The exhibition ‘100 Works, 100 Artists’ at Golestan Gallery in Tehran, fetched $50,000 on the opening day sales.
The number of artists and art fans attending the opening of the 23rd edition of the exhibition was so huge that there was no space left in the exhibition hall to accommodate them. Long queues were seen outside the gallery braving the midsummer heat, as people waited for their turn to go in, Honaronline reported.
The exhibition is showcasing 178 artworks, paintings and sculptures, from 160 young and veteran artists. Friday saw the sale of 51 works from 43 artists, fetching $50,000 on one single day.
There are plenty of art lovers who are contributing to the economy of art by purchasing works of their favorite artists.
Most expensive painting sold on the first day was by the late Farideh Lashai that sold for $8000.
Arman Yagoubpur, 45, also sold a record number of three paintings. His paintings were adjudged the best at an earlier edition of the exhibition two years ago.
Highest price tag was $80,000 for a painting by the late contemporary poet Sohrab Sepehri.
With almost a third of the exhibited works sold on day one, other artworks of the participating artists quickly replaced the sold items. This has been customary in the history of the exhibition, so that every day visitors can see new works on display.
The vast range of works from figurative to abstract to suit all artistic palates, and with prices varying from $65 to $80,000, makes it possible for both connoisseurs and laymen from different social strata, to pick works of their choice.
Art in Every Home
The Golestan Gallery motto is: “Any Iranian Home, One Art Piece.”
Gallery director Lili Golestan has made efforts to collect artworks from well-known artists as well as young talent and present them to art lovers “to help them decorate their homes with at least one work of art.”
The exhibition presents works of other prominent artists including Bahman Mohases, Parvaneh Etemadi, Ebrahim Haqiqi, Golnaz Qadiri, Nasrollah Afjei, Taha Behbahani, Maryam Kuhestani among others.
Background
Born in Tehran, Lili, 71, left for Paris after her secondary school and studied dress and textile design at the Decorative Art Institute of Paris. Simultaneously, she attended classes on world art history and French literature at La Sorbonne. While in Paris, she also participated in pottery classes.
After four years of living and studying in Paris, she returned home and took up a job as a textile designer at a textile factory. Later, she worked in national television as a dress designer for TV shows. She also became the head of children’s TV program.
She quit her TV job after seven years and published her first translation of a novel in 1967: ‘Life, War and Then Nothing’ by Italian author Oriana Fallaci. The book was welcomed and encouraged her to translate more novels. She has since published more than 20 books.
She is the daughter of well-known filmmaker and writer Ebrahim Golestan and sister of the late photojournalist Kaveh Golestan. Filmmaker Mani Haghighi is her son.
The exhibition will run till August 24, at No. 34, Shahid Kamasai Ave., Darouss.
