Khosro Khosravi Transcript and Audio

Part 01

Honestly how it all got started and how I decided to start painting

was something of a common occurrence among all painters.

At school you have your homework and your studies

on one hand and your painting on the other.

You’re good at the second, but not as much at doing the first,

but I guess the most fundamental reason was its entanglement with social issues,

which I think was the good part.

My high school time was coincided with the Islamic Revolution in Iran.

Every time I look at the past, the one thing

that is always interesting for me is the tendency

to chose subjects for drawing that would include a social basis.

I entered the school of fine arts in 1985

and until before that the political atmosphere was really dominant,

nevertheless it was in my view just an outer shell,

because many were doing their own works at the time,

and we did painting solely for the sake of the love of doing it itself, and nothing more.

Because back then there were no such things as having sales

or access to any official centers whatsoever to provide you

with their support, so you could have the chance to present your work

and get your relevant share of audience’s feedback accordingly.

This caused for the only very few who had the real passion for it to remain active.

Many would walk away from it soon, mostly due to financial problems.

During that time we started experiencing all the different styles,

from traditional to modernism all from scratch!

I personally think Iranian artists got to know modernism after the revolution

and in retrospect I also think until before that very few

had the proper kind of knowledge about it here in Iran

although years had gone by from the advent of it.

It was kind of like to start from the beginning,

I remember we had even started digging into real old school styles

like impressionism and post impressionism and not even as just a go through,

but a thorough revision of them all!

But it was happening fast.

The basis of all subjects I work on is always social.

In fact, it is something I didn’t honestly even really decide on to be mine.

I guess I just grew into it over time.

I don’t focus on other topics and for me

it’s not really a matter of saying which is better or worse,

but simply the kind of issues I have picked up for myself.

It slowly got developed through experience

and atmospheres I have had and been to.

And every time I craved for variety or a change and did something different ,

it always backfired , so I finally decided to fixate on it for good.

One could find variety in my works in the way I see and work on them,

which could really come out differently in a variety of shapes and forms.

If I want to say how these forms are replaced

or how some differences in the main structure occur,

then I would have to say they are all influenced by all the things

we are exposed to on regular daily basis in our lives.

For instance things like fashion.

Although many would deny the influence fashion has in societies ,

in the world of art the particular kind of trend or certain type of fashion

can bring such a profound meaning to it all that in fact

each artist should be willing to apply one.

Art atmospheres have got their own sorts of fashion.

I have actually made eight video clips around this topic ,

which fully took up two to three years of my time,

leaving me almost with no room for painting during it. But then I got back to it later on.

I guess maybe making those clips

was not as fulfilling for me and finally got me back on painting again.

My style has gone through a lot of change over the years

and some critics might even find it disappointing

and start criticizing me for painting something different every time,

but the thing is that I have never been able to constantly focus on one particular style,

so in fact in every stage my works have gone through this constant gradual alteration.

But if we skip this layer of constant change,

what underneath is are some fixed elements like always focusing on social issues

or the position of different parts on the work itself.

These have never been any different at all,

but put together in variety of compositions.

Mostly my ideas are based on my movements in my own surrounding environment.

But the main focus is the feeling which would be going on inside at that particular time,

and that feeling always has the final influence on the work itself.

For the first layer of work which includes finding the subject

and style, I’d like to search. It would be like a project for me.

I could for example start picturing my next exhibition in my mind first before hand,

before even I have begun doing anything about it,

not in its most elaborate form of course, but the basics definitely shape themselves in mind first.

I think in a way the same goes for most painters,

but in my own personal case I would say there is this added obsessive tendency

for adding as much details, like the number of paintings or even their size, it could go on.

Next step is to begin. The most important thing is that there has to be some events

going on at that time to guarantee the work’s final, overall liveliness.

A painting has different layers. The first layer is all about the things the artist has acquired,

and not that artistically very valuable really either.

The none-acquired layers are actually the ones which would finally determine

whether or not that particular work is a success or a failure in the end,

and they themselves are influenced by matters that are not very conscious.

their characteristics also cause for this necessary communication the work

must have at some level with its audience,

and if there is going to be any pioneering or innovation,

surely they would all happen down these layers indeed.

I can say it is finally the audience who really makes the artwork ,

and not the other way round.

I mean only the effects the works have on variety of audience

in long term can actually determine their artistic value.

Another value-giving factor is the subtext,

or the meaning behind the work. Last but not least is the appeal.

Other genres, or art centers, other styles and their followers,

at least some of them should approve your work,

otherwise there would be no artwork there,

no matter how much value their makers claim they have added onto it.

I have always thought of myself among those really involved in traditions.

I mean I have always been living with it.

And I am also very deeply affected by it,

but these effects have varied in different stages of work for me.

I can certainly name society and traditions as the two main pillars which all my works are based on.

In the beginning stages the effects of traditions were really direct and obvious,

whereas in latter stages started to little by little turn itself into something just to look into

and not that directly obvious anymore.

The minimal figure collection of works I have is in a way something

you could call a contemporary translation for the traditional ways of drawing in general.

I mean a minimalistic approach appeared in my style, which was not at all an intended one,

with traces of traditions put in, but, yet again, not something one could altogether call traditional in the end.

Now, those traces are much more conceptual, for example in my flower-patterned chadors collection,

tradition is part of the subject I have worked on,

but not the main topic I would like to bring up to talk about.

An artist’s biggest struggle is to achieve a certain level of influence their works can bring.

I mean it all comes from this crave to be able to have your effect,

and if in fact not achieved, it could turn into a serious issue,

or in worse cases into severe forms of depression even!

For me personally the hardest career times in life as a painter

are the ones at which my attempts would be futile to achieve this goal of having my effects,

and there have honestly been quite a few cases for me so far,

so I could then say I have experienced it myself first- hand

and know exactly how seriously problematic it could be.

Painting is mostly about how you do it, not what you paint.

and this “how” is the real game changer here ,

and also the only factor to determine an artwork’s final overall success in the end.

Also the artists’ education and backgrounds, the languages they talk and think with,

their relations with people and the surrounding environments are all effective in shaping it up too.

And lastly, it is without a doubt the only essence and driving force inspiring innovation in art.