The Hunt for Colour, Harmony and Rhythm
Reza Derakshani, Hunting the Hunter, Hunting series
To continue last week’s theme of Persian art, here is one of my favourite contemporary Iranian artists whose work is inspired by music, poetry, and the historic and visual elements of traditional Persian art and culture: Reza Derakshani (b. 1952, Iran)
One of my favourite themes in his work is the Hunt - which on Derakshani’s canvases becomes a hunt for eloquence, or for colour, or even for the hunter. In its traditional sense, the hunt holds a special place in Persian culture and in the pre-Islamic era was considered one of the most important honours of the King who in order to hold his empire needed to prove his power in many ways, including his prowess as a hunter.
Reza Derakshani, Hunt the Pink, Hunting series
Brought up in a nomadic family in the Iranian mountains, Derakshani describes his childhood as growing up “in a great black tent on the top of a mountain, among horses and fields of blue and yellow wild flowers”.
His life path to becoming a painter, musician, and poet took him from the mountain top to the study of mathematics, and later to the study of visual arts in Tehran and the U.S.
Derakshani has lived and worked in Tehran, Russia, Dubai, USA and Italy, saying that becoming an international nomad - which stems both from his upbringing and the geopolitical circumstances in Iran - has become an inspirational way of life given the freshness of new experiences and exposures.
Reza Derakshani, Photo-based Paintings series
Incorporating roof tar, gold, silver, enamel, and sand into his paintings, Derakshani explores the light and dark of our world hrough a meld of abstract and figurative Western and Persian-inspired motifs and symbols.
Reza Derakshani, Dark Mountain series
I think we see in a painting that which most resonates within each of us. In his paintings I see grace and dissonance, joy and displacement, belonging and exile, a moment frozen in the past (which for the sitter is forever the present, as in Derakshani’s photo-based paintings) or in the process of metamorphosis. The art of viewing, I am increasingly coming to believe, is an art in and of itself and we create our own worlds within those of the creator.
Reza Derakshani, Miniatures series
I absolutely love harmony and colour, all of which Derakshani conjures in tune to the invisible rhythms of poetry and music, and so I am naturally drawn to his more colourful works. Also as I happen to come alive in the mountains, I am quite partial to his Dark Mountain series. And of course his haunting photo-based paintings can’t help but leave an impression. In short I love his work but certain works speak to my soul louder than others.
Reza Derakshani, Miniatures series
Which ones do you respond to most? You can see Derakshani’s diverse paintings, music and 3D works on his website at http://www.rezaderakshani.com Widely exhibited and collected, Derakshani’s work is in major museums worldwide including The British Museum in London and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.