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| MARYAM HOSEINI | VAHID JAFARNEZAD | ELNAZ JAVANI | YASSER MIRZAEE | HOUMAN MORTAZAVI | SAMANEH MOTALEBI TAHER POURHEIDARI | MÉLODIE HOJABR SADAT | ABOLFAZI SHAHI | NEDA ZARFSAZ | ALI & RAMYAR
 
HOUMAN MORTAZAVI PROFILE | WORKS | BIOGRAPHY
 
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If kleptomaniacs might have the urge to have things, Houman Mortazavi enjoys putting things together. His is an artist who seriously challenged his generation’s view towards the arts. Perhaps the most significant quality of his art is its unceremonious language. At a time when most artists sought an identity by making references to history, Houman Mortazavi’s art has always been self-referential. He has a particular insistence on certain aspects of Iranian kitsch and has turned this derision of the art scene into a genre. By breaking the cultural customs and standards of their time, Houman Mortazavi and some of his peers opened up the way for the conceptual wave of recent years.

Houman’s handmade objects and his insistence on their flimsiness in the context of Iranian art (that was established on the basis of craftsmanship) can be considered a bold move. As such, he should be seen as a social activist and not merely a visual artist. He takes every opportunity to scorn pointless affectations and snobbism.

Houman Mortazavi was born in 1964 in Tehran. His first piece was published when he was eleven years old. He spent his adolescence at a boarding school in Wales, and had his first painting exhibition in the 80s. Houman was one of the first Iranian artists to move beyond the limitations of painting and into the arena of multimedia. His installation “Life Accessories” which was exhibited at Gallery 13 in 1994 was one of the first instances of conceptual art after the Islamic Revolution. Since that time most of Houman’s work has been about an individual's challenges facing the world. “Project Misplaced”, exhibited in the United States in 2003, depicted the problems of immigration and transformation of cultural identity. Simon Ordoubadi, the fictional character of this series, exposed the comical made-up identity of an immigrant in the serious context of social-political life.

Parallel to his artistic endeavors Houman Mortazavi has been very active in Iran’s cultural atmosphere of recent decades. The establishment of Daarvag adverising agency and Parallel Art Group are just two examples of his involvement in the fields of graphic design and conceptual art. Shahrouz Nazari

He currently lives and works in Tehran.

 

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