Yaghoub Emdadian

Audio of the Entire Interview

Interview Transcript

Part 01

An Interview with Yaghoub Emdadian
the Contemporary Painter

I was born in Tabriz in January 1949

I passed the first years of my life namely, the years of primary
and high school and the first year of art college in that town.

My primary school was named Shah Hoseyn Vali which was
one of the oldest schools in Tabriz and unlike other schools

regarded the subject of painting as important as mathematics.
Both the teachers of art and the school principal showed a special attention to the subject of painting

My older brother, Davood; was a professional painter but painting for my father was an entertainment

My father was a member of the staff of Tabriz rail road office, he encouraged us to paint

He never admonished us to concentrate upon our classical
assignments but instead he insisted upon painting

Even he did not advise me which branch do I choose
in the high school and never encouraged me to be a physician or an engineer

When I chose to go to art college he appreciated me for making this decision

To my father painting was as important as mathematics,
unlike other kin who did not show any interest to this art

In the last year of primary school, our teacher Mr. Haddad,
advised me to enroll in Mansour High school

due to the fact that this school possessed a great atelier
and its main extracurricular activities was painting. In that atelier I met Mr. Seyf Noori

He was our painting teacher and he infused in me the love of painting.

When I passed the first 3 year of high school

owing to the fact that painting for most of my family members was a serious job or an entertainment

I entered into an art school. In the first year of art school, Mr. Pooshbanan
was our painting teacher.

He trained us. Among our fellow students who later become celebrated

I can name Mr. Yaqoob Emameh Picheh, Mr. Allahyari and Vaygaramian.

In the second year of art school, I came to the idea that
in this city the number of great museums and galleries are very few

so I made my decision to leave Tabriz for Tehran

At that time my older brother was the student of Tehran Faculty of Decorative Arts

I joined him and we lived together. I enrolled in Tehran art school
that master Mohsen Vaziri was the head of the department of painting and

later Gholam Hoseyn Nami was assigned as a trainer.

One of the people who pushed me to leave Tabriz for
Tehran was Mr. Hoseyn Kazemi the then head of the Tabriz art school

He knew me and my brother.

In Tehran, the capital city, almost all the works of the artists were modern

Since we have come from a town that comparatively was smaller than Tehran

I was unfamiliar with modern arts.

One day Mr. Kazemi asked me: “How do you see Tehran?”

I replied I scarcely could understand what they are doing; I am dizzy

He advised me to follow painting earnestly and he added Tehran is a sea

you have come out from a pool and now you have stepped into a sea

it is not unnatural to be dizzy in the first year of your arrival; he said exactly the same words

Later in the art school I became familiar with the modern art

At that time painting was my main job and along with it I showed interest in sculpturing too

Master Ghahari was our sculpturing teacher and
Mr. Abutaleb Moqimi was our miniature teacher

When I was in the third class unfortunately Mr. Moqimi passed away.

I completed the art high school successfully and entered in the then
faculty of decorative arts that now is called the University of Art

In this phase Master Hoseyn Kazemi was my painting trainer

Under his supervision I learnt a lot, indeed Master Kazemi was
the only teacher that taught me many things.

I remember when I was a high school student with the help of our fellow
students we used to produce a newspaper to install on the wall of high school yard

Our newspaper was a sheet of paper of 100×70 cm we used to write an article as editorial and

some sentences as aphorism and precepts and of course the paper covers a cross puzzle too

But the most outstanding part of the paper was its paintings that were assigned to me

Painting for the high school paper was the first sparkle in the sky of my life and

I felt that I am an artist. In the primary school and in the high school I attended in some of the artistic

extracurricular programs and received awards for my artistic works

When I was in the 8th grade the first prize that I was awarded
was a box of water color of 12 colors that was very dear to me

I fancied that I have received a prize of one million dollars.

In the course of training I produced some works with water color
and most of them were sold to foreign tourists

It was a source of income for me.
When I was in Tabriz I painted on the white tiles

the subject of the painting was flower and natural views

The price of them was 4 or 5 Rials

These painting secured my pocket money

When I came Tehran, I copied the works of great artists or
I created some new views out of my mind

then proliferated them up to 5 or 6 tableaus and

sell them to the galleries in the Manoochehri Street
and they sell them to the art lovers’ especially the tourists.

From the very early ages I liked photography, in such a way that
I bungled a laboratory of photography in our house

I did not succeed in the 6th grade of primary school

My class mates entered the high school but I was stayed back

In their high school there was an advanced laboratory and

the students who were interested in photography
came to me to talk about their extracurricular programs and

what they have learnt in the field of photography and

I was fraught with the gloom why I can’t attend in their programs

Therefore, I myself started to learn more about this technic.

Every Thursday afternoon I remain for them to come and

explain for me what new things they have learnt, then
I employed what they had learnt or at least their explanations satisfied my curiosity.

At this time, I got familiar with the monthly journal of Folk’s Art (Honar-e-Mardom) and

with great enthusiasm I followed Mr. Hadi Shafaieh’s articles in the field of photography

I was subscribed that journal and preserved them earnestly even now I have kept all of them

These articles were helpful and I learnt somethings about photography

I followed this program after entering university and finally I stopped to buy the journal

in the second year of university to stick to painting committedly

I hold two or three exhibition to display my photos

In the years of 1972/73 in the Sayhoon’s Gallery there was
a place was allocated to photography exhibitions.

Please talk of yourself as a university student.

I entered the university in 1968, 69, the year that
the students’ demonstrations against the Shah regime was at its culmination

I joined the demonstrators and finally the classes were closed

At those days since Mr. Dastghib, the principal of the faculty

slapped one of the students it was a good excuse to close the faculty

After the calmness returned to the faculty I was deprived to attend
in the classes for one year and after passing the term

I returned to faculty and followed my studies

None of my fellow students who were trained to be a painter

became a famous painter.

As far as I remember the daughter of Behazin, the deceased great translator,

followed the course of painting as well as Pollad Abdolrahimi
the then general director of dramatic arts and

Piran Poorpezeshk who studied internal architecture, were my classmates

Among the masters of the faculty who deeply impressed me first
and foremost I can talk of Mr. Hoseyn Kazemi who influenced me greatly and

he was my master of painting and Lilit Triyan the master
of sculpturing and Monsieur Girar, the Frenchman was the master of Graphic.

What was your motivation to receive your master in the field of graphic?

Despite the fact that I was studying painting in the university
after graduation due to some reasons I chose to receive my master in the field of graphic

First of all, the graphic department of the faculty was
very attractive while the department of painting was deprived from great masters

The only skilled master was Mr. Kazemi that he had taught
me whatever he knew and the other outstanding master was Mohsen Varzideh who left Iran for Italy

More important I was young and the moods and senses of that
age made me to look at graphic as a modern art

nevertheless I never left painting in my life.

Part 02

 

When I was a senior student in the faculty (1975-6)
I established an atelier with the company of my friends

Its place was located in the then Amir Akram intersection,
taught painting there for a short time and

in the meantime I was invited to the Office of Progressive
Communication affiliated to the United Nations

I was appointed as the director of the atelier and they paid me a good salary

Concurrently I was invited to work as the manager of the
atelier of the newly established office of Tehran Beautification office affiliated to Tehran Municipality.

In 1971 I received my master of art (M.A.) from the faculty of Decorative Arts

It coincided with the inauguration of Niavaran Cultural Center

Mr. Firuz Shirvani asked me to run the graphic atelier as well as the printing office of the center

I was working there for a short time that I was called up for military service

Whereas they need me in the Cultural Center, the authorities agreed
to work in that center rather than passing the military course in the garrison.

After the victory of Islamic Revolution, due to the merging of the Ministry of Information and

Tourism and Ministry of Culture and Art and the formation of Ministry of Culture and

Islamic Guidance, actually I became the employee of the newly established ministry.

Before the victory of Revolution Mr. Shirvani had brought
the art works of great painters from Spain

the works of eminent painters such as Jeopes and Eduvardo Narango

The exhibition was coincided with the riots of September 1978. Mr. Shirvani before it

has brought two or three exhibitions from modern artists of
India which was welcomed by art lovers and

a leaflet was published too that introduced all the tableaus.

Unfortunately, after the first years of the Revolution,
the Niavaran Culture Center was left neglected

I stayed there up to 1982 or 1983 and then I was transferred
to the Center of Plastic Arts as the expert of arts affair

I was there for three years and
then I was transferred to the Museum of Contemporary Arts

I felt that I must do something here, so I decided to hold an exhibition. To realize this goal first

I collected the works of great painters.
My first endeavors were to collect the works of Sohrab Sepehri

. The first exhibition was held successfully and then a magnificent
exhibition of the works of Hooshang Pezeshknia

and Mr. Pakbaz works was held successively. I myself wrote the text of the leaflet of the exhibition

And then I held a splendid exhibition of Parviz Tanavoli’s works.

I was involved in most of the biennials of painting and pottery as a secretariat or a manager.

During the imposed war I had many problems with various
groups and the followers of various tenets

even a group suggested to convert the museum into hospital

I resisted against them.
I kept the items of the museum far from the onslaught of radical groups

Some of them due to revolutionary emotions were against the modern art

I was informed that at the beginning of the revolution,
some of the invaluable works of eminent world well known artists have been destroyed.

All my effort and my colleagues were devoted to save the works of the museum.

Unfortunately, the same people who were appointed as superintendent
out of ignorance destroyed the items

I remember a statute of a naked woman was in a cupboard

one of the newly appointed superintendent

took out it and cast it on the ground and splashed it

Many years we have hidden the work of Renoir, in fact we do not show it to anyone,
we have packed it, in a way that no one could see it

After many years I brought them out to display.

When Mousavi was prime-minister we received an edict to collect various world

famous works from various organs that were abandoned and
left out of carelessness we collected them in the museum

For instance, we received the works of Sohrab from the
archive of radio and television as well as the works of Picasso and Barack.

One of my expectations or better to say one of my aspirations was to have
a superintend who possesses a little talent of art

but unfortunately all of the 13 and 14 people who were appointed
as superintend were utterly alien with art save one or two of them.

Working in the museum was not free from pain and sorrow

On the one hand we believed in some standards and we try to keep the principles of museum

keeping and on the other hand we had managers
who were really know nothing of the museum’s roles and

contributions in the society. Our main goal to save the items
of the museum and I can claim with honor that

all the items were saved from violation and revolutionary fury.

The only action was implemented during my presence in the Museum of Contemporary Art

was swapping work of de Kooning with the king
Tahmasebi’s Shahnameh-known as Hooton Shahnameh – I do not appreciate such a swapping,

indeed we changed a fresh beautiful bride with our grandma

an old wrinkled woman

It is true that our grandma is dear for us and the miniatures of the Shahnameh are really beautiful

but logically the work of de Kooning was a modern work
and had adorned the treasure of the Contemporary Art Museum and

the miniatures of the Tahmasebi’s Shahnameh are not suitable for the Contemporary Art Museum.

After the revolution I started teaching graphics in the College of Construction and

at the first years of the victory of revolution I taught the technics
of printing in the Faculty of Decorative Art

for two or three terms

Somehow I have been a teacher from the time of graduation

Because ceaselessly I have a class for training painter. My class was active up to 2000.

In 2005 I was retired from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance and
then I rented an office and rendered it to a gallery for displaying various art works

My policy is to introduce two types of works

 

From very beginning it has been my policy and I have stuck to it up to the present time.

Occasionally I hold thematic exhibitions which is not very popular
in Iran for example I choose one time the theme of lifeless nature

another time figures or abstraction works

Recently I have held an exhibition with the theme of A Glance at the Nature.
In this exhibition the works of a dozen artists were displayed

In fact, any time I deeply aspire to show my works

I hold an exhibition to express my feelings and my passions.

The main reason to hold an exhibition is to share my audience to my feeling at a particular time.

My first individual water color and gouache exhibition was held
in 1988 or 89 in Khaneh-e-Aftab, a gallery was placed in front of Daneshsara

It was affiliated to the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.

I also participated in the group annual exhibitions of the university

We had a family exhibition too. It was held by the participation of my brothers Ayyub and Davood.

part 03

 


Painting has become my secondary nature

I have painted ceaselessly. Every afternoon after coming back home from office

I started to paint and most of the times I have been busy up to the two and three in the morning

When I was a high school student especially at the first grade
of high school the theme of most of my paintings

were realistic views and very close to the nature, later when
I entered in the art school of Tehran and

became familiar with the modern art gradually my works tasted
more sophisticated concepts and my ideas inclined to modernism

In any case I never left the theme of nature, essentially I am captured by nature and

most of the subjects of my paintings are nature

Scarcely I have shown any interest in portrait or figure

Such an inclination lasted up to the years of university

When I was a fresh man and a sophomore I was suspended between the nature and

modernism and at length I found my technic

Indeed, my technic was a mixture of some elements of nature with
a new composition that provides me

with an open space that I have borrowed it from the Iranian miniature

in such a way that the horizons are always at the summit
and the earth as well as the coming bars of light are

very impressive and the spaces are smooth

In this stage my paintings are following the Iranian miniature

The line of the horizon is at the summit and there is an immense surface

as if an eagle has looked down ward from the summit and I had merged the front view and

the view from the summit and with a special perspective I display my paintings

By passing this stage, a period arrived that, I strongly felt that I like to work with water color

Under the impulse of this tendency I held an exhibition in a gallery of my water color works

After this period for a few years I turned to desertscapes

A number of my works are displaying Kavir landscape,

covers expansive plots of earth in desert color and the houses which are special for desert.

Some of the works of this period are kept in the archive of Contemporary
Art Museum along with the works that their main theme is nature

The subject of some of my paintings is the gabbled roof houses
and the mountainous houses with thatched and slope roofs

Some of these paintings are preserved in the Contemporary Art Museum too

My love to nature is inseminated in me from very childhood

Although my father was an employee of the rail road office,

he was one of the men of art, when we were child or young adult

from the early in the morning he gathered all his 7 sons and took us to the outskirt of the town

Those days, Baqmisheh a resort place at the north section
of Tabriz was green yet and there were many orchards at its foothill

My father took us there to hike. Those countryside hiking deeply impressed me

When we were living in the house was allocated to the employees of rail road office

our house was located in an agricultural region

in a vast vista full of farms and beautiful horizon. All of these scenes made me a nature lover.

In one of your interviews you have talked of the school of Isfahan

school of Tabriz. Do we have any art under the name of school of Tabriz?

Roughly can you call it school. But somehow an inclination
to nature is visible in the works of the artists whose origin are from Tabirz.

This inclination is called the school of Tabriz?

Yes, but school is not an exact word for such inclination;
it merely could be called a method, a way of painting

I never step out of nature, owing to the fact that I have received everything from nature

works are inclined to excessive abstraction and there is not any sign of the elements of nature

but in a panoramic view you will find the influence of nature in my works.

As I told before I love painting, I am a real the lover– to me the
most perfect form in the nature is square

This form instills calmness in me, a kind of quiescence.
When I am working in a squared framework

I feel I am free. Against it when the framework grows thinner
and the rectangles become narrow and narrower

I lose my courage and a type of anxiety onslaughts on me

My colors stem from nature, from the reflections of nature

If you look closely at all my works you would always
see in it the signs of paddy fields, the wheat fields

and there is a bright surface exists in my work; no matter how dark it is,
a chink of light would emerge from a point

Once a painter attains a special stage

he would employ all his capabilities to enrich his work
and avoids from rambling and jumping from a style to another one.

Part 04

 

Sometimes I feel that I should create something that I do not exactly know what it could be

A feeling comes to me that I should do something

Sometimes this feeling is absent for a week, but when it comes,
then involuntarily I take a canvas and

places it on an easel and start to draw some lines spontaneously
and divide it into a number of spaces

then it is the turn of color

I choose a pigment, may be green, violet, brown or yellow.

One day my tendency is towards green, another day is towards yellow
and so on and with regard to the color that I have chosen

I use other colors

The prevalent color in my work stems from my feelings

Anon I have the feeling of the green color,

Anon I take the green color and with regard to the color I choose, other colors appear

I start involuntarily and completed it in the same session. The works that need more time and

it is impossible to complete it all at once, I have to work for two or three days

Indeed, it is difficult for me to elongate any work, I long to finish the work at one session

due to the feeling has dominated over me

When I start a work I should complete it before to lose that feeling.

Have you ever been in a mood that in the heat of painting,
quit your work for you do not know how to follow it?

Yes, sometimes I lose my motivation utterly, in such a way that
I have no interest in creating any work

In the first years of victory of the Revolution; I did not work at all.

Why??

I do not know. I was inflicted by an apathy, perhaps owing to the brain storm

or the crisis of the social issues I can’t work for a long time

I was in a mood that I had lost all motivations.

When are you painting at which phase do you think that your work has been completed.

When I feel that I can’t continue anymore, I work and work so far
I feel that the work is complete and

any other beat of brush is void and futile

At this point I stop it

When that feeling rushes me and turns to an urge that makes me to do something,

namely painting, then I take a canvas and place it on an easel,

in fact I promenade in the arena of my work and I find new ideas and record them

Paintings for me is an intuitive work i.e. they are not preconceived and

it is an affair has been thought in advance, the tableaus are usually completed in one session and

if the work needs more time to be completed after an elapse of a few hours I resume my job.

Do you give name to your works?

Very scarcely. I have given the name of Pardis to a collection
of my works and enumerated them with the figures

For example, Pardis 1, Pardis 2, …

another series were named “Beneath the Moonlight”
that reminds you it is night and the moon is shining.

Why the name Pardis has been chosen for that series. What is its origin?

To me nature means paradise and paradise is nature, none of my works display a distorted nature

Man has manipulated and has destroyed the nature and
has given it a new form and a new arrangement

For this very reason you can find in all my works a pattern consisting of squares of different sizes and

when these squares are placed together they form a large square

When a tableau is being completed almost my relation with it would be severed.-

At the present time which themes are prevalent and most found in your paintings?

At the time being every week two or three times in the afternoons
I have a short visit of gallery and assign the duties of my colleagues

Every week I have allocated strictly two days for painting in the home and a day is allotted to family

visiting and private issues and sometimes having a trip.

How much the culture and traditions of your homeland exists in your works?

I have received my aesthetic outlook from Iranian miniature

When you look at a miniature as if you are looking from
a summit and from the opposite direction

In fact, I do not strictly stick to a special school or
a special style or even a particular social issue

. My works stem from my feelings if I am not happy and
I am in a tough condition or an acute social mood

the dark and black colors would prevail over my canvas therefore
choosing color is a sign of my internal feelings.

How war affected your motivations?

During the eight year war I did not work and at those years
my products was limited only to a few tableaus.

What is the position of modern art in your work?

The modern era is the most attractive era in my works

The years of 1900 and onward which is called the modern era is very attractive to me.

I stayed in this era and do not pass over it

Essentially I did not trespass the barriers of modern art

I like the school of impressionism as well as abstractions
these two schools have affected me deeply.

Do you remember your first masterpiece that has satisfied you?

Indeed, I feel the latest works that I have created after

Among them which one do you like more?

Latest ones have been introduced in this leaflet.

Do you expect in the future which direction or tendency your works will move?

I do not think at all about the future

I only work and work and I believe the future will find its way itself

Essentially I never focus on a special program and do not make
myself forcefully that I should realize this scheme today and

the other one tomorrow, everything in me happens impromptu and

after any event a feeling overcome me that pushes me to paint

I really respect that feeling and I take a canvas and start to work.
 

Part 05

 

About Art

Art is not depended upon any special philosophy or special outlook

art eludes to be placed in limitations of a special regulation;

art is free from any commitment.

Islamic art in Iran is different from Islamic art in Syria

in Saudi Arabia as well.

When the same art with the same label [Islam] enters in to Europe or India,

its form changes too. In fact, it is the native culture that live in the Islamic era.

What is your definition of a good painting?

Good painting is the one that transfers or infuse a feeling

of course a good feeling and transcendental feeling

I do not care the bad feelings,
to me a good painting conveys a good feeling and naturally, makes me happy.

What is your idea about the painting that makes you grievous?
Do you categorize it among the bad paintings?

The painting that makes me grievous is not a bad painting

a gloomy painting conveys a message too

But I care for the good feeling

As a whole I have tried to sever my relation with the ugliness.

What is the meaning of painting? What type of benefit it provides you?

Painting to me is creating a space to step in it;

as a wayfarer that steps in a spiritual space and not anything else.

What is your evaluation of present art?

In the era of the post revolution, painting faced to a period of flourishing

a group of artists such as Tanavoli, Kazemi

Zendehroodi, Pilaram, Qandriz created a reform and a new outlook in paintings

In fact, post-revolutionary painting is like a farm that we are harvesting it

No need to say that, all the shining and splendid
works that appeared after the revolution

were the outcome of the achievements of previous generation

But after revolution the number of artists have augmented in quantity
and people’s knowledge of painting has elevated too.

After revolution the Art Seminary (Hozeh-e-Honary) started some reforms
in plastic arts,
and along with it, another trend was formed too, what is your idea about this later trend

The period that you allude it is the period of slogan

essentially I do not like the paintings that emits slogan

is not a painting any more but it is a speech that has been depicted

indeed, it is an illustration; the pure painting is something else.

In the history of Iran art, all the artistic trends are regarded as steps
of a stair that lead to the summit

none of them could been denied, each of them more or less has affected the contemporary art

In fact, in Iran the only school that possesses the specifications of a school

is the school of public drinking place (Saqqa Khaneh) and if you put it aside

we are the followers the western schools such as abstractions,

impressionism, realism. Somehow the Iranian artists are depended to these schools.

Saqqa Khaneh is in fact the only school that has focused upon the form

the form which has been stemmed from religious beliefs, from traditional elements,

but it is a special thing in its own kind, it has appeared
in a period and then has been stopped; it is vacant of any philosophy.

Once we had great artists like Gregorian, Arabshahi, Pilaram,
Mafi, Mohsen Vaziri Moghaddam have you any memory of them?

My earliest memory of the great artists, refer to my immediate
master in the faculty, the deceased Hoseyn Kazemi.

In fact, I believe he was a perfect artist

Arabshahi is my old friend and he is a skilled gifted painter

His works are very attractive and he has own special style

My familiarity with Mohsen Vaziri returns to the time that we were in the art school

around 10 to 12 years ago we had close relations and even I sold some of his works in my gallery.

Do you believe that artists should undertake a social role?

Of course yes. The artists are living in the society and they are members of their society.

Do you mean he should be sensible to his environment?

Of course he should be. No artist could be indifferent to his own society,
but the reaction of an artist is different from a layman.

If you wish to possess an artistic work, which one do you choose for yourself?

I like many works of foreign artists, I prefer the works of impressionists,
for instance the works of Claude Monet

also I like the works of pre-impressionism era

the works of Barbizon school

I like the works of Koro

If I want to choose one of the Iranian paintings

I aspire to possess a page of Tahmasebi’s Shahnameh.

Of your own works, which one do you like more?

All of them.

Part 06

 

I am living with painting. It means that painting is the manifestation of my life.

Painting is present in all the aspects of my daily life and would remain forever too.

My wife runs my life.

If you were not a painter, what other profession would you like to choose?

I wished to be a farmer

As an artist what is your greatest conflict?

I have an inner conflict and I transfer my feelings to the canvas.

How did you arrive to this stage of contemplation?

Through introjection and absorbing the senses from nature

I found my own direction

I believe if my works are welcomed; it exactly relates to the usage of color and

creating a point of concentration in my works

Essentially an artist evacuates his inner conflicts through his art and

creates a special kind of composure for himself

When I come out from myself, I enter into a transcendental world.

In such a condition I recover my inner wounds Exactly for this very reason
I work in the nights

to be alone without any interruption

gain this composure only by creating a tableau and realizing the images I have in my mind.

When I color a large surface, I do not think about my clashes and conflicts anymore,

my engagement is merely my work.
 

Do you spend any time for studying book such as novels and book of poetry?

I enjoy to read the poems of Fereydon Moshiri as well as Nima and Shamloo.

what is your idea about internet and social media? How do you see it?

I believe internet and so on makes blind the inner senses they block the channel of humane feelings

A work which is the outcome of Photoshop may be from the view of composition and

color correct, but these innovations are void of feeling,
the feeling that a painter transfers to the canvas by his own hand

stays in his work forever.

But nevertheless I think we have no choice but accept the computer as an inevitable fact.

Can you allude to the greatest day of your life?

Answer to this question is very difficult

I think the greatest day of my life was the day that I was
accepted in the university for the sake that it was very important

for me and it changed the direction of my life and
the other great day for me was the day that I met my wife.

In your married life are there days that you were not happy?

I have never been disappointed utterly when I am at the target of the social or family pressures

always I think that something would happen and a way of rescue will be open

You can see the same sense of hope in my works too

Always there is a window that opens towards light

Essentially the contrast between lightness and darkness exists in all my works.

If Mr. Emdadian asks himself:

“Are you happy or unhappy” what is his answer?

Both. I am happy and at the same time I am unhappy.

What makes you unhappy?

I am unhappy because somethings happen in the society that always annoys me

I am fed up of people’s trickeries and hypocrisies.

Imagine you are leaving your students forever, what is your advice to them?

I ask them to work assiduously. Only work could open new windows to them

sitting impassively and living in the day dreaming would lead to nowhere.

Can you tell me what is your greatest aspiration in the present time.

What I aspire is not something out of reach. I think I have attained to

whatever I have aspired, my only aspiration is healthiness to follow my paintings.