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Paradise Art News
Persian
Tree of Life: 16th Environmental Art Festival in Iran
- Noushahr- North of
Iran (May 2008)
Photos by Raheleh Zomorodinia & Ahmad Nadalian
http://www.wwwebart.com/riverart/paradise/festivals/noushahr
Report by
Ahmad Nadalian
During last week (April
29 –May 4, 2008) a new environmental art festival was held on the coast
of Caspian Sea, in the north of
Iran. More than 140
artists from different part of
Iran
gathered on this beautiful region to create environmental installations
and sand sculptures. The festival also included a number of art
performances. I was responsible to act as an art director.
More
I used red earth and
painted portraits of young artists. I
often depict mythological symbols.
Snakes
can frequently be seen in my works. I use this symbol as a reference;
the exclusion of Adam and Eve in heaven.
Many of his themes find their roots in the beginning
of time when humans first started to evolve global mythologies in
relation to their lives on earth.
They have old
meanings but new applications.
I saw
the bird of the celestial garden...
She has
fallen into the net of this earthly world …
The other bird was in
cage …
I am the bird of the
celestial garden, not from the earthly world, for a while they have made
a cage from my body.
They captured him …
His bones show his pain
…
Wound of nature …
Wound of human …
Our bad behavior…
Endless way…
More
http://www.wwwebart.com/riverart/paradise/festivals/noushahr
Eexhibition
of works by Ahmad Nadalian
Mahe Mehr
Gallery is proud to invite you to an
Exhibition
of works by Ahmad Nadalian
May 14- 27 ,2008
Opening reception
will take place
on Wednesday 14th May 2008,
4:00- 8:00pm
Mahe Mehr (Cultural and Artistic Institute, No 12, Kaj
Anadi St., vali Asr Ave., Tehran 1966937343
Tel:
22051786
http://www.wwwebart.com/riverart/nadalian/exhibitions/index.htm
“Dialogues in Diversity: Art from Marginal to Mainstream” by John K.
Grande 2007
http://www.wwwebart.com/riverart/notes/dialogues/index.htm
Synopsis
Grande asks: “What is the relationship of art to the environment?” “How
can art make us see and think about the world around us?” “What can art
do to preserve the future of our planet and enrich our lives?”
What people have said about the book?
“As
the title itself suggests, this book is a reminder of how much art has
changed in the past few decades. Contemporary art exists in more places
than it ever did previously. It references more cultures. It tackles a
wider variety of issues. Yet artists continue to communicate, not only
with us, but also with each other. These ‘dialogues’ allow us to listen
in.”
Edward Lucie-Smith
“John Grande's Dialogues in Diversity provides proof that art results
from the interaction of cultural context and the artist's inner
necessity—rather than from the commercial necessities of the centralized
art markets. The artists' voices presented here are diverse in means and
intentions, in geography and reputation; what they have in common is an
engagement with both local concerns and global realities, with the
process of making art and the possibilities for art in the contemporary
world. ”
Glenn Harper, The Editor, Sculpture Magazine
“John Grande encourages us to rethink what it means to be an artist in a
time of global eco-crisis.” Suzi
Gablik, author of The Reenchantment of Art
“A
call to reawaken creativity in this time of alienation by demonstrating
in lively ways that culture is part of nature.”
Antony Gormley
More
Our home is
our Paradise
In the past 12 months, we received many international artists in
our Paradise. I
had built up this communication via the internet. To me the internet is
a window through which I can see the world and I can be seen. I
also use internet as a ladder or bridge to meet people face to face.
For us Paradise
means an environment we created for working in nature with people and
our satisfaction. We enjoy the interaction with people rejoicing in
spiritual state in nature. More
Gloria Zein relaze & Cordula
Echterhoff in Iran
In March 2008 we met
German artist Gloria Zein and a free lance journalist. They accompanied
me and a young group of environmental artists and we went to mountains
region of north Tehran and we realized some projects in nature. I used
red earth and two students of philosophy assisted me to realize a
combination of performance and painting by red earth on rock with their
hands. The subject matter related to the story of eve. The other
student made a site specific installation. The German artist, Gloria
Zein relaze made some little installations too. The journalist, named
Cordula
Echterhoff , interviewed me
about the situation of environmental art in Iran and how we can have an
cultural exchange with west.
In March 2008 we
met German artist Gloria Zein and a free lance journalist. They
accompanied me and a young group of environmental artists and we went to
mountains region of north Tehran and we realized some projects in
nature.
I used red earth and two students of philosophy assisted
me to realize a combination of performance and painting by red earth on
rock with their hands. The subject matter related to the story of
eve. The other student made a site specific installation. The
German artist, Gloria Zein relaze made some little installations too.
The journalist, named Cordula
Echterhoff , interviewed me about the situation of environmental
art in Iran and how we can have an cultural exchange with west.
More
Benjamin Hewett (Ben)
in Iran
On the first
January 2008 we received British sculptor, Benjamin Hewett (Ben) who
came to our Paradise.
He showed me his
carvings that to me seem to be the standard of an artist from the west,
but I was impressed of his life, and the way that he lives in the top of
an old oak tree in west Wales and usually consumes and lives off the
food which is “out of date”. He was not fully aware that the way that he
lives can be a good base to be an eco-artist. He lives on the top of a
tree and is sensitive about the waste of food. What he needed was to
write a statement and introduce this way of life as an art concept.
Ben worked in my
studio for three weeks and produced a number of carvings. As we worked,
we discussed a lot and now he agrees with me that his life can be his
art. In my view his tree house and why he eats wasted food is more
interesting than his carvings.
In January 2008,
Ben participated in the; Dream of Peace, the 15th Environmental Art
Festival in the Persian Gulf, working individually and helping us to
realize other collaborative projects, supporting peace and a reaction
against war.
Then Ben traveled
to different parts of Iran and exploring our country, in some areas he
continued to produce sculptures.
He stayed in Iran
for three months and now he is proficient in Persian. In my recent trip
to the central desert of Iran he accompanied me and my
family and we traveled to the Maranjab desert on the southern side of
the Sea of Salt.
While Ben was with
us he always criticizesed people who left their garbage, plastic bottles
and bags in nature. He also criticizes people around the world including
Iranians that waste food. He said on his way to Iran while in transit
in Milan airport he couldn’t let the food in the restaurant be wasted
and happily devoured it. I suggest a performance related to this fact
for his last dinner before his departure to the
UK. We went to a fast food restaurant near Engelab square and Ben made one
performance. He consumed the left over food wasted by its customers.
This was a symbolic action to show people they should not waste food.
They should buy only as much as they can eat. Billions of tons of food
are thrown away each year, while millions of people suffering from
starvation and hunger. The costumers were surprised why this foreigner
who was eating the left over food. Some of them realized that their
food may be eaten and quickly finished their plates and took the left
over with them.
On the 2nd
of April 2008, Ben went back home. Before he left I give him one of my
carvings which had a design of a bird. I called this bird “the Bird of
Peace”. Ben will take it home and make a nest in a hollow of a tree
where he lives and this bird will start a new life.
As an Iranian, I
thought this can be the best present to give to the people of UK.
I remember in April
last year when I was in UK, at the same time when the British navy
trespassed into Iranian waters and were arrested by the Iranian navy, I
took my fish to the water of the Uk and no one arrested my fish.
Creatures of our planet live without borders.
January across the
central desert of Iran
with Benjamin Hewett
On
the first January 2008 we received British sculptor, Benjamin Hewett
(Ben) who came to our Paradise.
http://www.wwwebart.com/riverart/paradise/artists/ben/index.htm
He
showed me his carvings that to me seem to be the standard of an artist
from the west, but I was impressed of his life, and the way that he
lives in the top of an old oak tree in west Wales and usually consumes
and lives off the food which is “out of date”. He was not fully aware
that the way that he lives can be a good base to be an eco-artist. He
lives on the top of a tree and is sensitive about the waste of food.
What he needed was to write a statement and introduce this way of life
as an art concept. More
Ben
worked in my studio for three weeks and produced a number of carvings.
As we worked, we discussed a lot and now he agrees with me that his life
can be his art. In my view his tree house and why he eats wasted food
is more interesting than his carvings.
In
January 2008, Ben participated in the; Dream of Peace, the 15th
Environmental Art Festival in the Persian Gulf, working individually and
helping us to realize other collaborative projects, supporting peace and
a reaction against war.
Then
Ben traveled to different parts of Iran and exploring our country, in
some areas he continued to produce sculptures.
He
stayed in Iran for three months and now he is proficient in Persian. In
my recent trip to the central desert of
Iran he accompanied me and my
family and we traveled to the Maranjab desert on the southern side of
the Sea of Salt.
http://www.wwwebart.com/riverart/sandprints/maranjab/index.htm
First we traveled to the historic city of Kashan, and from there we
targeted the Sea of Salt.
On our way we explored the desert and saw the beauty of the new spring
flowers coloring this normally arid landscape and the creatures of the
desert.
More
Print on Sand in the Maranjab Desert
I
know that this area is mostly sand and desert. I designed and produced
three cylinder seals. Ben and my son Behzad assisted me to print these
new seals in the sand and then took photos of me, while I worked. I
usually suggest a location and start to print. Sometime a single line
which shows a sequence of creatures and sometimes I make a pattern. The
best photos can be taken in the early morning or the late afternoon when
the sun is at its lowest.
More
http://www.wwwebart.com/riverart/sandprints/maranjab/index.htm
We
visited and old fortified building which served the travelers of the
caravan (Carawansara) in the southern part of the
Sea of Salt. It was amazing to
see such a paradise in the middle of desert and imagine in the old time
when people trod the Silk Road and after fifty kilometers walk each day used it as a
place of rest.
More
On
our way one of my vehicles had a puncture. I didn’t want to risk driving
on the spare wheel, so I decided to drive fifty kilometer back and
repair my tire then continue my journey. In this remote region it is
dangerous to go into it without a 4X4.
Our
final destination was the Sea of
Salt. We
drove to south east part of the sea which has no water but is wet.
More
It
looked like a magic | 
