Persianesque: Iranian Magazine

Lost Art original piece in Washington, DC--Photo: RJS

Recently we had the pleasure of meeting prominent (and tireless) Iranian-American artist, Farzad Kohan…And uncontrollably, he’s managed to turn us into a collector, curator, fan, and friend.

“Art is the purest vehicle of the human expression: When all else fails we communicate our emotions, our ideals, our hopes and dreams through our art.” Quips Kohan, whose ability to connect on an-almost spiritual level with his audience, still fascinates us. Read the full story

New York–ILLUMINATIONS (After Arthur Rimbaud) an exhibition of sculpture, video and installation by 16 well-known and emerging artists who work with light, will be on view at Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller (LTMH) Gallery from September 15 through October 15, 2010.

Inspired by a collection of poetry entitled Illuminations by Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891), the exhibition is curated by Ashok Adicéam, an independent curator and art advisor. (A fully illustrated catalogue with an essay by Adicéam will accompany the exhibition.)

Creating a revealing dialogue between artists living and working in the East and West, ILLUMINATIONS (After Arthur Rimbaud) highlights the strength of light to bind different cultures together.

As Rimbaud wrote, “…the soul for the soul, summing up everything, perfumes and sounds and colors.”

While a number of the artists are inspired by neon lighting, Iranian artist Leila Pazooki, uses blue neon tubes to sculpt a Persian word in Orientalism, 2010.

Read the full story

Coffee House Painting 2009 by Shoja Azari

Shoja Azari’s first solo exhibition in New York City “Icons,” will feature six new video works which examine the role of saints and heroes in modern society.

In the early 20th century, coffee house-style painting flourished in Iran. Based on Persian mythology, the large paintings depicted the heat of battle, the afterlife and martyrdom, truth and justice, and the apocalypse. The paintings expressed respect for religious and traditional beliefs and served as a backdrop for entertainment in the coffee houses of Iran as storytellers would act out the epic scenes depicted in the paintings.

Azari has appropriated coffee house painter Mohammad Modabber’s, The Day of Judgment, a painting dense with imagery and symbolism, and turned it into video work projected onto canvas, Coffee House Painting, 2009, infused with images of today’s saints and sinners.

The Icons series, 2010, is comprised of five video works that appropriate popular posters of saints in Iran. Inspired by how Renaissance painters humanized religious figures, Azari seeks to make icons resonate in a new way.

Iranian-born Shoja Azari has lived in New York City since 1983. His films and video installations have been screened and exhibited widely around the world. Most recently, his video work has been seen in solo gallery exhibitions in London; Turin, Italy; and Köln, Germany, and at art fairs including Art Basel, Switzerland, and ARCO, Madrid. Since 1997, he has collaborated with Shrin Neshat on film and video installations including Women Without Men, which won the Silver Lion for best director at the 2009Venice Film Festival. He has also collaborated with Shahram Karimi on video paintings which project video on painted surfaces.

Video work by artist and filmmaker Shoja Azari will be on view at Leila Taghinia-Milani Heller (LTMH) Gallery from May 4-27, 2010.

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We do!

In fact: we love!

Throughout time, Persian patterns have remained of the most enlightened, delicate, and precisely-detailed in the world…And we simply adore seeing more and more  parts of our often-unmentioned culture so smartly inserted into the mainstream market. (In this case; urban playgrounds, empty pools, and skateboard ramps.)

Eric Esmailzadeh Parnes‘s newest creation and usable product(s): “Boards of Iran,” easily double as figurative flying carpets. (Pending upon how fast you can board.)

These beautiful urban pieces finally allow us to step (even with our dirtiest sneakers) on such recherché prints found mostly on the best of silk Persian rugs, guilt free.

“The geometric designs and intrinsic beauty of Persian rugs is well known and has been a coveted item both in the East, and West. It was only natural that these designs were chosen.” Says Parnes of his inspiration for the skateboards. ”I recreated the designs from a vast selection of different styles of rugs, and tried to portray the subtle hand crafted imperfections that make them special.”

Parnes who skateboards “in theory” because it “would either ruin the beauty of the design, or [his] body,” humorously tells us that he made this product for “rug dealers, and naturally, their children.”

I suppose it’s fair to disclose I have family that own a rug store, as well as family friends who do. (But then again who doesn’t.) I would love to set up a skateboard shop in a Bazaar as a art concept.” Adds the New York-based Iranian artist. ”It’s out there so that anyone who likes it gets it.”

Click here to purchase your own board or contact:  info@ericrobertparnes.com for more info.