Alongside the nuclear controversy, an art scene flourishes. Collectors are taking notice: Prices of Iranian contemporary art have jumped -- and they're likely to keep going up for another five or 10 years. How Westerners are getting in on the action. Much of the world looks at Iran and sees a nuclear threat. A growing number of collectors see something else: a profusion of exciting new art that's likely to command higher and higher prices.
Many pieces of Iranian contemporary art have more than doubled in value over the past few years, thanks to heavy bidding by the Middle East's super-rich. Though the prices are still low by Western standards, rarely topping $1 million, they look set to keep climbing for another five or 10 years as more Westerners join the action.
This is not the art of jihadist propaganda -- with worshipful portraits of mullahs and ayatollahs. Produced by artists living both in and outside Iran, it often reflects the same interests and concerns as Western art. Sometimes it is the art of protest, taking on war, environmental destruction and societal hypocrisy. But in most cases, the references to Iran are less confrontational.
Farhad Moshiri, (top left) perhaps the most celebrated Iranian artist, made his name with paintings on textured canvas, evoking a lost way of life in the Middle East. Moshiri, who also makes use of imagery from Iranian popular culture, is one of at least two painters to have been called the Jeff Koons of Iran.
"The Iranian public, and especially artists, are very connected with the rest of the world through traveling and particularly through the Internet," says Shoja Azari, an Iranian-born video artist living in Manhattan. "The uprising that took place last June after the elections in Iran was a FaceBook and Twitter revolution."
Indeed, many of the artists are aligned with Iran's freedom-seeking youth culture, which, while always there, had been isolated and obscured by government rhetoric until the disputed presidential elections in the spring of 2009. The artists -- painters, sculptors, photographers and others -- may now be putting their nation's best foot forward.
"Because of the current political situation, the only positive message coming out of Iran is the young people," says collector Farbod Dowlatshahi, a retired oil-refinery builder from Iran who now lives in Dubai and owns some 1,900 works of Middle Eastern art. "The younger artists are promoting a very positive future."
Signs of the growing interest in contemporary Iranian art are unmistakable. At a Christie's auction in Dubai last month, works by some top artists sold for double the pre-auction estimates. One painting went for 10 times the estimate. The next big test for the market will come in October in London, when both Sotheby's and Phillips de Pury hold auctions of contemporary Middle East Art. Iran, which produces by far the largest number of artists in the Middle East, is sure to be well represented.
Gradually, America, too, is becoming more exposed to Iranian art. Last summer, the Chelsea Art Museum in New York exhibited 210 artworks by 56 contemporary Iranian Artists. In 2008, an exhibit of contemporary Iranian artwork was held at Montana's Missoula Art Museum. Before that, a show of works by younger Iranian artists, Wishes and Dreams, toured nine American cities, courtesy of the U.S. State Department.
Some prominent galleries and museums in New York and London are now showing clear interest in particular Iranian artists. In late September, the Saatchi Gallery in London will start showing the work of conceptual artist Mahmoud Bakhshi Moakhar, who won last year's inaugural Magic of Persia prize -- to be awarded annually to an emerging Iranian artist by the London-based cultural foundation Magic of Persia.
Tehran-born Y.Z. Kami, who now lives in the U.S., has had his work featured at the Istanbul Biennial (2005), the Museum of Modern Art in New York (2006) and the Venice Biennale (2007). He also has works in New York's Whitney Museum and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Kami is represented by the Gagosian Gallery in New York -- as A-list as an artist can get.
Shirin Neshat, a filmmaker who was born in Qazvin and lives in New York City with her husband Shoja Azari, the video artist, has had her work acquired by the Tate Modern in London and the Guggenheim and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. ("War in Vain," by Rokni Haerizadeh, shown left)
Neshat won the international award at the 1999 Venice Biennale for her video work and the Silver Lion in 2009 at the Venice Film Festival for her film Women Without Men, an adaptation of Shahrnush Parsipur's novella of the same name. In 2000, Neshat's still images sold for $2,000-$3,000; today they command $200,000, says Max Falkenstein of New York's Barbara Gladstone Gallery, which has represented Neshat since 2000.
Some other Western galleries representing Iranian artists: New York's LTMH Gallery and London's Rose Issa Projects, Waterhouse & Dodd, the Berardi and Sagharchi Project, and the Osborne Samuel Gallery. Perhaps nothing, however, has demonstrated the desirability of Iranian and other Middle Eastern contemporary art more than the auctions that have taken place in Dubai and Qatar.
Christie's was the first international auction house on the scene, holding a sale in Dubai in 2006, followed by Sotheby's in Doha, Qatar. "This is the wealthiest area in the world," said Lina Lazaar, a contemporary art specialist at Sotheby' who arranges the auction house's sales. "When the collecting spirit and habit have matured, you can expect prices to jump."
("Today's Woman," a collage by Ramin Haerizadeh, shown left)
There is ample opportunity for Western buyers. Ordinarily, one wouldn't want to get into a bidding war with people of unimaginable wealth, but many of the richest people in the Middle East are only just starting to collect contemporary art. In the past, they focused more on the region's famed Persian carpets, says Mamak Nourbakhsh, owner of Tehran's Gallery Mamak.
Western buyers who get into the market now, may not only participate in a further price runup, but also serve as tastemakers. Lazaar points out that aspiring Middle Eastern collectors have looked to Western collectors and especially auction houses for hints about which of the region's artists may have the greatest global value and importance.
courtesy: Daniel Grant, Barrons
