Parviz Tanavoli

Parviz Tanavoli is one of the most important and influential Iranian artists, born in 1937 in Tehran. During his childhood and adolescence, he spent some time learning music, a fact that is evident in some of his works from the 1960s and 1970s. After completing high school, Tanavoli enrolled in the Fine Arts Faculty and majored in sculpture. During this period, in the mid-1950s, he held a unique exhibition of his sculptures that showed his interest in a number of everyday objects. Around the same time, he traveled to Italy and continued his art studies under the prominent Italian sculptor Marino Marini, becoming more familiar with Western-style sculpture before returning to Iran. Although in the early 1960s, Tanavoli was only in his twenties, many of his contemporaries learned from his unconventional approach to sculpture and were inspired by him. Tanavoli, like his predecessors and ancient Iranian art, sought meaning not only through the creation of art but also through the presentation of everyday Iranian artifacts in a new way. In the early 1960s, Tanavoli held an exhibition that utilized a diverse range of tools, techniques, and expressive mediums to present his art: neon, lamps, plexiglass, plaster, copper, locks, and more, finding new representations as art objects. This exhibition significantly shifted many art enthusiasts' perceptions of sculpture. During this same period, the renowned critic Karim Imami identified a group of artists who were combining elements of Iranian and Western art as belonging to the "Saqqakhaneh" school. Although Saqqakhaneh has a broad scope, Tanavoli was categorized within this school in terms of stylistic classification during the 1960s. It's worth noting that Tanavoli's unconventional approach to sculpture has always challenged preconceived notions about the medium, making it difficult to place him within conventional categories. During this decade, Tanavoli also began his field research on Iranian art, particularly carpets, Gabbeh, Kilim, Jajims, jewelry, Khorjin, and more. The results of this research were shared with the public and art enthusiasts in subsequent decades through books, exhibitions, and photographs. Tanavoli's "Heech" series also began in the 1960s and continues to be created today using various artistic techniques and expressions. Beyond the aforementioned, Tanavoli, with his profound understanding of the direct interaction between the body and jewelry, has ventured into contemporary jewelry design and creation. In this field as well, he has introduced a novel perspective to his audience with a unique approach. Tanavoli is perhaps unparalleled in contemporary and modern Iranian art in terms of the comprehensiveness of his research and the breadth of his works. His broad vision and perspective on art, the process of transforming everyday objects into art, the research-oriented nature of his exhibitions and presentations, various exhibitions in Iran and around the world, his discerning eye for collecting artwork, his continuous teaching, and many other activities have made him a truly exceptional figure.

Sohrab Ahmadi