Lili Golestan Transcript and Audio

Part 01

When I finished ninth grade my family decided I continued my studies abroad,

o they sent me over to Paris

and there I studied fabric design and costume design

for theatre at the school of decorative arts for three years

My classes were all in afternoon time there at school,

so I decided to take up free classes in Sorbonne studying world history of art

and history of French literature in my free time.

After the revolution I turned my own house’s garage into a bookstore,

since I had got to become a translator by then

and knew about the business and also everyone in it.

It was a beautiful tiny bookstore.

At first only the locals paid visits to it,

and they all said they were really happy about having it in the area so near to their homes.

Then, little by little the bookstore started getting visitors from all over town,

and finally it really strangely took off!

I faced many difficulties running that bookstore though,

yet I loved it very much all at the same time too.

It was a real sweet experience!

But then later on after a few years it became so difficult to keep at,

since there were no more books released,

therefore I decided to change and pick another field of business there

and start up again.

Eventually I came up with the idea of setting up a gallery,

and I had good reasons for it,

since my father was a collector himself,

and we knew all the painters personally,

so I reckoned I could probably easily start it up and manage it, which I did.

I opened up the gallery exhibiting some of Sohrab Sepehri’s paintings from my own family’s collection.

Until then, people had all heard Sohrab was a painter too,

but never had the chance to see any of his works.

Everybody knew him more as a poet and not a painter,

and that is why his paintings received a huge audience!

Young folks came over here to visit in real large consecutive groups really to see his works!

The reception was incredible!

I could actually say I certainly believe what happened that day,

laid the foundation of Golestan Gallery!

At the time I had just established here, only senior artists had reputation in the field,

and the young ones who are famous now had no share in it back then,

that’s the reason why I decided to bring them in

and give them a chance to prove themselves.

But generally, the attention we received from people was really heart-warming.

The country had just been through war and people were really sick

and tired of its ugliness and wanted to see some beauty for a change.

The way I see it there couldn’t have possibly been a better timing

for it than then to get started.

I think a gallery owner should really have good knowledge of visual arts

and on top of that of painting.

Last but not least communicating with people is really important too.

The reason why I am bringing this up now is because of some of the visitors

I have got here particularly during the last seven to eight years,

coming over with the intention of looking at art as a way of investment.

One of them in particular came over one day

with a list of some painters’ names in his hands wondering if I could “get those” for him!

I do not get offended or angry in circumstances like this,

and I certainly do not put up guards in front of these people.

In fact, at that particular case, I just got the list from him,

took a look at the names on it and told him I would “get those” for him and smiled,

so he would know his way of treatment wasn’t really best.

And now, this particular individual is a collector himself,

someone who is actually interested and comes over to purchase.

I did not initially blow him off because I did not appreciate his behavior or the way he looked.

I tried finding a way to get along with him instead,

and as I said he is a collector himself now,

who actually has got some knowledge of what’s what

and knows a bit about what is really going on right now.

Point is, I think gallery owners can help develop culture in a country.

The most important thing for us gallery owners to do in my opinion though,

is to discover new talents and provide them with support.

Now the support part is even more important.

I myself gather young artists round from time to time

and give them books I bring from abroad asking them to read them

and improve their foreign languages and also their knowledge of world painting.

And I actually think there is benefits in these talks,

and they have actually got some effects on young minds you know.

And I believe if a gallery owner does not or is not able to accomplish this,

they would then eventually end up losing those talents in the end.

Therefore, I think this is our duty as gallery owners to support these children like ours,

and help them grow and hopefully one day be able to develop their own talents.

I give a lot of credits to innovation in art,

and I think it is the most fundamental thing in it in general.

Every week, I receive a lot works to take a look at, pending on exhibiting them here at the gallery,

and I always make ways for the innovative ones, always.

Because I firmly believe in it, and also in education and culture.

Some of our young artists do some works, there is definitely no doubt about it,

but unfortunately not in a goal-oriented way, but just doing it so to speak.

I think in order to improve, one should certainly have goals

and look at it in a more serious and professional way.

However, I am not generalizing this about all young artists since we have truly got lots of venturing,

improvement-seeking young talents in our country.

I think one of the things our young artists really need to pay more attention to today, is modesty.

You are not going to believe this,

but it is a common occurrence here in this gallery for us to have up

to four or five cases a week of some people coming over, bringing in their works here,

claiming on their originality and the fact that “no one else has ever done them before”.

Well, I am going to ask all these friends of mine right here right now to kindly

let the professionals decide about their works’ authenticity and not they themselves.

See, because only in that case they could actually start making ways for the professionals

to make their efforts and help them out.

If I see any problems in a painting, I give them my advice,

but I also always ask them to look at those only as my opinions,

and only to consider them the next time if they actually saw certain logic in it.

My description of a good painting is for the one which would deeply affect my emotions.

Either making me feel good or bad. It doesn’t matter,

not as long as that right kind of effect is there, you know?

For instance, when you pay The Prado Museum a visit

it will really make you feel sad, but yet all at the same time

and see Velazquez’s Christ On The Cross for the first time,

it is also pointing to the fact or bearing the witness to that artist doing a perfect job resulting

in a masterpiece right in front of you!

I can remember seeing it actually made me cry one time! So, yes,

my criteria in choosing art works in general,

is based on the fact that how much they could actually trigger that good or bad feeling in me.

One of my mottos in this gallery is to sell bigger numbers of works for less prices,

on top of facilitating customers with bigger variety of options for purchase,

like they could by works on credits and pay for it monthly, or by drawing us checks,

which the artists themselves are fortunately

mostly really cooperative enough through the whole process with us.

I can remember one time a man came over to Mr. Amameh Pich’s abstract show,

which was really an impressive one too I remember,

and he had this shopping bag full of bolognas and a pack of chips with a jar of pickles

and some bread, sort of scruffy looking fellow. Anyways,

he came over to me and asked if he could enter dressed up like that.

I said yes, and he just put aside his bags

and started walking around looking at all the paintings till he stopped at a particular one

and then just froze there staring at it mesmerized by that painting for a quite while,

then he came back, picked his shopping bags up, said goodbye, and left.

Next day same guy showed up again carrying some other shopping bags, again,

which put me up to guessing he could be in charge of all shopping in the family, you know!

Anyhow, he directly went over this time and put aside his bags

and nodded his head at me hello and walked right up to the same painting

and stopped there like he did the day before.

This time I couldn’t help but to walk over to him.

I told him he seemed very attracted to that particular piece,

and then he just pointed to a pink paint stain in the middle of that painting,

and said he’d had a dream about it the night before!

I was really deeply moved by what he said,

and asked him about his decision if he was going to take it.

He said yes, and also said he felt like it was his, and he had to have it!

He also said that they had never put on any paintings on any of their walls till then,

not even one, and I told him, so this could be your first one then sir.

He then accepted and asked me about the price.

It was the beginning years of the gallery and back then I didn’t use to sell real expensive pieces.

I told him it was four hundred thousand. He told me he could not afford it,

so I suggested he bought it on credits. In fact,

he was very surprised we sold artworks on credits and asked about the monthly payments.

I told him any amount he could afford even if he could not pay for it at all,

I strongly recommended he took it anyways, since he had dreamed about it,

I told him therefore, this is surely yours. And I gave him the painting that day.

It was the closing day of that exhibition, so I had to.

He then asked me how I could actually trust a stranger enough

to give him the painting in advance without paying for it first.

I then insisted one more time he should take it none the less,

even if he did not pay for it at all!

So he took the painting and also later on proved himself to be an honest man,

coming over every month for all his monthly payments to the last penny.

I never met that man again,

but the fact that he actually finally could take the one painting

he’d had a dream of home is what really matters to me.

Some of our young artists who do not know me and have their first shows here

think the reason why they do not sell is because I play favorite

and even sometimes accuse me of slacking off on them,

but the truth is I advertise the same amount for everyone.

The real reason they cannot sell, is because they are not famous yet,

and people only buy these artists’ works if they really fall in love with it,

otherwise they simply don’t. It is simply just a fact there is,

and not really my fault.

I tell them all these things before the exhibition starts.

Nevertheless, some of them sometimes get disappointed.

Our young artists, in my opinion, should sell their works less expensive,

so that those works can end up in people’s homes and be seen.

Little by little they can earn reputation 

and definitely can later on put on bigger prices on their paintings.