Ebrahim Haghighi
Audio of the Entire Interview
Interview Transcript
Part 01
From Childhood to University
From the earliest years of my life I loved to paint
and always I was praised for my paintings
But when I stepped in secondary course of high school
I chose the mathematic branch
because the boys were supposed to study mathematics and become
engineer or they were expected to study natural science to become physician
The literature branch belonged to girls. It was very interesting because it was
said any one who is studying literature should go to the school of girls.
From this view great poets like Shamloo,
and Akhavan Sales were not poet or men of literature
Studying mathematics or natural science in the process of entering
university examination pushes you to the tracks that you should follow,
and choosing mathematics branch in high school led me towards engineering
In any case, if had I studied natural science, certainly I did not
choose the medical science, because I fear of the color of blood
When the list of those who were succeeded in the university was announced I
found that I am accepted in the faculty of chemistry in Shiraz University
and I was obliged to attend in its classes two
months sooner to learn English language and
in the meantime I was in Shiraz University I was informed that I am
accepted in the faculty of architecture of Tehran University too
Instantly I left Shiraz for Tehran.
From the very beginning I knew that I would be accepted in the Tehran University
for the sake that I had attended in all the designing
classes special for the university examination
the classes were held by Mr. Ibrahim Ja’fari. Once I mentioned him that I was your student he said:
“Am I so much old that you have attended in my classes?”
I replied: “No you were not so much old, I was so much young.”
My designing was good, because I loved painting
I did not know that there is a branch under the name of painting; if I knew it,
certainly I would ask, my family to send me in this branch
Of course I knew that most of the parents are
not happy that their children study in the field of painting
I had an interview with Morteza Momayyez, one of the Titans of Iran painting
he told me a point that later he recorded it in his autobiography too that
he had not told his father that he is studying painting in the university up to the latest years
because he feared that if his secret be divulged, his father would expel him from his house
he had told he is studying architecture and eventually when his father being
informed that he is studying painting, for a long time he did not talk to him.
For this very reason to avoid from this destiny I decided to study architecture.
Messer Ghiyaee and Seyhoon had founded the faculty
of Dramatic Art on the basis of Paris pattern,
for this reason, there was an easy intercollegiate relation
I myself for the sake of my disposition established
a good relation with the students of other branches
as the result I had many good friends among the
students of music, sculpturing, theater and painting as well
But the pivotal point for these relations was the
presence of Momayyez who had returned from Pairs in 1967
I entered in the university in 1968 and we must pass a two-unit subject with
Momayyez and Kalantari, Momayyez signature was familiar for me
I should mention this point in parenthesis that I was a book maniac and
I used to buy book the money that my father gave me
for bus transportation or for having a sandwich
Perhaps one of the reasons that I love to read
stemmed from this fact that in the years of high school
I publish a wall newspaper with the collaboration
of my class mates that accidentally one of them is Iraj Raminfar
who later became one of the most outstanding Iran movie scene designers
We were awarded a prize for this extracurricular program and
this prize was very encouraging, and pushed us to follow this trend and
also to buy and study non classical text books
We studied various book and various articles to enrich
our wall paper and of course we ourselves illustrate it.
My dependency on book made me to buy the pocket
books were published by the Franklin publication.
Always the designs of the cover of the books which
were done by Zaman Zamani, Parviz Kalantary
or Ehsaee and the designs of the cover of ketab-e-Hafteh
(Book of the week) which were new and very special, attracted me.
Especially the illustration of the interior pages made
me full of enthusiasm and
every week with a special zeal and zest I used to buy the book of the week.
These made me to follow the affairs that I really loved.
I attended in the classes of Momayyez
But my familiarity with Momayyez returns to the event that Momayyez and
Kalantari take all the students of the Architecture branch to Kashan and
after coming back we are asked to depict the expression of visiting Kashan as on assignment
The expression should be done on a 60×80cm card board.
I have no conception of the expression
I have read some issues about expressionism as a school of art
in the book of Yarshater under the title of Modern Painting
and this book was one of the sources we were obliged
to study for attending in entering examination and
also in the first pages of the Book of Week there was a page that
its paper possessed better quality for publishing modern art
which should be the talent of Momayez or Shamloo
and through these pages I became familiar
with Picasso, Manet and other Europeen modern painters
and I know something about the Expressionistic painting
after being familiar with Impressionism,
but I have no notion of the Expression of Kashan:
“I performed something and showed it Momayyez.
He cast a glance at it and said:
“What is this garbage, throw it in the dust bin.
But he praised the work of one of our classmates and said:
“Well done, this is the same thing that I wished to receive.”
And what that classmate had done
He had taken a long stick and a tin of color special for car
and he had dipped the stick into the tin of pigment and
splashed it on the roofs of Kashan houses and had depicted its expression.
Thereafter I never forget the meaning of Expression and
the liberality of the artist to work freely from all the bounds
I mention not the name of that classmate for later
I found out his brother who was in the junior level of sculpturing
had done it for him and he knew what expression is
But indeed any shock that I got for the lack of knowledge
made me more zealous to know deeper
I went to English bookshop, it belonged to a Jew,
the name of the book shop was “Tehran” and
I started to buy and study the art pocket books in English
I bought all the books of Expressionism, Impressionism
and the followers of Cubism paintings
Every week I saved my money and bought one of them
In fact, Momayyez, approach made me to study deeper and deeper.
Unfortunately, he was not my teacher in the next year
I was studying architecture and Momayyez was merely the teacher of the classes of painting
and he was the same artist who founded the graphic department in 1969.
As a whole architecture was not a bad branch due to its ambience and
its relation with other branches
Team working one of its most outstanding advantages
From a freshman to a senior student all were working together,
the desks were for all the students
unlike today that the students only show their works
to their masters and after half an hour leave the faculty
the students preferred to work in the faculty. indeed more than what
we learnt from our masters we learnt from our senior students
because helping them was a mandatory in real meaning
the least collaboration was called “erasing” and we
honored to erase the works of a well-known senior
and I myself erased the works of senior students many many times and
suddenly I explored that I can draw picture and depict the personages
of the foot of facades or the trees of rendu of plans and through this way I learnt how to rendu
how to put the water of ink on the work and how
can work with water color only through observing and
considering others at the heat of their work.
I have said in an interviews that one of the advantages of the
Faculty of Dramatic Arts of Tehran University was its library
it was run wonderfully. Besides this library we have
a small library too which was formed by the senior students.
They have allocated a room in the upstairs for their small library
And its door was open non-stop for the first time I got familiar with the book of Graphics
it was a Year Book that published the most outstanding works of the Asian,
European and American artists which have been created within the previous year
The book was classified into various sections, including the
brands, book covers, posters, the manners of book designing
the scenes designing and so on.
This Year Book opened a new window towards a new world
I thumb through it and copied some of its pages on the 50×70 cardboard with gouache or
I tailored the colored cardboard as a rehearsal to make collage.
Part 02
The Job Periods
My first work was a poster for a theater of Dariush Moa’ddabiyan
and Mehdi Fakhimzadeh
It was our first experience for all of us. I print it in the silk atelier of the faculty.
One day Momayyez saw my poster and said: “Give it to me to display
it in the exhibition of the works of Graphic and Plastic Art.”
He said: “No problem in any case all the works belonged to a single Faculty.”
In fact, my first work was displayed in an exhibition and
it was my first participation in an exhibition
My second poster again was for a film under the title of “A Honorable Prostitute”
with the directorship of Hormoz Headayt and shinning play of Susan Tsalimi.
The third poster was made for the Samandarian’s Rhinoceros. Momayyez
talked to me about it in the yard of the faculty for a quarter of hour.
He looked at it closely and asked:
“Why have you chosen silver color on the black background?”
I said: “Because Eugène Ionesco is talking of the industrial world and is
criticizing this world owning to its devotion to industrial issues.”
He said: “If I were you I choose brown color rather than silver color.”
I said: “I preferred the silver color.” And he said nothing
Once again we encountered in the yard of the faculty, he asked me:
It was 1971 and I was a junior student. I worked with him for the first animation.
The title of his film was very interesting:
“The One Who Fantasized and The One Who Actualized”
on the basis of the Nader Ibrahimi work.
Mostafa Oaji was helping him
When these two films came to end, Kooshan started to produce
the film of Greftar (Captured) and Abbas Kiarustami was making
I became familiar with many professional people
Great composers were coming for producing music for films
For example, Ahmed Reza Ahamadi who was producing
gramophone recorded for the Center for Children and
Young Adults of Intellectual Growth, Bayzaee,
Taqvaee and Naderi have started to produce film
and I became familiar with the mechanism of making animation
I learnt how to dessin a design, how to coloring from
the back of the canvass and how to test
Even it was the first experience for Momayyez and indeed all the
collaborators confessed that they had invented animation again.
Mrs. Amirarjmand had been appointed as the head of the Center
for Children and Young Adults of Intellectual Growth and
Farshid Mesqali suggested her to found an atelier for
graphic like the departments were founded for cinema, music,
theater training and asked her to establish a library in the
Center for Children and Young Adults of Intellectual Growth.
Farshid Mesqali asked me: “Would you like to stay here?”
and I stayed there
namely I renewed my contract with a good salary
For a university student who received 200 Tooman
(c. $30) as fellowship for the extracurricular activities
receiving a salary equal to 300 Dollar was a wonderful
event i.e. enjoying of a royal life
I stayed at the Farshid Mesqali and helped him to establish the atelier.
Many of the posters which have been produced in the shinning
history full of ups and downs of Iran poster designing
belonged to that time
I used to say that we have two shinning periods in poster producing:
the first period belonged to the time that Amirarjmand
was the head of the Center for Children and
Young Adults of Intellectual Growth and then during
the Cinema Farabi Foundation was stablished
In these two periods we produce shinning posters which are
deserved to be displayed in the Iran graphic history forever.
Staying at the side of Farshid Mesqali, made me to follow this art as
a graphic artist along with passing the units of academic course of architecture
Another worth mentioning point related to my love to study
I was familiar with the owners of the book shops located in front of Tehran University and
most of them knew it that I am a graphic artist and asked
me to design the cover of the books they were publishing
The title of the first book that I was asked to design its cover was “Aleph”
a book of Jorge Luis Borges, translated by the deceased Ahmad Mir Alaee
I consider it as a good omen. Momayyez kidding me and said
I have opened a shop adjacent to his shop and
in this word there was a taint of irony for the price that
I receive was lower than other graphic artist
The shopkeepers paid me 100 Toomans (c. $13) for per book
while they were obliged to pay Momayyez more than $30.
Of course they try to evade of paying the same amount.
When I enrolled for graduating project, the students were
given this chance to enlist in military service and
after finishing the course they could, return to award their project
Therefore, I left Center for Children and Young
Adults of Intellectual Growth and enlisted in 1975 and
in 1977 I returned to the Faculty to award my project
and to be graduated in the field of architecture
Of course it is true that I was graduated in architecture
actually I was a graphic designer.
Indeed, during the years of military service, all he evenings
I was working as a graphic designer to secure my livelihood
When I was producing my first film in the faculty,
I became familiar for my lenses too
The Fisheye Nikon lens was very expensive, even today is expensive yet.
I could not afford to buy a Fisheye lens. One of my friends who was
a photographer had a 50 mm Fisheye adaptor, with a module of 52
We install a normal lens to it and rendered it to a Fisheye
I had found an 8 mm camera which was compatible with an adaptor with module of 52
By the help of these devices I thought to produce a film
The story of the film was about a subjective picture that walks and
frightens all the people and the people out of fear run away or bow before it
The subjective picture was a circular one that ceaselessly was deformed and
at the same time it was the symbol of power.
When people encounter it, some lick it is shoes, others bow before it
a group of people applaud him and most of the people flee from him and
that subjective picture chases them and eventually it encounters a man in an American anorak.
Perhaps you remember that once the American anorak was very popular and
most of the university students welcomed it
This film somehow shows its critical view towards the government and
somehow was a derisive approach to Hippies
Those days was the time of Vietnam war and American forces was caught in the
marsh of Vietnam and the war was the outcome of the rivalry between East and West
reaches out and wrings the lens and separate it from the
camera and everything returned to a normal condition
Then the young man places the lens on the ground and the
picture became lopsided and collapsed and fell to die and
we see from the eyes of the dead camera that the lens has been separated and
has been placed before it.
Then a child appears and takes the lens out of curiosity to see what it is
The film was sent to the festival and was awarded a prize and
then the festival of Sepas presented it another award and
receive a prize from one of the free cinematographic
festivals and eventually in 1973 the collection of my films
and the films were made by Kianoosh Ayyari, Hasan Bani Hashemi, Behnam Ja’fari
and Naser Gholam Rezaee were sent to the 8 mm film festivals in Spain
Unfortunately, the collection of our films were lost, namely they were not
returned to Iran and this is one of my never forgetting gloom
In fact, this is a kind of death, the death of the work of an autho
In the Center for Children and Young Adults of Intellectual Growth
I produce a few short film as well as a few documentary
film which its records are available in the center
Among the documentary film I can allude to a film on the occasion
of the teacher’s Day, and a film about the life of Mohammad Bahman Beigi,
the founder of Nomadic Education, a film about the role of social
workers and some titling for the documentary films of the center
These are the records of my film making in the years before revolution.
Part 03
Before the victory of revolution, I did not design any poster
for cinema, but I did all the posters of the free cinema and
I always tried new experiences that have not done before.
Let me return to some years back. My father was a
photographer; one of the first Tehran photographers
He had a shop of photography in Lalehzar, which was called Zohreh
My father is one of the 3 brothers who came Tehran from Arak with
tattered clothes after their father’s death and their mother’s re-marriage
The oldest one was 12 and the youngest one was 7.
The older brother at 12 enlisted as a soldier in the Royal Army
to receive a permanent allowance
the middle brother chose a job in the tailor’s shop and
my father the youngest one is employed as a bell boy in a photography shop which was
named Chehreh Nama, the first photography in Tehran
After a while the bell boy learnt how to take photo
At first they had no lamp and the sun light was the only source of their light
To take photo they took the lid of the lens and projected them
My father at the absence of his master furtively started to take photo
Later when his master saw that he can take photos
entrusted him all the process of photography shop.
After a few years he himself established a shop of photography in Tehran
Those days the number of these shops were not more than 3.
In Lalehzar that my father’s shop was located,
there was another photographer was called Homayoon
In this way I was familiar with the quality of papers, cardboard, chemical drugs and darkroom.
From the dark room I took the waste pieces of papers
and the residue of the bottles of drugs and
by hanging two blankets before the space of beneath the stairs
of our house I jerry-built a small dark room for myself and
starting to training photography
When my father saw my interest in photography, awarded me a Lubitel Camera
I should explain what type camera it was. It was the cheapest camera with two lenses
The photographer should look at it from the over side and was compatible with the film of 120.
Since I could take good photos in the first year, while I had that camera
I designed a poster for the celebrations and competitions in the
Kakh-e-Javanan – the center for the gathering of youngsters
I presented the poster and it was known as the best and received the highest prize.
The prize was a 5 Pahlavi coin.
I sold the coin at the spot and I bought a Nikon brand camera and a 300 mm lens.
Thereafter I become the photographer of the faculty and
start to take photo from the classmates’ projects and plans
Besides it I took their portrait and now I have many documents of their youth days
Taking photo became a source of income for me.
Besides working in the Center for Children and
Young Adults of Intellectual Growth I earned a good money through photography too.
Owing to this experience I started to produce poster through photography
It was different from illustration that used to do in the center
Another reason of making poster through photography
was the advice of Farshid Mesqali.
By benefitting from the Ma’soomi facilities
I made a number poster for the free cinema on the basis of photography experiences
later I bought the camera like the Ma’soomi’s for myself;
I kept on this process.
Before enlisting in the military service in
He knew me from years ago; because I had designed some of his book covers.
He invited me to work with him in publishing the book of Alefba.
collaborating with Sa’edi was another blessing chance for me,
because besides designing for the books of and
illustrating some other articles and fictions
I became familiar with many writers and celebrated translators
Mr. Reza Zafari suggested me to illustrate
the Sa’edi children book under the title of Kalateh Nan and
it was my first illustration for children book and
then Shamloo invited me to illustrate his Baron.
Mr. Reza Zafari invited me to work in the ever growing
Amir Kabir Publication to establish its atelier.
I did it. Ja’fari himself has mentioned it in the book of his memories
He planned to publish a book per day and he succeeded
too and by his effort for the first time
the craft of book publishing, turned to an industry in Iran.
For the cover of the books of Amir Kabir
I designed various uniforms that are used yet
I invented changeable uniforms, in such a way that with a little change you
may have a different cover. I did it for Sa’edi’s books too.
Part 04
In 1977 I left Tehran for London. I told Reza Ja’fari –
the son of Amir Kabir Publication
I have received scholarship for one year and I will come back
but the flames of the fire of Revolution was blazing and every day horrible news
were broadcasted from foreign radios and
televisions I had a small amount money in Tehran
which was to be sent for me gradually but because of the
revolutionary condition all the transactions were distorted
There was no flight to Tehran, in a word I was faced with the problems of a revolutions
It reminds me the cards that Sadeq Hedayat were sending to his family
and asked them money and no one pay the least attention to his requests.
Now our letter was received after one week
but in the time of Hedayat the letters was received after 3 months
Gholam Hussein Sa’edi and Shamloo had
departed Iran and they resided in London
I can’t stay in London because of the high
costs of the rents and out of force I left London for Scotland and
eventually I started to study in a college in Edinburgh (the center of Scotland).
After returning to Iran, Momayyez invited me to teach in the university
I had not any experience in teaching unless teaching in the
photography classes which was held in the classes of free cinemas
nevertheless, I encouraged myself and started to
teach whatever that I knew.
Shamloo had returned to Iran and was publishing The Book of the Friday
Ali Reza Sepahbod had laid out 10 issues of his weekly
journal and he was exhausted of these commotions
Suddenly Mr. Pashaee asked me: “Could you join us to layout the journal
The Book of Friday was a weekly journal and before it,
in some cases every day I had worked for ten book covers
I accepted and laid out ten or twelve issues of Book of the Friday for Shamloo
Every Wednesday I used to take the maqutte of the journal
and we thumb through it with Shamloo and Pashaee
Shamloo never interfere in its layout and designs,
but offered editing advices according to his own talent
Along with working with Shamloo I was designing
and illustrating for the novels and book of fictions too.
Fortunately, today I see that my colleagues have come to this idea
that graphic artist could lay out on the basis of Iranian principles
I started to study closely our Persian treasure of old
manuscripts and hand written books and
eventually I found out how they place dessin and how they decorate their pages.
Once Mohammad Poorsattar, a movie actor, told me that the T.V. organization
has started to produce a great serial Sarbedārān, Mr. Navidi is writing its scenario
and Varooj Karim Masihi is to be Mr. Najafi’s assistant.
I went to Partovi’s office and met Varooj for the first time
I knew him by feature, but I had never had any close conversation with him
He said we are busy due to the preparatory activities and television is the producer
I started to work as the assistant of Khosrow Khorshidi to work for Najafi
He asked me to build the square of the town of Bashtin,
he had no plan, he merely had drawn some lines, and I completed them
Ezzatollah Alizadeh who is working in Farabi yet is the
performer or superintendent and we jointly made two castles
they were very beautiful
I had learnt it from Ali Hatami, when he was rebuilding Lalezar
namely be was making a small model of this old and historical quarter
We build various constructions even stronger than Hatami’s constructions
Besides the constructions for making film,
I built a room for makeup, a cloak room and even a tea room
After assembling the square of Bashtin, since Khosrow Khorshidi was
installing the decors of Gulestan to complete that immense castle
I went Kashan for the House of Qashiri
Khosrow had drawn its designs and I was asked to supervising and performing it
I made some changes and after lighting and taking film
I was carrying all the films in the trunk of the car
Those days all the cars were stopped and checked in the check points.
the result of two weeks film taking turned to smoke
Unfortunately, the decors were disassembled too
When I turn to look at those days we have left back,
I remember the days with its bitter and sweet events or better to say the tragicomic events
We were obliged to prepare negatives; we have no oil for our cars unless to buy it with coupon
Even our oil was not enough to return to Tehran
Any how those days have gone and eventually an everlasting work was produced.
Mr. Ramezani, an architecture who was the owner
of Mandella with Hussein Mir Kiani
the tailor of the Sarbedārān serial and Nader Ardalan who had recently come back
from America have established a company and named it “Sam” I asked him:
“Why have you named it Sam?” He replied: “Sam is the name of my son.”
He said that he plans to establish a factory for manufacturing layette,
a complete outfit for a new born baby including toys and furniture
They had joined with a man who had a carpentry work shop. To escape from joblessness
I started to work as the designer of baby clothes and baby furniture.
In the meantime, the Foundation of Farabi was established
I designed its emblem and then Mr. Beheshti invited me to cooperate with Farabi
The posters which were designed in Farabi somehow were different,
they had some particularities, they were following a definite direction.
Indeed, we moved towards the more exalted posters,
because we were supposed to move toward the more exalted cinema
The days of working in Farabi were the most zealous days for me.
These days were the days of the revival of poster as well as the revival of the cinema and
today we are still benefitting from the same policies were adopted by Farabi.
I concluded a contract with Mr. Tehrani for designing the serial of Ali Koocholoo
I was asked to design it with the least talc
because television had not enough talc to use 12 ones for per second
and for the first time I used 4 talc in a second and as the result the serial for the first time was made in the form of strip motion
In this process I became familiar with nice people like Ms. Fahimeh Rastkar
, the broadcaster, M. Azad, the poet, Babak Bayat, the composer and musician.
Part 05
In 1985 I was asked to design the emblem of the Fajr Film
If you remember many sessions were held to
make decision about the nature of the emblem
The members of the session came to this idea that
the emblem should bear some specifications
such as possessing concurrently both the Iranian
and Islamic nature and should be originated from our culture
At length they reached to Simorq (almost on a par for Phoenix).
I was asked to perform it, and I was faced with an idea that was really attractive.
To design this emblem, I relied on a previous
experience based on the Farshid Mesqali’s teachings
This experience traced back to the time when
I was in the center for Children and Young Adults Intellectual Growth
the center decided to buy a few Land Rover and
makes its trunk a space for carrying books and
indeed these vehicles turned to moving libraries for the rural areas
then the center bought a bus which rendered it to a moving cinema
Farshid asked me to design emblem for these vehicles
to be well known in the roads and rural areas.
He insisted that the emblem should be designed in such a way that it could be easily known
, therefore it should be simple beautiful and beyond all should be attractive for child.
Farshid hit me a fingertip and advised me to thumb through the 13 volumes
collection of Arthur Pope which is about our historical art
In this collection I found beautiful pictures of bird-man belonged to Seljuk era
This bird-man possessed the head of a man and the body of a bird, but it can fly.
I colored this picture and installed it on the vehicles.
The same memory pushed me to thumb through any
source that could bear a picture or any description of Simorq
Certainly first and foremost I browsed in the books of paintings
then the books of stucco decorations and the illustrative tile working
metal workings and so on. I gathered all of them. Namely I took photo then I started to etude
merge and compose them and eventually an image of Simorq formed in my mind and
by some amendments and consulting with friends
especially Mr. Beheshti, it was finalized and for the first time
its paper and other propagative materials were prepared and
in this way the Fajr Festival owned an emblem.
In 1986 I was asked to provide them with a torso, I mean the upper half body of a man
Before it they had presented the same old plate
Again we held various sessions and
I told the members of the session that this Simorq is not a solid body
it is a concept, it is a meaning, do not think to make it of metal,
it is not merely a bird, it is something beyond it
Simorq must be made of light, and the manifestation of light is glass
Then I found a patch of glass measured circa 20 cm height, 8/9 cm width and 2 cm diameter
Their streaks were erased and polished and
the picture of Simorq was installed upon it.
An idea occurred to me that this illuminating glass
should be erupted from a black rock
It means that it is the manifestation of the birth of light from the depth of darkness and
I found this stone in workshop of a stone cutting in the suburb of Qom
I explained the stonecutter what type stone I am looking for
I explained for him I need a rock that top of it has been hammered
roughly but not polished and its lower edge should be polished
and broken and again from the depth of this breakage a polished surface has been erupted
In the first year this Simorq with this specification was presented
but for the sake of its weight one of the aged artists
could not hold it and he almost dropped it
At length we decided to use bronze and I designed for it a bronze pillar
the pillar that comes out from a cubic volume and reaches to some arches
the same form which is familiar in our architecture
In this form the squares are rendered to circles and curves.
It was occurred not forever but for many years
The deputy of plastic art planned to hold graphic biennale, but we had no money.
Mr. Momayyez through Mr. Mohtaj sent a message for Mr. Firoozan
who those days was the head of Soroosh Publication
He accepted eagerly to pay all its expenses and we all,
under the leadership of Mr. Momayyez started to work and
the first biennale was held gloriously and was welcomed with great passion.
After few years that we held these biennales,
and even we planned to establish an association for it
the deputy of plastic arts announced that it plans
to hold the festival by itself, to according to its own talents
We all withdrew a little from this plan for we were sur that it would
not be successful Cinema Farabi Foundation undertook other works
The Fajr Festival was active as before and the designers joined it and
the Professional Association of Graphic Designers was established
Of course 3 years before the association being established,
Momayeez had invited 12 graphic designers
in Souren Resturant in Aban street to have lunch and
and to talk about this issue that how they can find a professional
homogeneity and similarity between the members of graphic designers
One of the goals of this gathering was to make decision about the prices
In the next gathering the number of the participants
reached to 40 and in the third gathering,
In this way the first booklet of the prices of graphic designers were
photocopied for all the present members and after a year was published
When we established the association,
already the issue of the price reached to an accord
in such a way that governmental offices pay the fees of the
graphic designers on the basis of the leaflet of the prices
Indeed, it is the first professional activity which was done successfully
When the goals of our biennales were realized we decided to hold it in the international level
We invited celebrated graphic designers from other countries to display their works
Their invitation provided a ground for interaction
between Iranian artists and their foreign colleagues and
Momayyez introduced a number of us to International Alliance
Graphic International (A.G.I). I was one of the designers
who was introduced and the other artists were Mr. Shiva, Mr. Meshki, and Abedini
Whereas before it only Mr. Momayyez was the member of the association
some years ago by the arrival of Japanese graphic that
a new graphic has been discovered they encountered
our works with the same excitement; indeed, Iran’s graphic was very attractive for them.
For many years those first collection which was sent to the A.G.I. along
with new works were sent to various countries and after being exhibited and
received various prizes, it was granted to the Zurich poster Museum as a gift.
Now this immense treasure is preserved in that museum
In this way Momayyez’s aspiration to internationalize the Iran graphic was realized.
Part 06
Movie Titles
My first movie titles were related to the free cinema when
I was in the Center for Children and Young Adults of Intellectual Growth
Most of the titles in free cinema was done for the films of Hassan Bani Hashemi
Behnam Ja’fari, Naser Gholam Rezaee and the films were made by myself and my friends
Those days the form and the ambience of the films 8 were not very pleasant,
to make movie titles I wrote the titles on the paper by hand and took film from them
I granted them a new form, a new form of writing.
Of course I had some experiences from years ago
In 1968 when I was accepted as the university student
I was titling for a television program was performed by
Hassan Khayyat Bashi under the name of Harf to Harf (world against word)
I had been familiar with Khayyat Bashi through
my dear friend Dariush Moa’ddabian who is a good producer and
a shining cinema player, on those days for making titling
I wrote by gouache on the black cardboard
Those days all the cameras were either standing ones which the
captions were placed in front of them or LD one and the studios
we were working had not more than a LD when it was recorded and they switch it
we divided it into two sections, one of the sections was taken by
the tripod of the camera and the other one by the LD and someone took them one by one
this T.V. program had a plan which was called the tunnel of time
To produce its titling, I employed a new technique I copied it from
one of the works of Vazaralli – in this work two spinning circle
were spinning into each other and created a waving tunnel form.
By acquiring some experiences in the field of titling
I made some titling for the Center of Children and Young Adults Intellectual Growth,
one of them was for the work of Hasan Bani Hashemi under the name
of Hiking in the Pleasant Sunny Days I did not work on the titling any more up to the revolution
After revolution my dear friend Abbas Ganjavi called me and said that the film of “O Iran”
of Naser Taqvaee is at its final process and he is looking for someone to provide him a titling
In the commotion of the nights of festival that I was working on the posters, programs and ticket
I joined Naser Taqvaee who was a man of nocturnal working after Reypoor and Jamal Omid
I used to go to Ministry of Islamic Culture and Guidance
and sit at the side of Taqvaee up to the day break
It was difficult but very joyful for after many years of being far from
cinema – although it was really difficult to working with Taqvaee – it was a pleasant work for me.
Taqvaee planned to insert titling for two minutes and forty
seconds on the song of “O Iran” of Banan which was full of names.
As I calculated and I wrote storyboard, the time of titling could not pass over 3 minutes
Radio had not submitted the music yet and according
to the programming after one week the shooting picture
was supposed to be finished and we had not titling yet
and finally the music was prepared and
its time was a little lesser than the time that it was supposed
Finally, we started to counting the frames and through the
counting we understood how we can insert these names and
how should be placed under each other to avoid from fade in
fade out that could be opened with wipe to save the time.
Fortunately, an attractive titling was produced
But we never repeated this procedure because it
was very difficult although the outcome was very attractive and
exactly was superposed with the time we needed for
we had done it on the basis of frame counting.
Ms. Bani Etemad who has seen my procedure in titling asked me
to prepare titling for her “Blue Veil” but I told her that I have another idea
I want to take a sequence of a plan that at covers
all the titling and serves as the entering gate of the film
Ms. Etemad had never said “No” to me. Usually whatever
I have suggested her in this field she showed acceptance
I told her I need camera and some of your artists as well as the
film which is in the process of mounting. Mr. Saati came and
again we went on the location in Kooreh Paz Khooneh and
we took the sequence of the plan with the actors with the same clothes of the scenes.
The rehearsals did not work, indispensably Ms. Etemad put on a chador and
joined the actors who were delivering dialogs and directed the scene.
I had planned that the time of the taking picture should be three minutes and
thirty seconds so that I could install the writings on it with a cassette that its beginning and
ending could be deleted if is there any flaw in the movie titles.
The time should be controlled and after two or
three time rehearsals with a take we received to our goal
All these experiences were very pleasant for
I was working with the directors who knew how titling is important
They knew that titling is a main section of a film and it is not a separated section
the goal of titling is not only to informing but also
one should work with the film.
I made many titling in the field of serials.
Those I like more, are the ones that I made for Mr. Fathi
for the films like the “Tenth Nigh” or “the Zero-Degree Orbit”
which its titling has impressed in the mind of many people or I can mention
“the English bag” or the works I made for Ms. Hekmat. My
experiences with Mr. Fathi have always been pleasant
for the sake that he is a very sharp director and
I had a good interaction with Fardin Khalatbari on the subject of music.
To have an exact timing I always ask the directors
to give me all the texts that should be written and
even I ask the music of the titling and if it is not made yet,
at least ask them to give me its etude
In this case the timing would be exact.
Always at the beginnings of any cut, dissolve or affect
I prefer a tempo or a transitory mode
Fardin for the film of “The Tenth Night” has not composed any melody yet.
A long time we talked about it. For the film of “Zero Degree Orbit” we had a lot of negotiation
. It was very good. In fact, we both – I and
Fardin – reached to our etudes simultaneously
I explained for Fardin that I wanted to show that the phasing of the serial
is happening in Tehran and the condition of Tehran is different from Paris
These young people who have left Iran and have lived in Paris and have fallen in love
are different from the young people who have lived in Iran and had experienced war
coup de éta and now we have the ambience of war
and I asked him to compose for me this section
because I want to produce in the movie the same ambience and finally we reached a timing
that we have these seconds for this phase such collaboration in titling are always fruitful
Regarding the film of Ms. Hakim’s “Three Women” the same procedure was followed
, we jointly chose the music and
fortunately the composer performed it in the limited time that
I had asked him and for this film too I made new scenes
in fact I prefer not to use the pictures of the film but to produce it again
all the scenes which is to happen in the titling.
As if there was an unwritten law in Iran that producing titling and announce were the du
-ty of the film editor
The deceased Golafshan was the most celebrated one in this field.
Even the words that someone should express were written by the film editor.
For example, if Mr. Tahami was to talk in the titling, the film editor, wrote that speech.
By the efforts of some of the designers who were familiar with cinema
like Abbas Kiarustami, Farshid Mesqali and
Momayyez this issue was entrusted to the designers
They were the directors of compilation and
authorship and founded the new wave in cinema,
they knew it that titling is an inseparable part of the film,
therefore they entrusted this part to designers and
they all know the medium of cinema and the medium of graphic as well.
I remember I asked of my good friend Mohammad Aladpoosh
who is the titling buff to provide me with the movie titles of Saul Bass.
This cassette turned to my intimate companion and I learnt from it a lot
In this cassette there are various types of titling in
such a way that one could say the titling has stuck to the film
it is an inseparable part of the film, that is a sequence of a plan
Now I do not remember the name of the film there is
a coach that has departed a city to enter to another city,
while the coach is drawn by the horses of the western film
the titling appears on the door of the coach or the feet of the galloping horses
in the meantime we understood that an event is going to occur.
It has another titling like “Nine Hour to Drama”, the film is about the Ghandi murdering.
In this film Saul Bass had made an independent titling masterly and artistically.
He has employed the visual elements; in addition to ticktack
of the clock’s cogs which is taken close shot and macro
he has designed, imposed or mixed the pictures which are the India’s patterns
this cassette bears another titling for the film of “Mad Mad World” indeed I do not like it,
Saul Bass has made a boisterous animation full of action
and motion which its comic satire is of the material of the film
but I cannot come along with it
I feel not it is of the same material, it is a little
different I aspired he chose some other form
but as a whole for the most of his films his titling are wonderful, he has well done
Saul Bass not only chooses wonderful plans which is an inseparable part of film and
possesses the same quality, its layout is really instructive
Always I have told to my colleagues that it is not important to make a special picture in titling
I may choose a simple ground as I have done it in the film
of “Three Women” that the design of a carpet is slowly passes
but what is important is that a designer of a titling
choose to layout, where, with which form, which font or which hand writing?
For example, I have chosen hand writing for the films that Gholam Rezaee have produced,
because the location of all of his films are the realm
of Lorestan and its story relates to the folk’s life.
The titling of his films are not compatible with font;
they should be very popular, the symbol of simplicity.
Of course the designer should think deeply about it,
he should not underestimate it and commits weird and strange conduct.
Part 07
Print, Pastille and Phorography
I always liked to work with manual print, but I had not its equipment
For example, I never have equipment of lithographic printing
block printing and planography which scarcely could be found
There was a planography in the university of art that Ms. Mina Noori was working with
it and sometimes I went to printing house and look at it to learn
I chose linoleum for the sake that was available
Twenty-five years ago linoleum was much popular than today.
You need only a chisel
Better to say that the main reason that I chose the traditional
printing is that after my father passed away I found a 40×50 cm hand working press
it was for the cases that they wanted to press a photo
on a cardboard to frame it and this manual press
strike a sparkle in my mind that I can arrange
a hand working printing. I did not need many equipment and tools
What I need was a chisel, linoleum which is very available for floor covering and printing ink
Many people could remember that the product of such printing were the poet’s portraits.
I remember for any poet I had allocated a special color.
For example, to Forough Farrokhzad I had chosen the golden color,
for Shamloo, the red color, for Akhavan, the purple color, for Sohrab, the blue color
and for each of the 5 to 6 version were produced.
This batik belonged to 1989 that I displayed it in Golestan Gallery.
It is one of those wishes that formed in my mind
in one of my journeys. I used the coraciiform cloths
In fact, the Turkman women use it as a veil or as a scarf and in Azerbaijan
still the same manner of printing is popular.
On this coraciiform cloths, a layer of wax is masked
and then it is dyed and baked to fixed the color.
In 1978 I suggested to Mr. Ja’fari to work on this poem
It was a poem of Ismael Khoei, as if a melody
was made for it and someone had sung it
I wanted to have a new experience
I had colored the black and white photos that I had taken in the years of my journeys
I planned to print a silver template as a background and then install the pictures on it
namely I never have white background, it was in the color of silver
This idea came from an old memory belonged the days of childhood that silver could flash
But unfortunately the plan was relinquished due to the revolution and Amir Kabir was closed too.
The next period that I choose to explain, is the time that I was more relaxed,
namely it is more related to the painting and
has no relation to printing and reproduction
It referred to 1993 and the pastel painting
From 12 years old onward that I used to go my father’s shop
I got a bus from Behnam bus stop (at the nearby
of Jaleh Circus) and I preferred to get off in Baharestan bus Station,
because I had happy times there,
those days in front of the building of the ministry
of Islamic Culture and Art there was a peddler who had a stall for book selling
The man who sold book was the father of these two Yasavoli brothers
who sit on the ground and wrote their school assignments
I had a beautiful memory of this scene and I always praise them
I stood at the stall and look at the books of Shishkin
the Russian painter which always were open to display its paintings
Those days one of pleasures was looking and browsing those
pictures which attracted me towards themselves
but I never had enough money to buy them
From there I turned to a shop that a man was painting there
I do not remember the name of that man but once
I saw a 70×100 cm portrait of one of the famous actress of those days
I was startled, because I saw it is not oil color painting
I wished to know with which color it was painted, but I dare not
At length I gave courage to myself and entered the shop
and asked him with which manner he is painting
He replied it is painted by pastel. I asked him what is pastel
He said pastel is a kind of chalk
A special chalk which is called pastel
This memory was left in a corner of my mind up to the year of 1993
Again for to have a little relaxation I bought
some cardboard and a lot of pastel in various colors and
around 2 or 3 months I chose pleasure for myself I started to work with pastel in 1992 and
completed it in 1993 and the outcome of that pleasure seeking; was an exhibition
I did not follow the pastel painting but I used it for working on the cover of some of the books.
Between the years of 1983 and 1985 I was working
in the atelier of Masoud Ma’soomi, the photographer
Once Masoud gave me a black and white photo and asked me to color it
He knew that I had learnt to color black and white photos
from the time I was working in my father’s photography shop
I did it and altered it a little too, namely not only colored it I gave it some touches
Through this alteration a new word was formed for photography i.e. phorography
I told Masoud what a phorography has been appeared
Now we had a new worked: “phorography”
From that time (the years of 1983, 1984. 1985) this type
of photography i.e. phorography had been lurked in my mind
When the book of the portrait of painters or
the Iran Contemporary Dramatic (plastic) Artists was published
I suggested Mrs. Zandieh to exert the process of phorograph and she appreciated me
I checked all the contacts, I wont to work on the photos of the book,
I purposely wanted the photos which were not worked in the book
I was looking for fresh photos.
I sought all the documents and sources which could bear their works
for example, on those days Aqdashloo torn its work into
various pieces and stuck them and then splashed pigment on them
I did it with his own photo. At first I was worry lest these friend be offended
I sheared the Momayyez’s photo as he himself exerted on others, photos and then in 1995
I held an exhibition in Golestan Gallery which was welcomed wonderfully
At the first night all the works were sold to their artists or their friends
and later I reproached myself why I sold them and how pleasant it was if I kept them for myself?
Part 08
Low Quality Rug (Gabbeh) Serigraphy, Auto Painting
In 1995 I prepared some designs for rug weaving on the occasion of a special
event the account of the issue is that my bosom friend Mr. Amrollah Farhadi
who is a member of nomadic tribes and an apprentice of
Mr. Bahman Beighi invited me to accompany him in one of their migration
I asked him whether your tribe are weaving rug yet?
His answer was positive. Since Farhadi himself is living in Tehran
he introduced one of his friends in Shiraz and who had a good relation with nomads
and we made a plan to send the designs to Shiraz to submit them to the people of tribe and
I myself intermittently go to their residence to see how they have performed those designs
It was a good opportunity because for the first
time I saw a gabbeh which was in fact a low quality rug
provided the weavers with this wool and also I talked to
an old dyer who only worked with herbal colors and
despite the fact that the expenses were high but it was a good experience for me
and the weavers started to weave
the older weavers wonderfully move with great dexterity
and followed the designs which were printed on A4 pages.
They never asked me the checkered papers and copied
a number of my etudes as well as a number of my paintings in their gabbehs.
For instance, the same gabbeh which is here,
before it I have experiences with silk screen and
I gave them the silk screen sample to them that they wove it masterly
Of course I advised them which color and what type of wool they should use
Then I held an exhibition and the prices were enough
low to encourage people to buy the items and all the gabbehs were sold.
The amount earned was equal to the sum that
I had had spent, nevertheless it was a good experience.
In 1997 when Karbaschi was the mayor,
on the occasion of 100th year of selecting Tehran as the capital city
they planned to hold some celebration which were not held at all.
On this occasion I worked on a collection of lithe films namely
the lithographic film which possess high contrast and since
I had dark room and a tub I printed the pictures and
at the same time I painted the paper and placed the lithe layer by layer
The lithe are very thin and transparent and the outcome was something like talc of animation
Through this procedure some works were created
and in the same year I started to experience and
create some works in the field of silk screen
In fact, it is the same craft which is called in lexicon as serigraphy
(in English it is called silk screen) this serigraphy were happened in two periods
one in 1995 and then in 1997 and in the meantime I created between 8 to 10 pictures.
I had placed the base on the 10 pictures
My etude based upon this method that I cut the paper and stuck and formed it
then from it I prepared the film which was in fact a calk and then in the silk workshop
I employed the batik then on the spot I make
decision about the colors and reproduce it up to the ten pictures
My procedure in the second experience was different
In this manner I chose a color for each talc, i.e. I define
a color for each of these talc for example the talc should be printed in blue
or in yellow or in black all of them were dyed separately and
directly and then I drew these tower of five talc,
and place them upon each other and the one which indeed was a film,
rendered to a batik which were enough looser and in fact new event could be happen.
Every year the member countries of EGI are asked to
work on a single subject for example when it was the turn of Helsinki, Finland
the subject was a chair and the designers were
asked: “What are you going to place upon it?”
or another year, a cup was put forwarded and designers
were asked in what design are you planning to depict on it?”
This subject relates to the capability or potentiality of that country.
For example, the subject of the year of Japan was designing on the handy fan.
The subject of the year of Turkey was very complicated
I did it with a projection
Indeed, I chose a collection of urban traffic signs like; no entering, no turning, no turning to right
no turning to left and all the prohibiting signs were collected
and placed all of them on my face through a projector and
then I gave them to my brother to photography them and
I sent one of the pictures of this collection to the exhibition I mentioned a “collection”
and indeed it was a collection because I worked on many pictures of this single design.
Part 09
Hand Writing Painting
Hand writing painting was started with an old and lasting concern
After the Revolution some changes occurred in
all the aspects of peoples’ life The same concern appeared throughout the country
Naturally first and foremost impacted upon the artists.
This concern is not special for Iran Revolution;
it is the essence of all the revolutions
That transfer anxiety and excitation to her
people This concern is called “identity seeking”.
Essentially all the revolutions originated from this concern.
Something is going to fade away that led to an eruption.
Revolution means that something had been slipped from the hands
something is distorted, something is unhealthy,
then a collective contemplation is formed that should be replaced to the lost identity
In all the revolutions of the world after that sudden eruption offer
a while everything turns to ordinary condition everything turned to calmness and sedimentation
the people of thought had to return to themselves and ask themselves:
“Who we are now? Who we had been before?
Why we are not the same entity that once we were? Who we want to be?
Now an ancient nation like ours, by experiencing a successful
revolution after the Constitutional Revolution that could not achieve her goals
but was in many aspects made people matured, pushed the Iranian people to think this issue:
“Who we are?” And everything was started from the same point
It is true that after coup de éta of 1953 this trend
was ebbed and suppressed a little but it continued covertly
I believe the movement of saqqa khaneh
(water drinking public place) stemmed from that revolution
This movement showed us how we can
be an Iranian and how we can remain an Iranian?
Before anyone else the artists were faced with this question
Essentially what means to be an Iranian?
We could show the meaning of to be Iranian in
our literature and poetry but not in our dramatic and plastic arts,
because in this arena after the Qajar era we had a break we had a gap
We wish to know where we are in the field of art?
In the field of graphic, we had the same questions too.
After the reopening of the universities, namely after the cultural revolution,
always this issue was discussed in the classes, in the circle of friends and colleagues
why Japan possesses graphic and we are deprived from it?
Anyone with a glance at a Japanese poster will
understood that it is a Japanese poster without looking at its footnote
for us the words and letters of Chinese, Japanese and Korean are the same;
but with a quick look we found out this poster is Japanese
But why is it Japanese? Their photographers, their artists
have attained to a form that gives them an identity
In the case of some other countries the same point applies too
Regardless of the graphic of revolutionary Russia which is a picture of a fist,
a red flag and a red star the Chines graphic possesses
some specifications that shows this graphic belonged to Maoists Revolution
The first impression was to returning to Islamic art, to arabesques and to illuminations.
We reviewed all of them and also we studied all the designs of the carpet,
and the tiles and it left a great impression upon the students
Today when you review the records and the output of the efforts,
– you will see the results of this retrospect i.e. reviewing the Islamic arts
Just here when you cast a look at my posters
you will find the symbols of Islamic interwoven in them,
even in the signs and brands
Just take a look at this Farabi’s sign you would observe those interactions
Now we try to direct the glances to this point that the our graphic itself declares “I am Iranian”.
In addition, too we are using Nastaliq
a manner of hand writing which is originally Iranian
The same manner of writing has been used as a sign or a brand,
but it is not very clear and readable perhaps
emphasizing on using this hand writing in all the signs and brands
somehow is an inclination towards radicalism, like all our other dispositions
I remember one day in the class I spoke with a wrath
because I had seen a wall advertisement of a motor cycle. At the back of the
vehicle there was the waves and lines of arabesque
I told the students there is no relation between this manufacture
and that rich culture of arabesque and that interwoven lines
We can’t stick motor cycle to arabesque
latter one belongs to a rich culture while the former one belongs to the today’s industry
The deceased Momayyez taught us to browse into
the prodigious pictorial treasure of Persia before awarding our thesis
Even if they do not present a work they can copy them and render them into thesis.
This is a retrospective view, a journey in to the old times
I personally asked the students of Kerman University to collect the designs of the patches.
I sent the nomadic students to provide me with the designs
of the plant and animals which are used in their rugs and carpets
when they gathered all these pictures, it rendered to a prodigious treasure
In the meanwhile, I taught my students that our script
is different not only from Arab’s script but also from all the world,
especially our Nastaliq and Broken Nastaliq are originally Iranian
Regardless the Latin scripts which all are placed in a single category and for us the German,
English or France’s script are the same and we call all of them Latin we believe that the Chinese,
Indian or Hebraic scripts possess a special character that in the first look we could recognize them
But the Persian script possesses a special root and
origin that we can say with a glance it is Persian script.
It is the only script – especially the Nastaliq – that along with its stretched curves
there are square points, it means we graft two different even opposite forms to each other,
a square has lounged in the center of a beautiful “ش” or a delicate “ن” in a prodigious circle.
Nowhere in the world we have such a beautiful script
Once I am told that the Persian script lacks the required capacity, it is difficult to work with it.
Using it in the posters is very difficult,
this script intrinsically devoid of delicacy
But I believe those who claim such views should
study more to find the ways to remove these impediments.
Within discussions with students about this issue
I was informed that an exhibition of calligraphy has been held
I used to ask myself and others why the calligraphers are so much popular.
Later I came to this idea that calligraphy is an
historical art which could be given the attribution of sacredness
One could call it a sacred art, although such
attributions should not be regarded seriously,
because if you write down the verses of Quran,
its sacredness does not belong to the writing but to the words of Quran
Nevertheless, people unconsciously establish a relation between the act of writing and
the written words of the sacred Quran or verses of Hafez.
I could understand it but something that I could not understand is that am
I permitted to write the cover of the books of poetry of modern poet
like Forough, Sepehri or Shamloo with the same
script that I have employed for the cover of the book
of poetry of Hafez or Sa’di especially in our days that graphic is present too?
Can I employ the script of Nastaliq for modern books as I employ for old poetry?
Is there any proportion between this script and the content of these books?
As a whole can I write the Shamloo or Forough’s poems in Nastaliq
Essentially does the nature of their contemporary
thoughts appropriate to that ancient manner of writing?
Unfortunately, our experience in font designing is very poor.
Recently we have started to review the manner of writing
Our fonts and forms have come from foreign countries,
they are transformed to be written in Arabic and
most of the designers are from Lebanon who has studied in England.
By this experience I made decision to find the other manners of writing
I mean writing freely. Of course I considered carefully our calligraphies
indeed in addition to book, I studied the various sources such as tiles
the writings on the bricks and so on. Then I started
to work on the manner of writing of the poems of contemporary poets
When I am talking a new manner of writing I am not talking of painting-writing
because it is something else, it is an established writing.
-Those who created painting-writing, attained to a successful experience and it is welcomed.
Fortunately, other colleagues were following this idea too
We all are trying to find the inner capacity of the modern
poem and the poem of today should induce its inner capacity
For example, is it possible to find the phonetics’ capacity for
one of the Nima’s poem under the title of
“cock – a doodle-doo” can anyone find color in it?
For example, in which color “doodle-doo” must be?
The new manner of writing stemmed from this view and
gained different experiences in indifferent years and
in 1997 I had a good experience and in 1999
I found a software that could meet this need
Before it all my efforts were focused upon the hand writing, but computer could help us and
I wanted to employ the modern facilities
When I am writing I can scan it too, but I etude them
in the computer by the help of software and regain my output from the software
and rendered it to film for the silk serigraphic printing
In many cases I purposely wrote in the manner that could be read easily
The same manner that our calligraphers are performing too
that is while they show their abilities through interwoven writing,
they wish that his writing be readable too
The beautiful and aphoristic phrase of “It would not last forever
” should be written in a manner that everyone could read it and
could install its paper on the wall for the sake of the delicacy of its writing
and the precept that bears the literary sagacity that placed at the background of our thoughts and
culture and we live with it or the poetry as a whole is institutionalized
deeply in us in such a way when we chant a slogan
its rhyme and rhythm should be correct even it bears satiric meaning.
The next phase traced back to the year of 2007 on the occasion of the Maulana 800th birth year
In ensuing of painting writing I started to review the various poems of various poets and
on any occasion I gathered some poems in various books
I recorded any poem that I found pleasant. My interest
in a special poem was depended to two factors
one body of the words and the other to their visual capacities
For example, in the same of قوقولی قو there are two capacities
one in the letter of “ق” and in the letter of “و” both of them have two holes one in “ق” and
the other in the “و” these forms possess artistic capacities.
In the same way in the hemistich of «تن ز جان و جان ز تن مستور نیست» , the letters of “ت” and “ن” and
its points create pictorial capacity for me or the hemstitch of «ای شط شیرین پرشوکت من»
with its all three points in any letter
creates special picture in my mind or in this hemstitch کجا دانند حال ما سبکباران ساحل ها
the stretch of the voices possess a great pictorial capacity
Among the poems that I chose, there were other poems too,
but since it was the 800th birth year of Maulana
I decided to work on his poems, course from a fresh view and behavior
By the help of friends who provided me with their prints
I found a new printer, it was a flat printer
By this device I scanned my etudes and hand writings and
again I placed my etudes in the software and
then transferred it on the painting canvass and colored it and then print it by a printer.
It means that I wanted to use the today’s technology
It belonged to the period that I call it the era of Maulana.
The next period namely the year of 2008 belonged to the Hafez’s poems
But the typography of the letters is different
All the poems are written by acrylic on the canvass, I did not work with print at all
Working on Hafez’s poems was a new experience:
writing loosely and freely along with ink splashing.
The next period i.e. the year of 2013 belonged to the Khayyam’s poems
Again I returned to digital print of the colors I have placed
on the canvass and finally I reached to a justified proportion
Then I held an exhibition which was called
“I, Matis and Khayyam”
I love the paintings of Matis from very old times and I used to copy them
Again I return to these paintings and mingled them with Matis paintings
The reason that I mingled stems from this fact that there are some similarities between them.
I placed in the corners of the painting with the Khayyam’s poems
The main reason that I like the Khayyam’s poem is that unlike the popular attitude
Khayyam’s poems are about the death, while I believe he looks after a life with his own insight;
Khayyam says be simple and look simply free from interwoven patterns of life and
the sight could be seen in the Matis’ cuts that was saved up to the end of his life
His cuts like the work that young children act in the kindergarten they cut the colored
papers and stick them on a card board; a childish behavior.
Part 10
1
00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:00,040
10
2
00:00:13,160 –> 00:00:16,800
Photography
3
00:00:37,360 –> 00:00:48,080
By the Seyhoon’s persuasion most of his students were addicted to travel
4
00:00:48,080 –> 00:00:53,280
He encouraged us to travelling in Iran and
I am addicted to travel and never quit it.
5
00:00:53,280 –> 00:00:58,000
Besides the journeys of the New Year holidays
I have summer, autumn and winter journeys and
6
00:00:58,000 –> 00:01:04,000
it is clear that except the New Year journeys
, other journeys are done mainly for photographing
7
00:01:04,720 –> 00:01:12,680
The first exhibition that I held was to display the black and white photos that
I had taken of various places of Iran from 1969 and 1973
8
00:01:12,680 –> 00:01:16,840
within the years that I was a university student.
9
00:01:16,840 –> 00:01:25,560
All the photos were black and white because the films
of Agfa and Kodak was merely black and white.
10
00:01:25,560 –> 00:01:34,280
Many of my friends took SLR camera and some others
who were financially better, possessed two negative cameras
11
00:01:37,280 –> 00:01:42,760
Those days the colorful prints were not qualified
12
00:01:44,040 –> 00:01:50,160
but in all my journeys I always took black and white photos and indeed I liked them
13
00:01:52,200 –> 00:02:05,600
in 2009 I decided to scan the rich treasure of pictures that
I have collected within those years to kept them in a healthy condition.
14
00:02:05,600 –> 00:02:11,440
Some of them for the sake of humidity were stuck to each other
I saved them from deterioration and
15
00:02:11,440 –> 00:02:19,160
when I was browsing in them, it occurred to me to display them in an exhibition.
Some of the scenes of these photos do not exist anymore.
16
00:02:19,160 –> 00:02:26,840
when I was browsing in them, it occurred to me to display them in an exhibition.
Some of the scenes of these photos do not exist anymore.
17
00:02:26,840 –> 00:02:35,480
It is impossible to travel to Yazd and from the roof of the main mosque
to see such a beautiful and clear scene
18
00:02:35,480 –> 00:02:41,440
in these pictures there is no sign of any pole,
any metal post or any upright structures
19
00:02:41,440 –> 00:02:46,160
The town is thoroughly smooth, even and without ups and downs,
the same organic town that once we all knew
20
00:02:46,160 –> 00:02:53,240
or the scenes have overlooked the roofs of Kashan’s houses and today there is no sign of them
21
00:02:53,240 –> 00:03:02,400
How happy I am for these photos. I have taken from an Iran which does not exist anymore
and they are replaced by a number of towers and sky scrapers.
22
00:03:02,400 –> 00:03:06,840
And this is the Arg-e-Bam that was destroyed not by men but earthquake
23
00:03:06,840 –> 00:03:11,400
I took those photos to understand better.
24
00:03:11,400 –> 00:03:17,520
The immensity of Iran’s prodigious architecture. And then display them,
perhaps the onlookers understand
25
00:03:17,520 –> 00:03:22,280
the gem of these photos and try to save these prodigious culture of architecture.
26
00:03:42,440 –> 00:03:51,480
A travel to Turkey made me to hold another exhibition
27
00:03:51,480 –> 00:03:56,920
In Istanbul there is a park which bears a
Persian name, i.e. Golhana Park that means the park of Green House
28
00:03:56,920 –> 00:04:02,520
When the park’s lamps turn on, the sky rendered to the blue color that
I have never seen such beauty before
29
00:04:02,520 –> 00:04:05,400
The birds started to return to their nests.
30
00:04:05,400 –> 00:04:11,920
First the crows and rooks arrived and then the pigeons, after them,
it was the turn of cranes and mill hoppers
31
00:04:11,920 –> 00:04:20,560
Every five or ten minutes they were arriving and the sky found
a new ambience and I madly took photo
32
00:04:20,560 –> 00:04:24,920
When I came back Tehran I held an exhibition and named it the “Regret of Mill hoppers”.
33
00:04:24,920 –> 00:04:29,320
It was held in 2010 in the House Artists.
34
00:04:29,320 –> 00:04:35,960
When I was busy for that exhibition, some horrible events occurred in Pairs
35
00:04:35,960 –> 00:04:41,400
then the appearance of Daesh (ISIS), the incidents of China,
36
00:04:41,400 –> 00:04:52,440
the carnage of India, and the murdering in the hotel and so on;
the T.V. news made me disturbed
37
00:04:52,440 –> 00:04:55,480
Every night after turning on television we are exposed to a flood of horrible
38
00:04:55,480 –> 00:05:00,240
information and we fall asleep with grief.
39
00:05:00,240 –> 00:05:10,000
Incessantly we are told about criminal incidents
and the televisions are the messengers of these news
40
00:05:10,000 –> 00:05:16,960
even our Hollywood motion pictures are allotted to these criminal events.
41
00:05:16,960 –> 00:05:22,120
As if Mr. Tarantino could not sleep at his room if in his films
at least four people are not killed and their blood are not splashed on the wall
42
00:05:22,120 –> 00:05:26,200
Parviz Davaee had rendered Tarantino to the name of Tarankulla a beautiful rendering,
43
00:05:26,200 –> 00:05:31,040
because the suffix of Dracula deserves him
44
00:05:31,040 –> 00:05:37,880
These wilderness, terminates to the holding the exhibition of the Lifeless Nature.
45
00:05:38,880 –> 00:06:03,240
centuries of 15 and 16. We see that they show a hunted ducks
or geese have been hanged beside a dish full of various fruits
46
00:06:03,240 –> 00:06:06,080
unfortunately, the modernists have followed the same manner
47
00:06:06,080 –> 00:06:15,040
Cézanne, Picasso, Mantis all and all are the followers of the classic painters.
All of them has worked on the lifeless nature.
48
00:06:15,040 –> 00:06:23,120
Even our Kamal-ol-molk, the great classic painter had painted the hunted duck,
49
00:06:23,120 –> 00:06:30,200
you can see his tableau in the Golestan Palace.
Fortunately, that classic views have been changed.
50
00:06:31,280 –> 00:06:39,920
The insight of today’s artist is the green insight,
he tries to save the nature, it is very good
51
00:06:39,920 –> 00:06:48,320
When we hunt we are killing a living creature, regardless of murdering a man
, hunting the animals is a criminal action.
52
00:06:48,320 –> 00:06:59,360
I made decision to reproduce the paintings of
lifeless nature by the help of photography
53
00:07:00,960 –> 00:07:07,080
It was very tough, very painful and the exhibition was very grievous,
the tableaus were the painful scenes of slaughter houses
54
00:07:07,080 –> 00:07:16,600
I sought for the heads of the prey and by a decorated background I took photo
55
00:07:16,600 –> 00:07:26,200
By the help of the available items: either fish or birds I reproduce the
same old painting by projecting light over them
56
00:07:26,200 –> 00:07:36,280
Again I arranged the flashes, redecorated the space
and by projecting light in a special manner
57
00:07:36,720 –> 00:07:48,400
reproduce the same lifeless nature, which was a grievous period.
58
00:08:16,760 –> 00:08:22,400
I found a Hasselblad panoramic camera
59
00:08:22,400 –> 00:08:28,880
It is a beautiful camera; it takes two side by side frames.
60
00:08:28,880 –> 00:08:32,480
Thereafter I started to take panoramic photos. Now I have some panoramic
61
00:08:32,480 –> 00:08:37,560
photos that belong to a period of 7 or 8 years, which was an attractive period.
62
00:08:37,560 –> 00:08:43,040
Still I have not hold an exhibition of them, but they possess the value to be exhibited
63
00:08:43,040 –> 00:08:48,240
Once I had accustomed to look from panoramic view,
to see how it is possible to do a horizontal scene
64
00:08:48,240 –> 00:08:52,360
I plan to publish a book of these panoramic photos
65
00:08:52,360 –> 00:08:59,360
I have coined some new words for them, like the same words that
I had invented for painted writings
66
00:08:59,360 –> 00:09:05,760
I plan to name this book: “Panorama Showing”;
it is the last period of the mirrors which is to be kept on
67
00:09:05,760 –> 00:09:21,160
This project was started from seven years ago.
The first one occurred in the Klot of Kerman
68
00:09:21,760 –> 00:09:25,880
I made two bulks with the 50×50 mirrors
69
00:09:25,880 –> 00:09:31,480
One of them was a cubic mirror and the other one was a three sided pyramid
70
00:09:31,480 –> 00:09:36,960
I placed them to take photo from the view of these mirrors,
but this manner did not reply and all my tries were fruitless
71
00:09:36,960 –> 00:09:47,280
Before coming back since I had installed the mirrors on the spot and
I cannot return those bulks
72
00:09:47,280 –> 00:09:59,520
indispensably I dismounted them. I held one of the mirrors
before the camera to see what will happen and
73
00:09:59,520 –> 00:10:08,960
then I asked one of my friends to hold another mirror
and we incessantly moved them and changed their places
74
00:10:08,960 –> 00:10:13,560
I wanted to know what will happen by these two mirrors, and indeed a fresh event happened
75
00:10:13,560 –> 00:10:20,200
Exactly in the next year I made some mirrors in various forms
and dimensions to repeat the previous year experience and again I left Tehran
76
00:10:20,200 –> 00:10:25,880
for the Klot of Kerman and repeated that experience
77
00:10:25,880 –> 00:10:35,640
I left Kerman for Yazd and followed the same process.
From the third year acted in the same way towards the Iran architecture
78
00:10:36,800 –> 00:10:42,560
especially the ones that possess mirrored hall like Golestan Palace.
79
00:10:42,560 –> 00:10:48,120
Essentially mirror possesses a great role in Iran architecture
and if we take mirror in front of mirror
80
00:10:48,120 –> 00:10:58,640
we can create a feast of views. Essentially when we place a mirror
in front of a mirror we give it a great capacity
81
00:10:58,640 –> 00:11:06,520
These elements [he shows the picture of something]
which is made of sun dried brick, or baked mud brick
82
00:11:06,520 –> 00:11:17,800
raw mud brick, powder of stone, canopy, fountain, all the things
that Iran architecture has made wonderfully for Iranian people life
83
00:11:17,800 –> 00:11:27,280
namely merging all these elements: water, wind, the sun, light and shadow.
84
00:11:27,280 –> 00:11:30,200
What is the reflection of all them in the mirror?
85
00:11:30,200 –> 00:11:36,120
I kept on this experience for many years and finally I published the collection of Iran in the Mirror
86
00:11:36,120 –> 00:11:41,080
This project still has been kept on
and wherever I go I take mirrors with myself too
87
00:11:41,080 –> 00:11:47,960
Even in the journeys to foreign countries I take mirrors with myself and
88
00:11:47,960 –> 00:11:54,520
fortunately I have gained fruitful result. I plan to follow this project.
Part 11
Typography
Typograph is a long and tedious subject which was initiated
with a lot of discussions and led to a lot of struggles
he made decision to make a book of those words
and published it.
In this book he explains what is the type? Where it came from?
And how Gutenberg invented the wooden letters which
later its material turned to lead and
along with printing, it was placed at the service of
reproduction in such a way that these letters were called type
and later the machine of typing was invented for this purpose.
Typography is that section of the artistic presence or the
artistic event that happens in the realm of graphic
and recently it has put forward this issue:
“Is it possible to write a word or a vocabulary in a manner which bears an additional meaning?”
the most celebrated graphic artist is Herbert De Galina who has created prodigious
works which are the feat of daring and you can
see these meanings in the signs he has designed
I can point to one of his works which is very attractive
He has written the phrase of “Mother and Child”
; in a wonderful manner.
He has placed the conjunction word of “and” in the
hole of the letter of the “o” of Mother in the form of fetus
and we can read this phrase very easily and
at the same time we understand that it is a fetus
Therefore, typography is the act of finding artistic visual strategies and
sharpening the process of understanding both through reading and picturing
Typography could be defined in this way
“How we can choose or design the letters of the title of a womanly
journal which shows it is really a womanly journal and
at the same time induces that it is different from a sport paper.”
The letters of the lead of Ettelaat or Keyhan papers
in the culmination of the revolution is a feat of typography
that printed with the boldest letters: “Shah Departed, Imam Arrived”
The question is if those papers have chosen
Nastaliq letters which is suitable for a poetic message
rather than those bold letters, could transfer such idea?
Of course the answer is “no”. this message should
be sent with strong letters, without the least delicacy
The same definition for typography includes an attribution that needs strong fonts
But is it possible to write the word of “love” or the “peace” with these fonts?
It is impossible. The word of “peace” needs a delicate and a tender font
that should induce the meaning of peace, it should be the crystallization of peace
so that to speak should be made of the master of “peace”
When Mr. Abedini started to work in this way
which was innovative manner
arose some dialectical discussions and in some
cases caused some misunderstandings and confusion
In this phase the graphic artists were asked what is the
different between this innovation and the traditional calligraphy.
Those who put forward this question, did not know that
calligraphy is a traditional writing in the prettiest manner
while typography locates in the realm of contemporary graphic and printing
it needs type setting, they are different with hand writing
Of course a section of this process is hand writing too
but they are not typography even calligraphy may be involved
but at the same time it is typography because they have no relation with type
Since some of the European artists have employed these elements in their works and
the name of typography has been given to these works
just like the name of some brands have been replaced by the main name of the device
For example, people say Hoover rather than vacuum cleaner or Tide rather than the laundry powder
But their names are different. Mr. Mesqali has explained these issues in his book in detail.
Mr. Abedini’s innovation was fresh event, but many people went astray and
those who conduction wrongly led the work to this disappointing form
however, it seems that it is getting better, but has not been stopped yet.
For example, these novices write inverted the Persian letters of “ه”. For example,
if I place Persian “ه” which is used at the end of the Persian words instead of “ﻫ”
which is used at the beginning or in the middle of a Persian
word what additional meaning I have granted to this do called innovation
They are not anything but playfulness
To me all these approaches are not but the tampering the Persian word
Sometimes these novices design the cover
of the books that it is very difficult to read the title of the book
Believe me I can’t read them, I have some samples and I can show you
If you can read t at the first glance I will award you a prize these are the mistakes
that some of the people have committed and fortunately they are trying to correct it
although some of our colleagues insist upon their wrongdoing.
Part 12
The Signs and Emblem
Making sign and emblem in this new form in Iran is an
innovation which was mainly initiated by Morteza Momayyea
and I learnt a lot from him, for the sake that I was his apprentice and also I worked with him
and I followed all the brands and emblems who has designed
to find out how he makes an emblem for an item, for an company or a special service
If you consider the pre-Momayyez brands and emblems in the thesis of the students
you will see the same old manner of paintings are followed
but Momayyez due to his different glance
at the European modernism and the contemporary world graphic
created a great upheaval in this art
Employing the large stain of color and finding a system based upon
geometry served effectively to the abstraction of brand designing.
Those days that the senior students were working in the atelier to make a brand,
was very attractive for me
They mostly work for the official and governmental organizations
because these organizations regarded the university
as a formal institution for brand making
And if a student succeeded to make a brand which was accepted and
used by that organization not only would receive
his classic grade but also was awarded a prize too
The brand of the Iran tea organization is one of the brands of those days and Momayyez
himself had worked on it and he is one of the artists who founded this new outlook.
Before Momayyez Mr. Javadi Poor had worked on many emblems
for example, the first emblem of Iran Oil Company was his work
This emblem is inspired from Achaemenes images
The same view was employed; if I mention it you will remember,
I mean in the emblem of Tehran University which inspired
from the Sassanid designs and later Momayyez renovated it Indeed,
I followed the same conduct that I had learnt in the university by the leadership of Momayyez
On the basis of a checkered paper that makes the work for the designer both easy and
difficult – makes easy from this view that it is a mandatory for the students and
in my classes I taught it to my student how to observe the spaces
I believe that these formats are suitable for our mood,
so as the modular music and the Iran traditional repertoire and
our gardening and architecture which are based upon an organized system
is very helpful in all the arts and in all the epochs
they have been helpful in emblem making too
in order to confine ourselves in a format like a checkered paper.
Indeed, the same thing which is popular
in calligraphy and we should distinguish black and white
and observe the symmetric and rhythmic principles
This checkered paper under the work is very helpful but at the same time it is difficult.
Let me give you an example to make the issue completely clear
A minstrel or a music player may play an instrument very well,
exactly according to the principle of music playing, but we do not enjoy at all.
the same checkered page that strictly or better to say
imposes us a range of principles, makes the work a little difficult.
Such a challenge is very joyful for the designer.
My book of signs and emblem was published twice
Young Adults of Intellectual Growth and I was working for various
publishers – perhaps the most celebrated of them
was Ketab Gostar which was founded by Amir Kabir Institution to distribute its books
From those days my most outstanding reminiscent in the field
of sign making relates to the sign of the Theater of Shahr,
when I wanted to make its sign I am told that the sign is to be installed on the brick
or the tile of the façade of the building and I draw some etudes for them,
but I told them that I myself have some ideas and I worked on the famous emblem
of the theatrical masks of laughter and tears which possesses many variations
I worked on it and made some renovations in it and the outcome is the present emblem.
Another exercise in the field of signs and emblem which was very attractive for me
was using the map of Iran as an element and
most of the times such usages were very successful
I learnt how one can make an abstract of it and create various signs and emblems
The other celebrated order that I received to work on it,
was the sign of the Fajr festival, it was ordered in 1984
or 1985. As you know the Fajr Festival possesses
a sign of Simorq and then its graven image came
out from it which was one of the attractive
signs and is regarded as one of the successful national emblems.
Another section that I want to talk about it separately is the signs and
emblems which are made by Persian letters
Here are the signs that at first was formed by the Latin alphabet
One of them is the emblem of super 8 World
Federation in the free (open) cinema belonged to 1973
In this emblem I was working with the same intermingling of black and white specks
Then there are signs which working with its own words.
Among them I can allude to the phrase of “open cinema”
which it was among the earliest ones
the other one was the dandelion. It was the name of one of the films
of Center for Children and Young Adults of Intellectual Growth
I made this emblem for one of my posters
Among the emblems which are alive yet I can point to the emblem
of the Journal of the Film and the of Cinema Farabi
Foundation which its emblem is formed from F&B and
possesses interwoven structure that shows its Iranian nature and identity
The other period that should be studied separately
is the time that I was working on the masonry writings
It is a solid and strong interwoven writing
that shows the conduct of Iranian artists in construction
Some of these emblems are living yet like the emblem
of the Birjand University Building or Lorestan Building.
Another experience relates to the signs that I work for movies
For the films that I myself had worked on their posters titling
or their posters were to be made by my colleagues and I was asked to write for them
The same written word of “Ellaheh” and the title of “Society for Protecting the Child Rights”
belonged to the period that I was exercising asymmetric emblems.
I do not know is it possible to compare it with music or no?
I think it is not possible to compare typography with impromptu music playing
because it possesses a base; of course you can compare it with painting
I perform them with various pens; indeed, I choose a great number pens with ink and
various pigments of various density and start to design freely and
through them I choose one of them and renovate it
These two works which are here, possess a single nature
The signs and emblems that I have performed
after 2003 are not here to speak about them.
Part 13
About the Graphic
When I was young, any time I receive an order I read the text
either it was a book or a scenario, or a play
Reading these texts, served to form a new idea in my mind and I started to write what visual
elements could help me to illustrate my imagination
In most cases I thumb through the art books.
For example, if I was asked to design a brand,
necessarily I did not browse in the books of signs
and emblems, I roamed in the books of painting
if I was asked to make a poster, I wandered in the book of photography
Within these roaming and wandering,
the mind started to activate and somethings were forming in it
I am not exaggerating at nights, in the bed
I started to etude in such a way after a short relaxation
I had made my decision and I knew when
I get up in the morning what type of picture should I draw
If the work is to be done by hand, the hands became active;
otherwise I use to employ glue, pigment and scissors
But today on the spot I refer to the software and
computer and find whatever I look for
if it needs picture, I choose that picture and scan it and start to work.
Most of the times while I am receiving a new order
my mind knew what is going to be done, namely on the spot
I ensure the person who orders, and before he or she leaves my office, the work is ready
nevertheless I ask him to call me next week or after 10 days
But from tomorrow the work is ready and I put it aside to amend it later,
but indeed within a few minutes, at the time I am asked to do,
that special event has been occurred in my mind
I don’t know at all what is its mechanism.
My approach towards the orders is very frank either I say yes I will do it or no
I do not like to do it
Sometimes I have I accepted an order even free of charge provided that it is in accord with
my thoughts and I feel it is useful for my future
useful according to my criteria indeed in many cases
I did not receive a cent or I have received very small amount
For example, for serial of Ali Kochoolo (Ali the little boy) I received 12 plate of talc instead of salary
and I have kept the them yet
Against this approach if I am asked to work on
something which is not accord with my criteria,
or I regard it worthless; I wont to insult anyone
but someone in my mind says it is worthless and do not accept it
Then I announce him that I am very busy
and
if he insists I propose a high amount , much higher than the amount anybody may propose
Usually he would say it is too high to be paid
then I reply I can’t accept lesser than it I and naturally the negotiation will be stopped
The greatest problem in our profession –
at least for me – is the character of the person who orders
Some of the people who ask us to work for them are really idiot
I used to say to my students and I believe it is true, that the job of a graphic worker is not
an artistic activity indispensably but some of his activities are regarded as art
As a whole the graphics is not an art. For example, designing the box of tissue is not an art
it is a tool for selling and the one who orders tries to sell more
Necessarily any activity which possesses the
aesthetic nature is not an art and no one can call it art
It is possible that the future generations, our learned
people or the people are deserved to be praised,
place this box in the museum, of course the views about the items of museum
are so dispersed that I doubt such an item could be placed in museum
I doubt that Andy Warhol’s view about the art
. I believe I can’t accept the view of Andy Warhol
I dare not to enter many items in the realm of art
, but I accept them in the realm of graphic
because the range of graphic is very extensive.
Designing the ticket of the bus or cinema is not an art
as well as designing the cover of a book
and leaflet or advertising papers and even a poster.
Of course as much we come closer to these works like poster
their artistic capacity enhances, because when its time expires and you erase the date from it,
you could place it among the artistic works, for the sake that
it does not worth to survive regardless its usage as a tool
To announce any issue, it is not an artistic work.
In other word it is not an informative tool any more
but it can establish relation with society and the people look at it as from a greater horizon
Whatever that possesses the taint of art, enjoys magnificence and splendor and
such a poster could possess such taint.
But all the posters could not be placed among the artistic works
Within these years many many posters have been designed in the world
and only a few of them are placed in the museums.
A small number of the posters of polish school
are deserved to be collected and preserved in the museum and
only a few of them are placed in the collection of a collectors
Some of the posters which are designed by Momayyez and
other contemporary designers have found their way in the museum
and are registered, nevertheless we cannot say that graphic is an art.
Graphic per se is a ring of a chain; there are two other rings too
one of them is the person who orders
and the other one is the audience or the addressee
A graphic worker could not be present independently
in the absent of the other two rings,
unless to change the name of the graphic worker
He may conduct like an artist
For example, designing a poster for his own
dream not for the sake of the person who has ordered
in that case it is not a poster, it is an artistic work,
as if it is a painting tableau.
In these cases, my inner entity says that it is not business
me to think what the audience seeks and no one has ordered it
I find a new name for it. But when I talk as a whole about graphic;
as a pictorial or visual relation; when I am asked to design a book cover
it needs necessarily the one who orders me, there should be a primary text
while we are the designer of the secondary text
and we need an audience, but who is this audience?
If it is the book of poetry its audience is known,
if it is a play, its audience is someone else
it is the book of geometry, book of mathematics
their audiences are different and the graphic worker should know the audience,
this ring of the chain, namely the graphic worke
r should know, two other rings that join them together,
they are not joined each other without a medium
The first and the medium ring namely the “order”
and the designer are joined by a person who orders
These two factors are present, they are existing and they are important too
Nevertheless, sometimes they are obtrusive.
In most cases the media destroy the works of designers
because they do not inform properly, the same applies to the person who order
In most cases if they were alien with this profession
not only destroy the work but their own business too
The man who has brought two or three boxes from Turkey
and asks me to make boxes like them is an ignorant
What can I do with him?
Part 14
Tradition and Modernism
Modern art based upon the traditional art, it means that the
modern art has come out from the heart of traditional art.
That modern art which its base and view is the European modernism
does not belong to us, it is only a type of copy making.
It is merely an imitation. Somewhere Ibrahim Golestan had written an important point
he had mentioned that the root of the word
of Taqlid (imitation) is the word of qalladeh (yoke or leash)
But the modernity that comes out from our art, such as the movement of saqqa khooneh
(public drinking water place) due to the fact that this art has
come out from the heart of our tradition has progressed and
achieved great success and even today it is
an appropriate main source for all the designers
and we are witnessing its impacts on the works of graphic designers.
we can see all the works that our colleagues are doing under the name
of typography rooted in the works of Pilaram, Mafi and Ehsaei
We are not supposed to leave aside the tradition
it should not be renounced but we are supposed to learn from its experiences
its instructions and at the same time to follow the modern form
We have no choice but to be modern. Now we are living in the modern world
In many cases I am against traditional conducts as much
I am against the modernism that stems from Europe
and I oppose against to copy them
Such a man is not modernist, he is a copy maker, he is the master of copy making
A painter who wishes to follow the school of Tabriz
or Shiraz of Safavid era, is not a contemporary artist.
The fresh tool has always brought a fruitful effect.
Essentially the modern architecture in the world came
out from the world exhibition which was held in the U.S.A.
because in this exhibition the holders succeeded to build
metal structures and to produce glass panes in large sizes.
The factory manufactured these items.
Essentially Mr. Eiffel could build the tower for the sake
that he could make girder in large dimensions and
could assemble them with bolt and nut.
Eiffel had no plan – perhaps he had planned – to create an artistic
work and he was faced with a violent wave of opposition
even when half of the work was done, the most celebrated artists wrote
an opposition letter to the mayor. Their letter exists yet.
When the usage of cement become popular, from the heart of technology
the production of cement came out and then the monster cement building was built.
At this time a great artist like Le Corbusier succeed to make
a feat with cement and then the other great artists followed him.
In this way the tools, like handy digitally cameras with
high capacity of memory left a great impression on the art
and I think it is too soon to talk about the mechanism of their displaying
because they are newly arrived and their position is not clearly known
I believe one should be a little cautious to naming them as we are in some cases a little
hesitant to regard difference between painting and graphic
Regarding the photography, the same issue applies
What is made by the help of a software is really a photography?
Or it should be bear another name and we should find a new name for it.
Or we are faced with a software which is able to paint, to illustrate and to print; is it painting?
Or indispensably happen here in this atelier?
Therefore, one should find a new name for it
Naming these innovations is a little difficult,
but accepting such upheavals are inevitable,
nevertheless my doubt stems from the continuity of these innovations
How long this art video could leave a persistence impact on the society?
As far as I have seen it is started from the exhibition and ended in the same exhibition too
unlike the cinema, that seems more durable
Now this question arises: whether the artist
has employed the media of cinema is not more successful?
For example, if he had played in a short film? Sometimes I cannot
distinguish the difference between the video Art and a short film
I ask myself, is it called video art since this movie is silent?
If it is dubbed it would be turned to a short film?
Or is it a video art only because it is a loop?
Are we not supposed to find a fresh meaning for becoming a loop?
Whether in the first loop that happen in the video art should I say I have seen everything and
I must leave the saloon or does it possess a specification that when
I watch it again and again I could discover a new idea or a new meaning?
Perhaps loop should leave me a separate impression
some of them has left upon me such impression
namely I could not distinguish the moment that the loop had ended and had restarted.
They need a longer life that one can appropriately judge about them
they need to work more and working more is a mandatory
The question arises here is that, I do not know should
we change the names or we should change our criteria?
Is the society or the producers regard them a serious matter?
The one who claims that I am an artist and raise
a pile of clothes by a rake and cast them down
is really an artist in the view of the society or he is an artist merely
in the view of the one who has bought it and tries to sell it?
Which one is really artist? Is this one
an artist or that stuffed shark that values millions dollars?
After the period of saqqa khooneh (public drinking place) most of the painters,
reached to the utmost of abstraction
Certainly I won’t to say that they have copied the popular
art of Europe which its domination was undeniable
but we should consider it, as it impresses our architecture too
In the field of architecture, we made greater mistakes
that terminates greater damages
For example, the buildings which are made of steel
and glass for Tehran was a great mistake
Unfortunately, the other towns followed the same process.
While the brick for a warm town like Tehran is more suitable
Why did we put aside the brick?
While the brick is a beautiful available material which absorb the heat very easily
Now if they are inevitable at least we should look into our other
cultural realms and study why such incidents have been occurred
A part of it, rooted in our education
When I was a university student Mr. Tanavoli was one of our masters
I want to know why they did not teach us the same things that they talked about?
They should teach us the type of sculpturing which possesses the Iranian identity and
naturally the students would follow the same course.
Why the art of saqqa khooneh did not persist?
Why we cut off the individual researches?
In some cases, we gathered to consult in this issue but we dispersed after a short time.
I do not know perhaps we are thinking individually not collectively.
Many works were placed under consideration while they
did not deserve to be studied at that time
There were other works that deserved to bear the name
of Iran but they were ignored
Those who think of native art, like Mr. Kalantary and
Mr. Nami as well as Marco Gregorian
they chose materials like mud and straw mixture and even someone like Marco
looked for an identity in the forum such as stone pot
This stone pot soup was known in the Iranian cinema; it was
named the “stone pot soup cinema” or “Fardin’s stone pot soup”
Such films deserved to be named at the national level.
I do not remember anywhere else that we have dignified others I doubt it
Perhaps my colleagues possess another view towards the people who are not artist and
know nothing of art but accidentally create some artistic works
like Mash Ismael or Mr. Zangeneh or that woman from the north of Iran
I mean Mokarrameh Qanbari who passed away a few years ago
I do not believe they are artist, an artist should possess knowledge
should know the culture of his or her day
should know the contemporary world, it is not enough that
someone have some artistic feelings to create a valuable work
The creation may be happening but it has not any value
If in the field of European painting, the work
of some people like Chagall or Miro is naïve
they have contemplated upon their works
; the childish work is different from a naïve work.
What is strange is that these childish works are welcomed by laymen
If I am working with clay and I can bake it and create something and
then you place me at a high position, it does not make me an artist.
Incidents like these have happened for many
people who are called artist while they only copy others’
works and their works are purchased greatly
Unfortunately, we are stopped from the view of contemplation and studying knowledge of art
In this field the private college are working better than the universities
I believe we are in a critical condition between the modernity of the world
that its representatives are New York and the copy making of traditional arts
Unfortunately, a group that know nothing art by
the help of brokers are imposing a mechanism of transaction
but we need to pass through this period and we have no help too
Fortunately, what are accepted and established now are the
galleries that we were deprived from them before
Today an artist knows that he should display
his works through galleries to sell them
A short time has passed since I started to visit galleries.
The first gallery that I visited in my life traced back to 1968
when I visited Mrs. Seyhoon exhibition in the Shah Street, today is named Jomhoori Street
Those days there were only 5 galleries
Recently Ministry of Islamic Culture and Guidance has
announced the number of galleries are beyond 4000 units
Suppose it is half of this figure are active;
suppose it is only 500 of these galleries are active
certainly the visual knowledge of people is promoting
and is appearing as an established institution and
this is a blessed happening that meets
our day dreaming and our expectations and it could persist.
Part 15
Cognition and Art
Today Cultivation is not difficult anymore. In the old times
when you farming through ploughing;
it was more difficult to cultivate especially in the arid land of Iran
When you plant a sapling, keeping it alive and
succulent is the most important issues, in this phase man needs
training to learn how to keep a sapling fresh and
how to cherish it and as long as it is young to preserve it against
damaging such as to be frosting in the cold winters
we should manage it, in such a way that it grows to stand against natural calamities
Exactly the same manner that any plausible man behaves with his own child
Man should follow the same path to take care of himself.
In our profession we need to cherish our own soul.
Choosing seclusion to contemplate is a way of cherishing the soul
In this seclusion man start to think and more important man would learn to think
Most people assume that they are thinking constantly; no it is not true
Thinking needs training, one should accustom to thinking
We should force ourselves to sit and to think about a special
issue and if we cannot come to a suitable or a fruitful result
we should try to find its reasons, we should learn to
contemplate, to study all the aspects of an issue
Fortunately, today the tool and the possibilities of research is available
In these cases, one should try more; one should avoid from laziness
Research should be established among the young people
and in that case those phases of planting
keeping and harvesting will answer
I have installed a picture of a cow in front of the entrance of my house
a cow in a triangle sign. It is one of the traffic signs,
it means that here is the place that cow is crossing
I am born in 1949, therefore in the Zodiac belt
my sign is Taurus and I possess the traits of a cow namely hardworking
though living and being patient is my another prominent trait.
I believe the zodiac sign applies to me.
As a whole my struggles have been possessing
external nature for the sake of misappropriations
or lack of knowledge of cultural society.
Sometimes in the heat of these struggles I am faced to these questions
“Is our work important at all? Is painting Important?
Can painting change the world?
If I withdraw from painting, the folks would go in their own track?
whether my painting affects people to remind them that what means to be a human being?
Now this folk is reading poem too!
Within the five days that a gallery displays the works of a painter
the number of people who visit the gallery hardly reach to 500 people
I grant 1000 people visit my exhibition even 3000 people
it is very painful that from a city with
millions population only 3000 people visit a gallery!
What can I do with 3000 people?
How can I change anything when a prosaic melody repeated by
all the people and when its singer dies millions people take part in his funeral?
I can’t come along with these issues.
These are my internal struggle as well as struggle with my folk
Nevertheless, in the depth of my heart a din of hope is flickering
I think it relates to the idealistic trait of my generation
that I suppose I can only a person;
train only a person who may be a good graphic designer or in my classes
I can train ten people to become more gentle and more
magnanimous perhaps it is necessary for our life
Our world suffers from a deep distortion,
the world that in it the stance of art is unknown
The folk that are careless to art. Even in the realm of art
, what is the matter is transaction
the artist is not working to create a masterpiece any more, he merely produces to sell it.
All painters are painting to sell their product sooner. No one works to create an artistic work
Art for art has no meaning anymore.
I am indebted partly of my knowledge,
my understanding and world viewing to book reading
Indeed, I think I am a book addicted and I like this addiction and I wont to quit it
My interest to book does not terminate to book
readings sometimes when I face to a thoughtful author
I search his or her other books to know him/her
better and to become more familiar with his thoughts
Herman Hesse is one of them
He deeply impressed me and shaped a great part of my world viewing,
especially with good translations those days had been done of his works.
I feel he is a little close to our oriental outlook, something close to the same feeling that
we find when we are really lost and melted in the of Hafez and Maulana. Fortunately
due to this habit or better to say to this addiction
I have studied most of these books and sometimes
I have read them again and again and any time o
reading I gain a fresh insight and fresh lessons
My experience in the field of painted writing rooted in Maulana’s book of poetry and
his book in prose under the title of Fih ma Fih
and through reading I have enriched my paintings.
Now I am reading the Hafez’s poems once again.
Some of us have grown up in a family or in a class
that we were obliged to discover ourselves by ourselves
we were forced to make ourselves, to secure our own livelihood
Among of such people, Morteza Momayyez has been an example for me
Whenever I see myself at a turning point; or I feel
I am leaving a stand to step to a higher stand
I remember I am indebted to people who were talented than me,
people like Momayyez who was my master in the university and
turned to my mentor or people like Dr. Sa’edi and
Mr. Mesquali the gifted artists whom I had worked with them
Sometimes I feel my actual position is the fruit of
connection with these people and the books I have read
Familiarity with these people reminds me that I was
lucky to encounter with Momayyez
presumably I never find a job in the Center for Children and Young Adults of Intellectual Growth
Organization working in that center connected me to those great people of culture and art
These meetings certainly provided me great opportunities and this is a manner to be trained.
Somethings else that I should mention here is that
I have never tried greedily to make money and to gain celebrity
Some of my colleagues assiduously have tried for both of them
Indeed, whatever I have earned, has been spent for books or for researches
One of my good lucks in my life was my mother that her main
concern was our cultural growth and my father who was a man of labor
He started form zero and with great struggle had made his life and
he was a good example for me because he supported
his five children to be university graduated.
I always have been at the edge of the hesitation
lest the one I have detested him is better than me and could be prosperous more than me!
Who can claim?
Werner Heisenberg put forward the theory of the lack of absoluteness
one can apply this theory in all the aspects of his life
It is true that this theory belongs to the arena of astronomy and physics but
I believe it applies in all the aspects of life.
With this theory who can say that I am absolutely right?
I dare not to insist upon anything at all
When I place under study my own ideas, I find out how far my ideas have been changed.
I am changing with the changing world,
perhaps the one who opposes me is more righteous than me
Within any wrong ideas presumably
some right points, may be found in the case that I change the angle of my view
It seems to me that whatever I regard as a disaster may turns to a blessing
For instance, the disaster of volcano causes the fertility of the lands or when a forest gets fire
its land turns to a suitable place for growing new trees;
this is the reconstructive manner of nature; the same applies to man too
A disaster may reconstruct a man. Is it not the same point that Maulan says
Choose death, choose death of this love for
when you died of this love, you adopt a new life.
Destroy and behold how you can build out of this destruction.
Part 16
Life and Art
I think I am not as active as I should be
Most of the times I compare my output with those who has done great works
Whenever I find an opportunity or provide myself with an opportunity and
start to produce the Maulana’s painted writings I wonder of
Maulana’s great effort and such a deep world viewing
On the other hand, I have a word with my young colleagues who after two years working
are planning to publish their collected works, I advise them to
be more patient and place Momayyez as their own example
because he published his collection after 45 year experiences
I admonish them to avoid from being proud and disdainful.
I believe people conduct three manners:
make play, make struggle and make deal; in the process of dealing may fight too
in the process of fighting may deal too, but in the process of playing he merely plays
a pure play like children for the healthiest life belongs to children,
for the sake they play
The artists, especially the painters and compositors are lucky
for they play without being obliged to answer to anyone
I myself conduct all my entertainments in my paintings
If anyone asks me why have you done in this way I would reply them I don’t know
I did it, merely I did it, not only no one reproaches
me but sometime happily pay me to purchase
the tableau that I have created it during my entertainments. It is a double luck.
But in connection to graphic working, there is another issue
. In the process of graphic designing one should ask why?
Because I myself ask: Why?
Why have you chosen this color?
Why have you chosen this form?
Why have you chosen this font? Why have you performed this layout?
All these questions are raised because we are responsible or committed to a primary text
In fact, we have attached two discordant items to each other
Any way in comparing to great men of the world I cannot proud for what I have done.
I want to say that I do not see myself superior to the grocery shopkeeper who stands from
I believe they are respectful too, indeed very respectful.
In fact, the mechanism of evaluating of people is based upon wrong criteria.
Why should I receive more wages while his work is more difficult than mine?
No we have placed the values and when these criteria
are applied in the arena of selling and purchasing
I used to say myself: “man is not a human being as he must be.”
I think my childhood has always lurked in my inner part of my entity
Due to this inner force I started to write the memories of
my childhood and within six month I stayed awake
from 3.30 Am to the dawn and the result of this
ordeal was the publication of the “Unticked Riddles”
When I was writing these memories, I found out how those days are alive in me
Indeed, we are the children that or dimension have enlarged
We assume that our brains have grown too, but that
child is actively present in the deep layers of our entity
it easily becomes happy or gloomy of the same things
that in the years of childhood made us happy or gloomy
Still I am dreaming of my lost childhood colorful marbles still I miss the
coloring pencils which were small due to extra sharpening
Naturally its effects could be seen in my works
. I have come to this idea that if I have ever gained any success
if I have dared to show myself in some areas, rooted in the
encourages I have experienced the first one who encouraged
me was my mother and then the principal of my school who awarded me the first prize.
Fortunately, that prize was a book that led me towards reading
Now I know how encouraging is constructive especially
for the children and how blaming and reproaching is deterring.
Once I had a student of sophomore class, he showed me his work
I told him it is good and etude it
He said one of the masters had advised me to change my
branch because I am not the one could step in the art realm.
He seemed deeply grievous. I encouraged him to follow his work and asked him to bring
his work in the next week and do not attend in his class anymore.
Now he is one of the most outstanding graphic designers
I praised him for his work, of course he was deserved it.
During the years of war, I was living in Dubai for six or seven months
It was horrible days, the Iran traveling plane was targeted by an
American missile and finding a flight to Tehran was very difficult
One day in the early morning I took my baggage. I had only a baggage
and I took my baggage and said to Hassan I am going back Iran.
I returned Tehran; that immense city was desolated and gloomy.
Mostly all the people had departed Tehran to stay in other
towns or had erected tent in the plains and deserts.
The children of Tehran were studying in the schools of other towns.
My parents were living in Karaj in the suburb of Tehran.
After a few days that I had no work to do I started to wandering in the streets
I was in the Darband area; I saw a rivulet was carrying a leaf.
I told myself this is the real life. I could not stay in Dubai with all its glittering building
with all its wonderful cameras that once I wished to have one of them
For me the real life is living in the homeland, by my child, no matter what would happen
I won’t nothing I but my homeland; I want to live here
I can’t explain what that running water with its floating leaf did to me?
In our book of poetry, we have many poems that describe this scene we
read our poems to chant it without understanding its deep meanings
Last night I was reading a poem of Gaross Abdolmalekian of his newly published book
the theme of one of his poem reads:
I am living with the people that sometimes we share our secrets, we share our seats, we share our entertainments and
all of them are placed in my entity that I feel it, but I can’t see it.
I keep the internal dialogue in the depth of my entity for if I take it out
it would be destroyed. No I do not like to take it out
, for if it comes out, it would see all the ugliness which locate in every one including me
those ignoble thoughts would be visible. It is better to preserve it in our unconsciousness,
In all the classes I never limited my speech to technical issues of dramatic arts,
the same ugliness, the same awkwardness that comes to us in the nights as nightmare.
In all the classes I never limited my speech to technical issues of dramatic arts,
certainly I talk of real life, or at least I share my experiences with them
I tell them about friendship,
namely the most important, and the most precious thing of the world
I talk of Mehdi Sahabi that whenever he returned from a journey used to call me to say
“My friend, lets to see each other lest to die without any warning.”
And one day without any warning it happened and he was dead
His startling death reminded me of a memory of the book of Memories of Alice Victor Plus by Ms
Gertrude Stein who says: “When Alice was in the dying bed I asked her
what is the answer and she opened her eyes and asked
what was the question indeed.”