Full Name Parviz Tanavoli Name Parviz Tanavoli Nationality Iranian Role Artist | Known for Sculpture and Painting Patrons Farah Diba Movement Saqqakhaneh | |
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Notable work The Wall (Oh Persepolis)Heech Books Undiscovered Minimalism: Gelims fr, Persian Flatweaves: A Survey, Kings - Heroes - and Love, Lion Rugs: The Lion in the Art an, Shahsavan Iranian Rugs and Profiles | ||
Parviz tanavoli tateshots
Parviz Tanavoli (born 23 March 1937 in Tehran) is an Iranian sculptor, painter, scholar and art collector. He has lived in Vancouver, Canada since 1989.
Contents
- Parviz tanavoli tateshots
- Artist s talk parviz tanavoli
- Academic career
- Exhibitions
- Influences
- Politics and art
- Portrayal in film
- References
Tanavoli's work has been auctioned around the world leading to overall sales of over $6.7 million, making him the most expensive living Iranian artist. Tanavoli is known for his heeches, three dimensional representations of the Persian word for 'nothing', heech. Composed of three Persian characters in the style of nasta'liq. The three letters he, ye and če are combined to produce the word ‘heech’.
Artist s talk parviz tanavoli
Academic career
Upon graduating from the Brera Academy of Milan in 1959, Tanavoli taught sculpture for three years at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. He then returned to Iran and assumed the directorship of the sculpture department at the University of Tehran, a position he held for 18 years until 1979, when he retired from his teaching duties.
Exhibitions
His latest solo exhibition was a retrospective held in 2003 at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art. Prior to that he had held solo exhibitions in Austria, Italy, Germany, United States and Britain. Tanavoli has been in group exhibitions internationally. His work has been displayed at the British Museum, the Grey Art Gallery, New York University, the Isfahan City Center, Nelson Rockefeller Collection, New York, Olympic Park, Seoul, South Korea, the Royal Museum of Jordan, the Museum of Modern Art, Vienna, Museum of Modern Art, New York, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Hamline University, St. Paul and Shiraz University, Iran. In 2015, the Davis Museum at Wellesley College organize the first solo exhibition of Tanavoli's work in the US.
Influences
He belongs to Saqqakhana group of artists who, according to the scholar Karim Emami, share a common popular aesthetic. He has been influenced heavily by his country's history and culture and traditions, (he was once cultural advisor to the Queen of Iran) and has always been fascinated with locksmithing.
Politics and art
In 2005, he created a small piece of sculpture called Heech in a Cage to protest the conditions of the American-held prisoners at Guantanamo Bay detainment camp and in 2006 began work on his piece to honour the victims of the Israeli-Lebanon war.
A day before Tanavoli was due to speak at the British Museum, authorities in Iran confiscated his passport, preventing him from leaving the country. By phone from Teheran, Tanavoli explained that "I have not done anything wrong. I spent the whole day at the passport office but no one told me anything, nor did anyone at the airport. I’m not a political person, I’m merely an artist."
Portrayal in film
The documentary film "Parviz Tanavoli: Poetry in Bronze", released in 2015 tells the remarkable story of Tanavoli's journey of creation that began in Iran in the 1950's and has spanned three continents over more than half a century. Directed by Terrence Turner and produced by Timothy Turner and Tandis Tanavoli, the documentary features exclusive interviews with Tanavoli and leading figures in the international art world who illuminate the emergence and rise of this extraordinary artist who continues to this day to return to Iran from his adopted home in Canada to teach young, aspiring artists.