Veteran painter Farah Ossouli is back in Iran and is preparing to showcase her works in two exhibitions, and publish a handmade book.
She is planning to display a total of 40 paintings created in the US during a recent trip, in two solo exhibitions by the end of the year (March 20, 2016) in Tehran, Mehr News Agency reported.
In one of her collections titled ‘Wounded Virtue’, which has little color diversity, she has made use of Persian poetry as she believes it has a huge role in Persian culture.
Ossouli has quoted from contemporary Iranian poems by Ahmad Shamloo and Forough Farrokhzad. The hand-written poems lend rhythm and symbolic meaning to the works which have been created by using the style of Persian miniatures common in the time of the Safavid dynasty (1502-1736).
Another collection ‘Can You Hear the Darkness Blow?’ includes colorful paintings using the same style of Persian miniature but inspired by famous western classical works including Dutch painter Rembrandt, Spanish Francisco Goya and French Claude Monet.
“Looking at these works, you recognize the world famous artists’ paintings but they are my creations,” Ossouli said.
Explaining the bleak atmosphere in her paintings she said, “The topics are gloomy as we are living in a sad world. The events in Syria, Iraq and more recently in France are all dismal. Many people are displaced and living in pain. These issues disturb me and it is hard for an artist not to be influenced by them.”
“We witness upsetting events live on TV and on the Internet. These images stay with me and become a source of pressure and anxiety. I process them through my personal filters into my work,” she added.
She said that she has not decided on the exact location for her exhibitions and after a proper venue is found, she will announce the time for the exhibits.
Handmade Book
The veteran artist pointed out to an art book she is working on and said, “The book has no written words and I will just show the 12 months of the year symbolically with my own style of miniatures.”
There will be just a limited number of copies from the book as it is handmade. “Fifty copies will be available as handmade art books are usually collected by museums, art centers and art collectors,” she noted.
Born in Zanjan, Iran, Ossouli, 62, holds a bachelor’s degree in graphic design from the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Tehran. After 1979, she was one of the pioneers who revitalized miniature paintings.
She has exhibited internationally in the Middle East, Europe, Africa, North America, and Asia. Her works are widely collected, most recently by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The Metropolitan Museum Of Art, New York; Devi Art Foundation, New Delhi; Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art; Tropen Museum, Amsterdam; and the Ludwig Museum, Koblenz, Germany.
“I was away from of my country for some time but now I want to stay and focus on my works here. I love Iran and miss my homeland when I travel,” Ossouli concluded.
