the agony and the ecstasy rokni haerizadeh profile Ever the artistic critic of the contemporary Iranian social environment, Rokni Haerizadeh pieces together myth, literature and lore to weave an ironic and at times sarcastic reality. Yet, at the very heart of his painting is a continuous reach into the wealth that is Persian history. T E X T BY M Y R N A AYA D I M A G E S C O U R T E S Y O F B 2 1 G A L L E R Y A N D P R I VAT E C O L L E C T I O N S 106 profile Opening spread: Bahram-Egoor. 2007. Acrylic on canvas. 200 x 200 cm. Private Collection. Facing page: Bosom of Motherland (07). 2007. Acrylic on canvas. 200 x 20 cm. Private Collection. he charmingly dishevelled shirtless man sporting a skyrocketed. All eyes zoomed in on this stunning, captivating buttoned black blazer and slacks walked towards the front artwork, supremely charged and vibrant. And then an audience of the audience in the packed section of Gallery One at the member asked what Ashura was and the quiet, loaded focus Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi. He had a boyish look in the room broke. “It’s a religious festival, like fashion week,” about him and I could tell he was nervous; public speaking answered famed Iranian artist Fereydoun Ave (see Canvas just did not seem like his ‘thing’. It Volume 3 Issue 4), referring to its was the concerned way in which elaborate, social celebrations in his (obvious) posse, sitting in the front couple of rows, looked at him, “I sought Iran. The room erupted into laughter. Hilarious as that was, Ave hit the nail that told me this was Rokneddin Haerizadeh, popularly, commercially to analyse on the head with his interpretation of Haerizadeh’s work: this 31-year- and affectionately known as Rokni everybody and old artist paints what he sees, and everything.” Haerizadeh. And there he stood, while that may be complex in itself, this herald of the surge that is his paintings show us a reality; that Contemporary Iranian art, flanked by of a flawed society, riddled with cultural power players Sir Norman hypocrisies, disparities and ironies. Rosenthal, Jeff Koons and Mona Hatoum. Along with Anish But essentially, Haerizadeh is showing us what is really Kapoor, James Turrell, Cai Go Qiang and Anselm Kiefer they there. The climax of the evening was Rosenthal’s comment had all flown in for the first programme of the Guggenheim that Haerizadeh’s work pays homage to Francis Bacon – a Abu Dhabi Talks, which kicked off in March 2009 in parallel compliment Haerizadeh has not forgotten. “In fact, it was the with the Emirati Expressions (see Canvas Volume 5, Issue 2) first compliment I’d ever received on a public level,” he says. exhibition featuring works by Contemporary Emirati artists. “I have never received that in Iran.” Haerizadeh fidgeted as he waited for a signal and then off he went, in English laden with his Farsi dialect, through a Curious Incidents slideshow of his works. He paused and stuttered a little as The youngest of four boys, Haerizadeh hails from a family he described each artwork. “Painting is a way of thinking,” of art enthusiasts. On his father’s side are poets and on he said. In the course of my interviews with him months his mother’s, architects – a profession he was later, albeit later, he would reiterate the same statement. But it was when vainly, encouraged to pursue. His elder brother Ramin (see Haerizadeh stopped at a slide showing his four-panel work page 120) is also an artist and the inseparable pair are “the depicting Ashura observed in Iran – a day of mourning in Islam self-proclaimed Laurel and Hardy!” By seven, Haerizadeh’s which commemorates the death of Hussein, grandson of the parents realised that their youngest should be tutored in art, Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) – that the audience attentiveness largely due to the hours he would spend “inside the canvas 107 trying to depict things” through drawing and painting. A At 11, Haerizadeh was preoccupied with Monet, van cultural rite of passage in Iran – “a sort of renaissance period” Gogh and Gaugin and attempted to imitate their styles. – involves living with an art tutor, and among Haerizadeh’s Terribly eager for more, he would buy imported art books and coaches are eminent names in the Iranian Contemporary art pester his tutors to teach him various techniques. But it was an arena, Farshid Maleki, Rouein Pakbaz, Ahmad Amin Nazar, intense dream he had that would forever affect his examination “an excellent draughtsman who taught me technique”, and of people, situations, what stirs in our subconscious and Farideh Lashai (see Canvas Volume 3 Issue 6). “Some gave its motives in affecting consciousness. The night before me courage, some told me to do what I wanted to do and his beloved grandfather died, the 11-year-old Haerizadeh paint what I wanted to paint,” says Haerizadeh of his tutors. dreamt that his grandfather was sitting on a chair that was He would not be met with the same encouragement and rising. Working out what the dream meant consumed him, liberty while pursuing his Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts from and by chance he stumbled upon Freud’s The Interpretation the University of Tehran. “All the teachers wanted to impose of Dreams, a book he would continue to read for years. “It and dictate their influences, even down to calligraphy and made me crazy!” laughs Haerizadeh, “I found it so enigmatic Abstract art. It was awful.” and mysterious. I would hide it and read it whenever I had 108 profile “I thrive on it [chaos], it motivates me.” some time.” Hardly average reading for an 11-year-old, His big break came when art collector extraordinaire Haerizadeh’s orientation to Freudian theories distanced him Charles Saatchi acquired and then exhibited Haerizadeh’s from his peers. By 15 he felt “isolated, developed and mature”, work at the Unveiled: New Art from the Middle East exhibition despite becoming a reference on dream interpretation among in January 2009. “It was so exciting for me, but for Iran, that’s his friends. “I sought to analyse everybody and everything,” not good news,” he says. Among the Saatchi-owned works says Haerizadeh. There is no doubt that that is something he by Haerizadeh are Shomal (Beach at the Caspian), a 200 x continues to do. 600 cm oil on canvas diptych which appears to be a fun day It was only natural for him to develop an interest in at the beach but really screams of the inequality between Surrealism and while some have purported that Haerizadeh’s sexes, highlighted through male and female swimwear; and works carry Surrealist tones mixed with Freudian hues, he Typical Iranian Funeral, also a 200 x 600 cm oil on canvas maintains that his work is focused on the human situation diptych, detailing the intricacies of Iranian funerals, replete above all else. His choice of Iranian society as a backdrop is with traditional ceremonies – hired mourners and strangers derived from his belief in it being a “chaotic” society and one present at what ought to be a private affair as opposed to that represents “the clash between tradition and modernism a seemingly social gathering. Again, Haerizadeh might paint and the mixing of the two together.” Not that chaos bothers situations as they are but it is only within his canvases that we Haerizadeh. “I thrive on it, it motivates me,” he says. He spot the ironies and just how terribly defective existing custom regales me with anecdotes of his day-to-day life in Tehran is. “You can see more of contemporary Iranian culture in my – of days when red paint would go out of stock when, only paintings than hear me speak about it,” he says, “you see a month ago, it was available in abundance. “Every day is the open-minded and the fundamentally dogmatic, the ultra a different life, a new change filled with instability,” he grins, trendy and the ultra religious… the diversity, contradictions, “you’ve got to change your personality every day.” And superficiality and so many layers within that society.” it is precisely this instability that both tired and frustrated Haerizadeh, particularly since his rise to fame came from His Ways and His Woe the outside world as opposed to his home Loud music is a staple to Haerizadeh’s modus operandi. Facing page: country, despite a series of group and solo Incidentally, he cites Stravinsky’s compositions, in particular Ouch! 2006. Acrylic on canvas. 150 x shows in Tehran. “I just don’t feel appreciated The Rite of Spring, in which the Russian composer 200 cm. in Iran,” he admits. endeavoured to musically illustrate the violence and 109 112 “Working on a big canvas is like a wave – it comes to you. My entire body is in the painting.” 113 profile profile As in most of Haerizadeh’s works, it is difficult to distinguish what the original image is, let alone its message: is he mocking the situation, is he trying to be funny about it or is he ripping off the protective filter through which we perceive things? viciousness of pagan Russia. How ironic that Haerizadeh’s how it may proliferate. It is almost like an unguided missile, paintings depict the chaos in his own homeland. Beginning about to explode in bursts of colours and concepts on the in 1920, Stravinsky began to rethink 18th-century musical canvas. “Sometimes it’s very personal and sometimes it’s styles, creating Oedipus Rex in 1927 and going on to explore very political,” he grins. Even Haerizadeh is not sure where his themes from the ancient, classical world – a central element canvases will take him, but he admits that painting has made in Haerizadeh’s works. “Greek mythology, old and modern him “calmer, sensible and more reflective.” It might be his literature, Japanese haikus, Eastern myths, Persian fables, painting but it is also his narrative. Each brushstroke weaves especially Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh (Book of Kings) and Rumi’s another tale, another verse, another situation or fable and the poetry and prose… they all mesh with the colours and then result is an epic – a satirical setting spun in a web. the painting begins to move,” he says excitedly. Among his More often than not, Haerizadeh opts for large-sized favourite writers are Raymond Carver, Orhan Pamuk, Georges canvases. “Working on a big canvas is like a wave – it comes Bataille and Gabriel García Márquez. While the idea may come to you. My entire body is in the painting,” he says, and his first, followed by colour and composition, there is no telling body moves with him, motioning the probable gestures he Previous pages: (Detail, right panel of a diptych) Revolutionary Guard Break Through Collector’s makes while painting. “I never approach a blank canvas,” he House and Call it the Devil Worshipper’s House. 2009. Oil on canvas. Two panels of 200 x 300 cm. says seriously, “it’s always got a base I’ve painted first so I Tehran Ashura. 2008. Oil on canvas. Four panels of 200 x 200 cm. Fictionville (Tough and Timid?). 2009. Mixed media, gesso and photo print on paper. 21 × 30 cm. don’t freeze and when I do freeze, I go to my little watercolours Number six out of a portfolio of nine works. Facing page: Fictionville (In the Land of the Blind the One-Eyed Man is King). 2009. Mixed media, and drawings. If you want to be a painter, you’ve got to go on. gesso and photo print on paper. 21 × 30 cm. Number seven out of a portfolio of nine works. You can’t stop.” 117 profile profile Fictionville (In the Land of the Blind the One-Eyed Man is King). 2009. Mixed media, gesso and photo print on paper. 21 × 30 cm. Number three out of a portfolio of nine works. While in Dubai, Haerizadeh became increasingly frustrated at the general lack of media information about the uprising in Iran that followed the presidential elections in June 2009. Fictionville is a series of photographs he took of television broadcasting networks reporting on the rebellion on the Iranian streets and is among his latest body of work. Printed on A4-sized paper and painted on with Tip-Ex, gesso, watercolours, acrylics and ink, Haerizadeh offers a carnival- like atmosphere to the mutiny by animalising humans, thereby suggesting that in a time of revolt, primitive instinct is the sole driving force. As in most of Haerizadeh’s works, it is difficult to distinguish what the original image is, let alone its message: is he mocking the situation, is he trying to be funny about it or is he ripping off the protective filter through which we perceive things? “It is my intention to choose a chaotic composition so that when you first look at it, you can’t recognise it but looking at it another time, you will discover something new again and again.” Haerizadeh’s last exhibition in Iran was at a group show in 2007 and life in his homeland as an artist has since become more difficult, so much so that he has relocated to Dubai, along with Ramin. “The thinking [in Iran] is still the same and I don’t think the situation will change. Contemporary Iranian philosophy is disillusioned,” he says. He agrees that his statement can be applied to other parts of the Middle East. “But,” he pauses, “I think we, as artists, can change the face of the Middle East. Through supporting each other, we can make the impact bigger.” Amen to that. For more information visit www.b21gallery.com and www.ropac.net 119
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