strangled bodies of a number of women were discovered in Mashad, a holy city that is a pilgrimage site for Shi’ites visiting the shrine of Imam Reza. The city’s piety is mixed with the realities of modern life. Like most Iranian cities, the main form of public transportation is the shared cab, in which men and women who are otherwise strangers are crammed together. The cabs have also become a main site for prostitution. Angered that his wife had been mistaken for a prostitute as she rode in a cab, Sa’id Hana’i was spurred to kill women he believed to be prostitutes. At the time of his arrest, he confessed to killing sixteen women whom he lured to his house, where he strangled them sometimes using their veils. The killings were dubbed ‘the spider murders’ after the way Hana’i preyed on powerless victims.

Some of the murdered women had been previously arrested for prostitution or drug-related crimes. Major newspapers published the women’s police mug shots and photos from the crime scenes. The evocative photos of veiled women posed as criminals or as corpses heightened the anxiety over the serial killings.

Hassanzadeh’s own artistic intervention on the killings, a series of artworks entitled Prostitutes, extends this sense of probing ambiguity. Using a mixed-media technique of silkscreens and painting, Hassanzadeh reconfigures the mug shots and crime scene photos. Ways of seeing the images shift, the state’s documentation of criminality is transformed into the artist’s commentary on society. What remains, Hassanzadeh’s pictures remind us, is the women’s gaze, at once diffident and defiant.

“No series was more bitter than Faheshe/Prostitute. This series was based on brutal serial murders of prostitutes in Mashad and I finished the works as the events were taking place. Such a crime was unheard of in Iran. Yet despite its shocking nature, there was very little official and media coverage. In periodicals, the published images of all 16 victims together could fit in a 6×4 cm frame. I decided to draw a portrait of each woman using the brightest of colors to honor their hopes and dreams. And I wanted each portrait to be so large, so bold that no one could turn away from it. The series is a portrayal of innocent human beings who have paid a heavy price just to eke out a living. In the series, they are staring directly into our eyes and pleading their innocence.” Khosrow Hassanzadeh, 2005

It is worth mentioning that the color black was only added to my paintings in the series War. My earlier dreams and colorful aspirations gave way to darker subjects. But no series was more bitter than Faheshe/Prostitute. These series was based on brutal serial murders of prostitutes in Tehran and I finished the works as the events were taking place. Such a crime was unheard of in Iran. Yet despite its shocking nature, there was very little official and media coverage. In periodicals, the published images of all 16 victims together could fit in a 6×4 cm frame. I decided to draw a portrait of each woman using the brightest of colors to honor their hopes and dreams. And I wanted each portrait to be so large, so bold that no one could turn away from it. The series is a portrayal of innocent human beings who have paid a heavy price just to eke out a living. In the series, they are staring directly into our eyes and pleading their innocence. They were the same idealized women of my previous paintings who have suddenly become victims without refuge in real life. No opportunity has been given to exhibit this series in Iran.

Khosrow Hassan Zadeh has a dark take on contemporary Iranian life. His series of large monotypes, “Faheshe / Prostitutes“, (2002) pays homage to the victims of the Mashhad serial killer. The images are taken from police portraits of local destitutes / prostitutes that were then published in newspapers – photographs that facilitated the murder of these women by a self-appointed moral “avenger”, Said Hanaii. Considered a hero after his arrest, the killer’s surprised reaction at the judges sentence acts as a testimony to his belief in these acts of atrocity. Prior to his execution, he and his supporters continued to expect the government to show leniency, believing him to be a hero for maintaining moral values. This is further contextualized by Maziar Bahari with the chilling documentary “And Along Came a Spider”, 2002.
Once a Basidji, or volunteer soldier, Hassan Zadeh recognised the distorted ideology behind the criminal’s motivation. Hassan Zadeh, who is inspired by both his sur- roundings and by real events, is now a self-taught artist and poet, with a fascinating life story that has been the subject of various documentaries by the bbc and Arte.

Preview of “Loading “Time Out Dubai – Printer Friendly Page – Khosrow Hassanzadeh””

Khosrow Hassanzadeh
By Chris Lord, November 2008

From billboards to newspapers, banquet halls to shopfronts, there’s one ubiquitous selling point that adorns the streets of Tehran: ‘Ready to order’. It’s a hook that says ‘we commission, we take orders’ – it lets people know that they will have their lavishness, be it banquet or ornament, tailored to create their own token of affluence.

Or so Khosrow Hassanzadeh sees it. Inspired by the small boxes found in the tombs of martyrs and at the birthplace of martyrs, Hassanzadeh has created a collection of his own ready-to -order boxes that celebrate those who he sees as unrecognised subjects. Beginning with his mother, then himself, Hassanzadeh eventually frames Googoosh, the Persian singing diva, into one of his boxes. Rendering his subjects in cardboard, the artist then surrounds them with a vast selection of kitsch items, flashing lights, trinket statuettes, plastic flowers and other items specific to his subject. He sees these works as shrines, handmade and exaggerated celebrations of each subject that flash with a humorous half-eye look at kitsch conceptions of beauty.

B21 also presents a number of works in Hassanzadeh’s Ya Ali Madadi series, a selection of acrylic works painted directly onto silk. Taking its name from the prayer of supplication to Ali, made by Pahlavan wrestlers before a match, the works explore the heroism of these wrestlers, weaving their bodies in calligraphy and formed in deep, distinctly Persian colours.

One of Iran’s most exciting and switched on contemporary artists, this is a varied show that demonstrates Hassanzadeh’s love for and humorous take on Iranian culture.

B21 (04 340 3965), Al Quoz 1. November 11-December 11

Political artist embraces kitsch

Googoosh brightens up B21 Gallery (SUPPLIED)

By Staff Writer on Saturday, November 29, 2008

Contemporary artist Khosrow Hassanzadeh returns to the UAE with two ambitious new bodies of work, on show at Dubai’s B21 Gallery.Ready to Order is a collection of kitschy three dimensional large-scale boxes; imagine busy window displays with ornate gilded frames. At the centre of each, individuals both famous and unknown are immortalised with cardboard likenesses, positioned proudly and surrounded by their typical universe of objects – statuettes, tools of trade, family photographs and glittery ornamentation in a play of flashing lights, garlands and plastic foliage. But Ready to Order travels beyond mere kitsch: It can not only be interpreted as a gross parody of Iranian society and its aesthetics but also as an earnest effort to raise the craft of the unrefined artisan to the high street. One remarkable example features the legendary singer Googoosh appearing from behind a beaded curtain, in diamond tiara and bejewelled belt, framed by fake flowers and blue lights. The series Ya Ali Madadi is inspired by traditional Iranian pahlvan [wrestler] and is executed with highly-charged acrylic colours and silkscreen on canvas. One key piece features them holding each other’s hands surrounded by a dervish, a court intellectual, a general and a mullah. Iranian artist Hassanzadeh has a reputation across the Middle East for embracing political themes or issues considered sensitive in Iranian society. He first gained international recognition with War, a grim diary of his experiences as a volunteer soldier during the Iran-Iraq war.

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Khosrow Hassanzadeh Artworks in Tehran

 

Time Out looks outside Dubai and explores the latest in Iranian modern art with Khosrow Hassanzadeh.

 

The Iranian singer Googoosh has been put into a sacred box. Around her, red fairy lights flash on and off, and the white feather boa around her neck glints with reflected chintz. In the next box along, another Iranian singer, Javed, seems to fly from his wooden housing. With his arms crossed, he appears to levitate forward, guru like, from the cosmic blue halo and plastic sunflowers behind him. His suit is very sharp. In Iran they would say, that suit is Javed.

Javed has now become synonymous with kitsch in the Farsi language. When Time Out met with Khosrow Hassanzadeh, as his latest show of works at B21 Gallery was about to open, he explained this idea. ‘You might say, “Oh Khosrow’s paintings are so Javed,”’ he says, drawing out ‘Javed’ in a saturated parody. ‘“This man’s car is so Javed. Look at him, he’s so Javed.” After the revolution, they wouldn’t let Javed sing, but he was still an icon. Not just in singing, but in that name. The same with Googoosh.’

Hassanzadeh has produced six kitsch laments for his personal icons; wooden boxes filled with flags, photographs, fake flowers and collected lights to frame his subjects. Beginning with his own image, crosslegged and garlanded in a lattice of white lights, Hassanzadeh then produced a box for his 90-year-old mother and his friend Reza, a former gymnast for the Iranian national team. Then he moved onto national popular icons like Googoosh and Javed.

The works reference the tiny boxes containing pictures of a martyr or a saint that are sold on the street in Tehran. It’s an obsession with the popular that drives the artist. ‘The people love kitsch, they live by kitsch. All of my ideas and projects have come from the people around me.’ The collection is titled Ready To Order: ‘If you go into the street [in Tehran], look in the newspaper, you see “ready to order”. A marriage, a funeral whatever you want they will do it.’

Each of these boxes is Hassanzadeh’s own ready-to-order creation, created in tribute to the figures around him. But they are also shaped and personalised through the funnel of his impressions. As we flick the overhead lights off, revealing the full flashing glare of each box, there’s suddenly something sad about each of these creations. The lights no longer appear garish in the darkness. They conjure instead the atmosphere of a tomb, of concealment, of something fundamentally sacred that Hassanzadeh is referencing by framing his subjects in these boxes.

We start to talk about loss and about what the disappearance of figures like Javad and Googoosh, post-revolution, have meant for the popular imagination in Iran. ‘If somebody dies in Iran and they were young or a martyr, then they make this huge display in the street for them,’ he explains. ‘There are loads of lights and I use these same lights in my boxes. It’s kind of a respect.’ Hassanzadeh suggests that these works are memoriams; they are expressions of loss – affirmations or reminders, like the tiny boxes seen in the tombs of the martyrs, of a passing icon of popular solidarity. ‘I wanted to make something to say goodbye to them, because they’re gone now,’ he says and points at Googoosh’s face as it flashes in the corner, who, like all solo female singers, has been banned from singing in Iran since the revolution.

Counterpointing the exhibition is a selection of silkscreen paintings, each featuring a troupe of Pehlvani wrestlers. Around them is a dancing, whirling calligraphy that repeats over and over, ‘Ali, Ali, Ali’. He tells us that the images came to him spontaneously as he worked on the boxes. ‘I love these people [the pehlvanis], I miss them. Ya Ali Madadi [a common blessing in Iran and the name of these works] is very important to Shi’a people. If they want to do anything… they always say “Ya Ali Madadi.”’ Again, this is Hassanzadeh exposing the common identifiers in Iranian cultural consciousness. But also the sacred within this. As he goes on to explain: ‘I wanted the letters that I painted around them to move like a dervish, to dance across the canvas. I found myself moving like a dervish in a circle as I was painting.’

Wrestlers, singers and close friends all meet to embody Hassanzadeh’s warm, yet wry, love of Iran’s conception of the popular. By moulding the popular and the personal (in the case of his mother and friends) around a sacred, deeply ingrained trope of respect – the box, usually reserved for martyrs or the dead – we can see Hassanzadeh reflecting on the sacred nature of the ordinary. ‘This idea isn’t very original,’ he admits.

‘You go into the tombs of the martyrs and you see them all over the wall. Each martyr has a little box, something to remind us of them.’ It’s pop art in the truest sense. Like Warhol, Hassanzadeh is fascinated by what captures and keeps the public imagination in an almost religious way. But there is something original in his sensitivity to what constitutes Iran’s popular makeup. He’s managed to contain it in a kitsch and charismatic way.

B21 Gallery (04 340 3965). Until December 11

Time Out Dubai 26 November 2008

Iranian art in Dubai

Khosrow Hassanzadeh

From billboards to newspapers, banquet halls to shopfronts, there’s one ubiquitous selling point that adorns the streets of Tehran: ‘Ready to order’. It’s a hook that says ‘we commission, we take orders’ – it lets people know that they will have their lavishness, be it banquet or ornament, tailored to create their own token of affluence.

Or so Khosrow Hassanzadeh sees it. Inspired by the small boxes found in the tombs of martyrs and at the birthplace of martyrs, Hassanzadeh has created a collection of his own ready-to-order boxes that celebrate those who he sees as unrecognised subjects. Beginning with his mother, then himself, Hassanzadeh eventually frames Googoosh, the Persian singing diva, into one of his boxes. Rendering his subjects in cardboard, the artist then surrounds them with a vast selection of kitsch items, flashing lights, trinket statuettes, plastic flowers and other items specific to his subject. He sees these works as shrines, handmade and exaggerated celebrations of each subject that flash with a humorous half-eye look at kitsch conceptions of beauty.

B21 also presents a number of works in Hassanzadeh’s Ya Ali Madadi series, a selection of acrylic works painted directly onto silk. Taking its name from the prayer of supplication to Ali, made by Pahlavan wrestlers before a match, the works explore the heroism of these wrestlers, weaving their bodies in calligraphy and formed in deep, distinctly Persian colours.

 

Feature – Khosrow Hassanzadeh http://www.timeoutdubai.com/dubai/features/review.php?id=4173

Khosrow Hassanzadeh

By Chris Lord, November 2008

 

 

From billboards to newspapers, banquet halls to shopfronts, there’s one ubiquitous selling point that adorns the streets of Tehran: ‘Ready to order’. It’s a hook that says ‘we commission, we take orders’ – it lets people know that they will have their lavishness, be it banquet or ornament, tailored to create their own token of affluence.

 

Or so Khosrow Hassanzadeh sees it. Inspired by the small boxes found in the tombs of martyrs and at the birthplace of martyrs, Hassanzadeh has created a collection of his own ready-to-order boxes that celebrate those who he sees as unrecognised subjects. Beginning with his mother, then himself, Hassanzadeh eventually frames Googoosh, the Persian singing diva, into one of his boxes. Rendering his subjects in cardboard, the artist then surrounds them with a vast selection of kitsch items, flashing lights, trinket statuettes, plastic flowers and other items specific to his subject. He sees these works as shrines, handmade and exaggerated celebrations of each subject that flash with a humorous half-eye look at kitsch conceptions of beauty.

 

B21 also presents a number of works in Hassanzadeh’s Ya Ali Madadi series, a selection of acrylic works painted directly onto silk. Taking its name from the prayer of supplication to Ali, made by Pahlavan wrestlers before a match, the works explore the heroism of these wrestlers, weaving their bodies in calligraphy and formed in deep, distinctly Persian colours.

 

One of Iran’s most exciting and switched on contemporary artists, this is a varied show that demonstrates Hassanzadeh’s love for and humorous take on Iranian culture.

 

B21 (04 340 3965), Al Quoz 1. November 11-December 11

1) What was it that inspired you to work on each?

a) Ready to Order

My initial inspiration for this series was from the small boxes found in the holy birthplaces of Imams and the tombs of martyrs.  The title of this collection refers to the magnificence and glory of day-to-day life.  People in Iran are constantly being invited to commission lavish banquets for birthdays and weddings, memorials for lost loved ones and religious martyrs and so on. You can see ‘ready to order’ on banners at the entrance of common restaurants, hospitality halls of the city and in advertisements in daily newspapers. Instead of using religious men or martyrs, I used popular people; my mum and kids, the famous Pahlavan and pop stars. I wanted to pay tribute to them all.

b) Ya Madad Ali

Ali is the first Imam in the Shia tradition. He was a strong and humble man, famous for helping poor. He is the Imam of the Pahlavan and they revere his sword, the Khyber. In Iran, when people need help they say ‘Ya Ali Madad’, the calligraphy in the paintings, the letters dance and whirl like Sufi dervishes. The screen print is from an old photo of Pahlavan holding hands on either side of them are a court intellectual, a Dervish, a General and Mullah. The Pahlavan represent many aspects of Iranian culture that we are loosing today. In the Ya Ali Madad series I want to remind people of their beauty, strength and honour.

2) Can you elaborate on the creative process you embarked on for these two series?

I never framed my work before, this time I wanted to make big kitch heavy frames. The frame is a concept, to make the people inside proud and celebrated. I went all over downtown Tehran collecting things to place around the subjects. Each subject has very different character and I choose things very carefully according to what I felt they would want to represent them or things that would be meaningful to them. I made portraits multli-layered in the same fashion as a portrait technique from small shops selling pictures of the Imans or historical people in Iran.

I used old photographs from 70 years ago and screen-printed them in many layers with painting and calligraphy. I used the name of Ali again and again, painting these pictures I felt I was like dervish dancing with my paintbrush.

3) After the terrorist series (2002), you have come up with these two series after a long gap. Why so….

Terrorist was 2004, after this I made a project, Bache Mahal 2006, about propaganda murals and shahid paintings and I have been working on ready to order for 2 years, and Ya Madad for one year also. There have not really been any breaks in my work. I have been very busy traveling and exhibiting my work. (Please see attached CV)

4) How do you relate your ‘ready to order’ series with ‘kitsch’? (Very important question – in detail)

“Ready to Order” is by its name about kitch. Ready to order is Iranian business about kitch, showing and ceremony. For example, wedding cakes, dresses and banquets, murals and memorabilia for people who have passed away or banners for people for people returning from hajj. Kitch is label that is imposed on what is loved and desired by the majority of normal people in Iran, it is an expression of popular humanity. It is a wonderful, joyful resistance.

5) What is the principle overriding inspiration that goes pretty much in your work?

I am from downtown Tehran. I have always chosen to make my work about the subjects that are closest to me for the popular people of Iran. I love the richness of my culture and traditions and I embrace the often surprising and humorous way in which they penetrate and express themselves in contemporary society.

Iran is a deeply visual country, life is written and painted all around me in everyday local things and street life. I always use popular mediums and materials; silk screen, painting, collage, cheap paper.

My work is always about the unknown people because I believe in their importance and sacrifice; I believe they are the root and solution to everything.

6) To what extent your Iranian background especially the period as a frontline soldier during the Iran-Iraq war inspires and ignites the themes in your work?

Ready to Order is a continuation of my war series, black and white paintings of confusion and nightmares, now I have turned to colour and flashing lights, because the same people who suffered in the war express their pride to be martyrs and to be alive in all of this kitsch glory.

The Art of Confrontation

In 2006 the Tropenmuseum organized an overview of the works of visual artist Khosrow Hassanzadeh, whose work also features in the British Museum collection. Hassanzadeh’s artworks are largely figurative and treat subjects as diverse as the Iran-Iraq war, murdered prostitutes and the Western image of Iran. Although most of his work comments on social realities set specifically in Iran, Hassanzadeh is wary of being framed as a representative of his homeland, a position he shares with many artists of Middle Eastern background. Considerable controversy arose when the PR department of the publishing house that published the exhibition catalogue announced its preference for the title Iranian Visions. Several authors threatened to withdraw their contributions to the catalogue and Hassanzadeh himself sent an angry message to the publishers stating that he did not agree with what he called “their ethnic marketing strategies.” In his email he wrote “Even though your sales will benefit if you insist on the “Iranian” and put, say, Khomeini on the cover, I do not want to be packaged as a national mascot”. His protest was in due course accepted and the title was changed into the compromise “Tehran Studio Works”. However, when the Tropenmuseum’s PR department argued along the same lines as the publishers and insisted on naming the exhibition Inside Iran, Hassanzadeh was tired of fighting and decided to give up.

Hassanzadeh’s irritation with the Tropenmuseum’s marketing strategies stems from his longstanding struggle against the idea that an artist’s national or religious background has an ineradicable effect on an artist’s practice. Like many artists from the region, he argues that terms like “Islamic,” “Middle East,” or even “Iran” are loaded with religious and political subtexts and that the use of such terms in exhibition concepts draws away attention from the artistic value of his work. But even apart from the marketing appeal of ethnic labelling to boost museum visitor counts, when the work of artists like Hassanzadeh is exhibited in former ethnographic museums there is a deeper going issue at stake.

 

Khosrow Hassanzadeh, Terrorist, No. 1 of a series of 4.

After the exhibition the Tropenmuseum acquired a series of works by Hassanzadeh entitled Terrorist [inv. nr. 6269-1 till 4]. In the four-piece series the artist portrays himself, his mother and two of his sisters as “terrorists” to question contemporary Western perceptions in which Islam is directly associated with terrorism. The four individuals are displayed against a backdrop with images referring to their personal religious beliefs. Each piece is accompanied by a label describing the portrayed “terrorist” with characteristics such as nationality, religious denomination, and personal history. In the artist’s statement that accompanies the series, Hassanzadeh writes: “This series is a reflection of a world where the word ‘terrorist’ is thrown about thoughtlessly. What is a terrorist? What are the origins of a terrorist? And in an international context who defines ‘terrorism’? … In my mind, the work had to pose these questions by cautiously joining the borders of Western and Iranian propaganda … It was with this goal that the size of the images became critical. I wanted the pieces to be like the Iranian government propaganda portraits of revolution and war martyrs painted on buildings across the country. I also wanted the size to impose itself upon the viewer – like the constant messages of Western government propaganda streamed into the homes of millions through a reckless 24-hour media machine.”(12)

 

 

Presents an exhibition by

The exhibition runs from November 11 to December 11, 2008
Preview:  Monday, November 10 at 7:30 PM

An exhibition supported by Pictet and Ruinart

We are very proud to host Khosrow Hassanzadeh’s second solo show in Dubai, presenting two ambitious new bodies of work entitled ‘Ready to Order’ and ‘Ya Ali Madadi’.

‘Ready to Order’ is a collection of three dimensional large-scale boxes; imagine busy window displays with ornate gilded frames.  At the center of the boxes individuals both famous and unknown are immortalized with cardboard likenesses, positioned proudly and  surrounded by their typical universe of objects – statuettes, tools of trade, family photographs, and glittery ornamentation in a play of flashing lights, garlands and plastic foliage. The first word that comes to mind having discovered Khosrow’s seven boxes is most probably kitsch. It is a word often used but what is its full meaning? Turning to the dictionary, we find kitsch is ‘associated with sentimentalism and bad taste’ and describes ‘works of art and other objects (such as furniture) that are meant to look costly but actually are in poor taste’. Whether it tries to appear sentimental, glamorous, theatrical, or creative, kitsch is a gesture emulating the superficial values of art. Why then is it so popular?  Thomas Kulka, in his book ‘Kitsch and Art’, explains it as follows: ‘They play on basic human impulses irrespective of religious beliefs, political convictions, race, or nationality. They exploit universal subjects such as birth, family, love, nostalgia, and so forth.’ And Hundertwasser said ‘The absence of kitsch makes life unbearable’. If kitsch has always been embraced in the popular realm, it is now unmistakably ensconced in the world of fine art. ‘Ready-to-Order’ can be interpreted as a gross parody of Iranian society and its aesthetics but also as an earnest effort to raise the craft of the unrefined artisan to the high street.

One can see ‘Ready-to-Order’ slogans all over the city of Tehran, on banners at the entrance of restaurants and hospitality halls, in daily newspapers and advertisements.  The phrase is aimed at the typical Iranian habit to ‘commission and order’ on the occasion of all sorts of celebrations.  Whether for a wedding, a birthday, a memorial for lost loved ones and religious martyrs or a funeral, what matters is that the host has ‘ordered’ a lavish banquet, a socially meaningful token of affluence.

Initially inspired by the small boxes found in the holy birthplaces of Imams and the tombs of martyrs, Hassanzadeh likes to think of these custom boxes as shrines, his bespoke homage to unrecognized or otherwise uncelebrated subjects. His choice of subjects for portraiture began with ordinary people like his mother, his friend, or himself and eventually evolved towards popular icons. In one remarkable example, the famous diva Googoosh appears from behind a beaded curtain, wearing her myriad glamorous accessories: a diamond tiara, a shiny costume with heavily jeweled belt, and a white boa. The background complements this opulence with fake flowers and blue lights. Another box is consecrated to the popular singer Javad, whose name has become an adjective which means ‘kitsch’ in Farsi.  Wearing his best orange suit and tie, his edified figure adorned by lavish lily pads and sun flowers, he smiles amidst a background of mirror work and wall-paper depicting swans quietly swimming.  The Pahlavan: beloved wrestler, paragon of physical and moral strength for the local population, carries serenely his championship medals and traditional costume while his instruments, photos and lucky charms crowd his box.

Fired by passion, Hassanzadeh has explored every stable of the downtown bazaars to find the right objects to properly pay tribute to the diva, the pop singer or the pahlavan. Yet, a democratic artist, he is known to be inspired by the ordinary people of his daily entourage, and even more by the disadvantaged and abused, whom he is always ready to defend (see his Prostitute and  Ashura series). That being said, Khosrow is willing to extend his services to anyone who would like to see themselves ‘Ready to Order.’  [Don’t hesitate to inquire at B21!]

 

In the series ‘Ya Ali Madadi’, whose title is taken from the prayers of pahlavan wrestlers before a match, the artist expands on his fascination with the Qajar-period heroes, here executed with highly-charged acrylic colors and silkscreen on canvas.  The script ‘Ya Ali Madadi’ whirls around Pahlavans holding each other’s hands and posing in the center of the scene while surrounded by a Dervish, a court intellectual, a General and a Mullah. By extension it has become a popular ‘good luck message’, recalling the values carried by Ali, the patriarch of the Shi’a tradition known for his strength, humility and generosity towards the poor.

Works from both ‘Ready-to-Order’ and ‘Ya Ali Madadi’, are intended to be at once sentimental, patriotic, quaint, spiritual, and inspirational. Representing many aspects of Iranian culture, the result is optically intoxicating as Hassanzadeh proves himself to be the hero of Iranian pop and kitsch!

 

 

Khosrow Hassanzadeh is a well-known contemporary artist from Iran, with a fascinating life story that has been the subject of various documentaries by BBC and Arte. His work featured in many exhibitions in Europe and the Middle East. Hassanzadeh’s paintings often deal with issues that are considered sensitive in Iranian society and therefore he is frequently referred to as a ‘political’ artist. Hassanzadeh first gained international recognition with War (1998), a grim and trenchant diary of his own experiences as a volunteer soldier during the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988). In Ashura (2000) a ‘women-friendly’ interpretation of the most revered Shiite religious ceremony, he depicted chador-clad women engulfed by religious iconography. Chador (2001) and Prostitutes (2002) continued his exploration of sociological themes particular to Iran’s hyper-gendered urban landscape. The latter paintings used police mug shots to pay tribute to sixteen prostitutes killed by a serial killer in Mashhad, a religious capital of Iran. For an exhibition titled ‘West by East’ in Barcelona, he was invited to give his views of the West. He answered by looking at himself in a Western mirror, and seeing the way he was looked at. He presented a self-portrait alongside portraits of his family members; each one identified by name, nationality, age and profession and all under the heading ‘Terrorist’, as they might be described on a ‘Wanted’ poster. His project Occidentalist, consisting of portraits of 24 Dutch men and women, mirrors the Terrorist project by looking at Western individuals from the viewpoint of an Easterner.

For general enquiries, hi-res images, artist CV or an interview please contact Tessa on 050 5025778/ tessa@b21gallery.com

About B21 Gallery

B21 Gallery opened its doors in November 2005 and is located in a warehouse in Al Quoz, an industrial area near the centre of Dubai. Since then, the gallery has showcased more than 25 exhibitions, all emphasizing the importance of risk-taking in contemporary art and challenging its visitors and collectors to unfamiliar terrain. Focusing on the emergent and innovative artists of the Middle Eastern region, B21’s primary goal is to discover the future rising talent. As a nexus of such artistic development, B21 Gallery continues to provide unique opportunities for collectors.

Al Quoz 1, near The Courtyard, opposite Spinneys warehouse. Sat-Thu 10am-7pm; Fri closed.

 

B21 Gallery

Tel: 00 971 4 340 3965

info@b21gallery.com

www.b21gallery.com

 

 

Features DS 27/02/04

HassanZadeh: ‘I don’t believe in violent upheaval’

Iranian painter can’t escape label of ‘political’ artist

Ramsay Short
Special to The Daily Star

Beirut: Khosrow HassanZadeh is tall and lithe. His face is lined and tanned and his dark hair is cut close to his head, showing flecks of gray. He smiles a lot and carries his 41 years well. Meeting this very contemporary Iranian painter one morning in Beirut’s Janine Rubeiz Gallery, where his exhibit, Pahlavan, is showing, feels like breathing the air of modern day Tehran in the center of the Lebanese capital.
For HassanZadeh is a very particular artist, one who is wholly indicative of an Iranian arts scene that has come to flourish at home and abroad ¬ despite the ruling clerical regime. Like his contemporaries in film and photography ¬ people like film-maker Samira Makhmalbaf, who recently won a prize at the Cannes Film Festival, or the photographer for the Magnum Agency who is known simply as Abbas ¬ HassanZadeh is an Iranian artist who has been able to examine the tensions between Islamic culture and secular realities through his work and see it win acclaim abroad with exhibits in Paris, London and Washington. The British Museum and the World Bank, as well as the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art and numerous private collectors, have bought his work.
Born in 1963 in Tehran, from an Azerbaijani family, HassanZadeh spent most of his youth in museums and cinemas, a refuge from the streets of the capital where he worked selling bananas to tourists. After fighting as a conscript in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, he chose to follow his heart and paint, attending Persian literature classes at Azad University and taking art classes with Aydeen Aghdashlou, a painter and former adviser to Queen Farah.
Like many of his fellow artists in Tehran, HassanZadeh has faced the disappointment of not being able to show some of his paintings, which have been exhibited in the West, at home. A series on his impressions of war as well as a series on Iranian prostitutes depicting the tragedy of their lives were both banned in Tehran.
But HassanZadeh does not think of himself as political painter, although in many ways he is.
“I feel my artwork should reflect a serious subject,” he says in a thick Persian accent. “I hate politics, but I have been branded a political painter, really, because in Iran everybody is a political painter. If you paint you must be political.
“In Iran I had shows about war, Ashoura (the bloody Shiite religious ceremony marking the death in battle in 680 of Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammed), the veil and prostitution, but I am not a political painter. I don’t like politics. I am famous for being a political painter because of my subjects, but really they are just about the reality we live.”
The artist who is part of a cultural movement in Tehran that grew from the easing of restrictions at the end of the Iraq war, and he follows in the footsteps of previous movements rich with artistic tradition.
In the 1960s Iran experienced a liberal artistic environment that reflected, swallowed up and rebelled against the scene in Britain and the United States through movements such as saqqakhaneh (spiritual pop art), where artists adapted popular imagery to comment on contemporary Iran. Sculpture, traditionally frowned upon by Islam, was popular, as was experimentation with the art of calligraphy. After the 1979 Islamic revolution limits were placed on artistic expression until a decade later when artists like HassanZadeh and Zohre Mehran began to emerge.
By the late 1980s these artists represented the frustrated youth of Iran who had seen over 1 million of their countrymen die in the war, and as a result of their disillusionment by that and the social, economic and artistic constraints placed upon them, they found a form of communication through photography, film and painting that was able to dodge the shadow of the censorship.
With the 1997 election of reformist President Mohammed Khatami, HassanZadeh and his contemporaries had even more opportunity to experiment with freedom of expression though all the while facing resistance from more conservative elements.
“We have some more freedom with Khatami for visual arts,” HassanZadeh says between puffs on a cigarette. “But we still have problems. They wouldn’t agree to show my story of the murder of prostitutes ¬ which was happening almost daily at one point ¬ in the Tehran Museum, because I made the show at the same time they were being killed by these extreme religious men. I made portraits of them using their pictures from the newspaper, and this was too provocative, I think.
“For me this is an important issue that should be shown in Iran, because people don’t know about it. It should be shown in Tehran not just abroad,” he says.
HassanZadeh adds that, though he is happy with the current quantity of art and ability of its purveyors in Iran, anything supported by government funds is worthless.
“In general I don’t believe the government supports art. And they never support me, though I will not ask for their support financially because obviously it would inhibit my freedom. I prefer to do it myself. Every time the government supports art it is (worthless) art, and they want other things in return.”
The painter’s outspoken criticism doesn’t prevent him from giving credit where it is due.
“I believe in Khatami and his approach to make change through referendum. I don’t believe in violent upheaval or revolution. I have seen it. It is bad,” he says, adding that he didn’t vote in last week’s Iranian elections because he was in Lebanon.
HassanZadeh is not a man afraid to speak his mind or express it in his work.
Like the prostitution paintings, which are moving and tragic and all the more full of impact for their size and dark vision, HassanZadeh’s reflections on war are equally dark in mood. In particular, his most haunting series, in black and white, depicts massive figures wrapped in white linen body bags. The series expresses the pathos of war and universal suffering. One, titled Do I Have To Sign? which is owned by the British Museum, shows HassanZadeh’s amazingly poised sweeping brush strokes with which he creates a scarily animate body bag, made all the more poignant by the inclusion of his letters from the front.
The artist’s current touring exhibition, first shown at the Silk Road Gallery in Tehran, was completed three years ago and is a series of unframed massive silk screen prints on canvas of century-old photographs of half-naked men known as the Pahlavans. HassanZadeh has painted, colored and tampered with the prints in what is clearly a departure in subject matter for him, but one that is equally close to his heart.
“My aim was to remind people that these old noble men of Iran existed,” he explains, “and my question is what happened to these people, why and what is society like without them? It is the first time I have painted men; always my human subjects have been women.
“The prostitution series had made me so depressed that I had to look at something that was once so noble in Iranian society,” he adds.
The paintings are somewhat satirical, showing these Pahlavans naked from the waist up, their bodies strong and supple, wrestling and posing.
“These were great men of nobility who were strong, religious, but humble, too. Much like Sufis they believed in being strong spiritually and physically, and using that strength to help people. The aim is that your body is strong but your mind stays humble. They had annual wrestling competitions and the winner would be given the Pahlavani armband. They were very popular characters in Iranian society.
“But they are gone now,” he adds. “The last one was known as Tachti the Famous Pahlavan. He won Olympic medals for his wrestling, but he was murdered by the shah’s secret police before the revolution ¬ he was a wrestler with political ambitions who was far more popular than the shah.”
It is powerful imagery displaying the simple but powerful talent of the painter.
But despite his protestations to the contrary, HassanZadeh can’t get away from politics for too long: “I would consider myself an unofficial ambassador for Iran abroad,” he says. “Everybody thinks we are terrorists in the Arab world, but clearly we have art here, too. This I hate, so I have made this joke. Look.”
He removes a dog tag from around his neck. Indented on it are the words: Khosrow HassanZadeh, 1963, Terrorist.
“This is my political statement. We are not terrorists.”
Pahlavan runs until March 18 at the Janine Rubeiz Gallery in Beirut

i try to send you some text about pahlavan.
About pahlavans:
You know some things about that; i say some word about used in culture:
Genorous ; hero , gymnasium , regarder poor people ;, the seven adventures ,
Lion of god , fable ; gladiator ; sufism ,armlot generoustic ,interior , competition , wrestle , disciple ….
So: pahlavans: they’re part of more famouse and popilar tradetional of iranian culture that they turn off around 50 years ago ;they’re hero and genorous men that help and regarder middel and poor people .the history foundation of SHAH NAME BOOKS-1000 year ago(writer Ferdousi; fmouse poem) about a guy ;his name Rostam; and then to religious way to disciple EMAM ALI (Lion of god)
So other way they’re a littel sufism too and must be make body and minds heart by the seven adventures inside and out side of body and mind.
And in sexuall they’re by sexuall and normaly they have sex with men too!!
Every year , more befor ; they must be wrestle to gether and then one of them choosed to number one and gave to him armlot generoustic prise!
Funy!! I think it’s not so bad text! Maybe the first time somebody write about them so reality and simple and perfect too!!
Khosrow

INSIDE IRAN: THE ART OF KHOSROW HASSANZADEH

Staff Report
AMSTERDAM, 15 OCTOBER 2006 —This autumn the Tropenmuseum presents a review of the oeuvre of Iranian painter Khosrow Hassanzadeh (b. 1963). As one of the few Iranian artitsts that are successful in the West, Hassanzadeh has deliberately chosen to live and work in Iran. His paintings focus on political and social developments in his country, and tie in intimately with his own personal experiences and vision. The Tropenmuseum show features a series of paintings about Hassanzadeh’s period as a frontline soldier during the Iran-Iraq war. These and other works can be seen until 7 January 2007 at the Parkzaal.
A former fruit seller and volunteer soldier, Khosrow Hassanzadeh cuts an unusual figure in Tehran’s elite art scene. Treating subjects as diverse as the Iran-Iraq war, murdered prostitutes, women in chadors and Iranian wrestlers, Hassanzadeh’s multi-layered, humanist works place individuals at the centre of things and examine harsh political realities.
His Iranian background is his principal inspiration: in his work he concentrates on events linked to the culture and recent history of Iran. Hassanzadeh does not avoid sensitive subjects in his art. Additional themes that are found in his paintings include the recent war against terrorism and the accompanying image of Iran from a Western perspective. Khosrow’s paintings and screen prints offer a visual commentary, at once personal and political, from inside Iranian society.
Khosrow Hassanzadeh: Selfportrait, 2004 From the series: Terrorist Screen print on canvas  © Photo: Tropenmuseum Photo courtesy of Tropenmuseum
Khosrow Hassanzadeh’s work contains many references to Iran’s visual religious culture and the visual imagery of state propaganda. He works primarily with photography, collage, painting and mixed media, often layering contemporary images and photographs with figures drawn from Persian illuminated manuscripts and Farsi calligraphy. By using this mix of graphic techniques, painting and Photoshop, Hassanzadeh creates a visual idiom, almost like pop-art, with which he emphasises his vision. His idiosyncratic and critical analyses have made him little-loved by the Iranian regime. On the other hand, the fact that his work is mainly exhibited outside Iran despite its focus on contemporary Iranian society makes for an intriguing, though slightly uneasy relationship with the Western art world.

Terrorist

Five series of works by Hassanzadeh are featured in the Tropenmuseum exhibition. Terrorist (2004) is a series that began as a reaction to Bush’s declaration that Iran was part of an the Axis of Evil. By portraying himself and his family as ‘terrorists’ Hassanzadeh challenges the Western perception of the Islamic world. The medium Khosrow uses, screen print on canvas, refers to the religious propaganda of the Iranian regime. By adopting the same medium, while giving it a different content, Hassanzadeh criticises both Islamic and Western forms of propaganda. The series, which the Tropenmuseum has purchased, can be considered a declaration of independence; from the West and from Islamic radicalism.
Khosrow Hassanzadeh: Reyhan Hassanzadeh. 2004 From the series: Terrorist Screen print on canvas  © Photo: Tropenmuseum Photo courtesy of Tropenmuseum
War (1998), a sombre series about the Iran-Iraq war, is diametrically opposed to the government version of events. The latter is characterised by colourful scenes eulogising and honouring martyrs. Heroes and pride are a long way off in Khosrow’s highly personal description of the Iran-Iraq war (1980 and 1988). A war in which he fought on the frontline and around a million people were killed.
Khosrow Hassanzadeh, 1998 From the series: War Mixed media This series refers to the Iran-Iraq war (1980 – 1988), where Khosrow Hassanzadeh fought on the frontline. About a million people were killed in that war. © Photo: Tropenmuseum Photo courtesy of Tropenmuseum
Other series presented in the museum are Prostitutes, Ashura and Pahlavan . The large size and colourful palette of his paintings reflect Khosrow’s vision and experiences relating to subjects and opinions in and about Iran.
Khosrow Hassanzadeh: Prostitutes, 2002 Painting on silk-screen print Police file photos of prostitutes that were published in the daily papers and served a serial killer, a self-declared “avenger” who had murdered a number of women, as orientation in the choice of his victims. © Photo: Haupt & Binder Photo courtesy of Tropenmuseum
A bilingual catalogue accompanies the exhibition (English and Farsi), entitled: Tehran Studio Works-The Art of Khosrow Hassanzadeh published by Saqi Books, London.
Inside Iran: A Retrospective of Khosrow Hassanzadeh  22 September 2006 – 7 January 2007 Tropenmuseum Linnaeusstraat 2 1092 CK Amsterdam  The Netherlands Tel: (31) 20 568 82 00