Blue Rhino Archive: Raising Awareness of Iran’s Contemporary Art

Between 2019-2022, Blue Rhino led a series of fascinating talks with leading figures in the art world.  Initially posted to our Instagram page (@bluerhino_art), the Blue Rhino Archive series seeks to revitalise these exclusive industry insights in a new, more accessible format. 

On 22nd August 2022, Blue Rhino founder Tima Jam hosted an online discussion with New York-based Iranian art curator and consultant Roya Khadjavi (@royakhadjaviprojects), discussing her mission to bring the vibrant, untapped world of Iranian contemporary art into the western spotlight.

You can find the original footage here.  The interview was moderated by Josselyn Chau.

 

 

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Tima: Welcome, Roya!  We’re happy to have you.

Roya: Thank you.  Yeah, I’m excited for the programme.

Tima: It’s our pleasure.  Thank you, thank you.  Lovely!  Josselyn, do you want to go through and help me by asking the questions one by one?

Josselyn:  Yes, sure.  So first of all, for our viewers, I would just like to give you all a bit of introduction about our speaker today.  Roya is an independent curator and cultural producer based in New York.  She focuses on the work of young Iranian artists, and she not only supports their artistic endeavours, but also facilitates cultural dialogues between artistic communities.  Since 2008, she has actively led exhibition committee efforts around Middle Eastern art.  Roya has worked for institutions like the Guggenheim Museum and the Asia Society, where she sat on the steering committee of the critically acclaimed exhibition Iran Modern in 2013.  She also co-founded the Iran Opportunities Fund in the Institute of International Education.  For her pioneering efforts, she has been honoured with the Order of Academic Palms by the French Ministry of Education.  We’re very lucky to have her here today.  Roya, can you tell us a bit more about your background and how you began your career as a curator?

 

Roya: Thank you [laughs].  Yes, my background – I grew up in Iran until I was 17, and left to come to the United States to go to university.  I did go to a bilingual school in Iran (at that time, the school was called the Razi School) where I simultaneously learned French and Persian, and became fluent.  And for university, I came to the US and attended Wellesley College in Boston.  I have been living in the US since.  I started my career in fashion, fashion merchandising.  I was a buyer and then later a divisional merchandising manager, Vice President of one of the largest department stores in the US.  Later, I switched my efforts to the other side and joined Yves Saint Laurent, a French-based company, and led their activity in sales and marketing in North America (and Hawaii was under my territory).  

 

 

After six or seven years, I had two small children.  I travelled a lot for my business and I didn’t have the opportunity to see them as much as I wanted.  So, contrary to what I had hoped, I had to limit my activities and come out of this beautiful field that I was in, and concentrated my efforts more on working in culture, education, art, and as a volunteer.  I volunteered on the board of my daughter’s school; I volunteered at the Asia Society, the Guggenheim Museum, et cetera. 

 

As an active collector, I was always very fond of supporting Iranian art and young artists, and in 2008 — exactly 30 years to the date of my leaving Iran — I was able to go back to Iran.  It was a very surreal and out-of-body experience for me [laughs].  I cannot tell you how excited and emotionally charged that first trip was for me, to go back to where I was born and to hear my language being spoken on a daily basis in the street, and [to] be surrounded by the loving, fabulous  people of Iran, who are unfortunately portrayed very differently in the western media. So, when I went to Iran, I started visiting a lot of art galleries.  Through the art galleries, I was able to attend many artists’ studios, and do visits, and talk to the artists, and, you know, hear about their challenges and their successes, like everywhere else.  Then, I decided that it would be a wonderful idea for me to represent some of these artists.  

I started my work literally three to four years after my first visit [to] Iran, because it took me a while to really get to know the community of artists and the art community in Iran and to feel like [I had] enough knowledge and background to be able to do something professionally.  So, I had decided to forgo the jargon of the headline news, in the US especially, that was so negative about Iran and concentrating just on politics, the sanctions, the nuclear deals, and all of that stuff.  I decided that I would show the other side of Iran, which is art and culture.  And I aimed to reintroduce the often-overlooked dimensions of the people of Iran and the artistic vibrancy that exists in the contemporary art scene in Iran.

My mission basically — quote-unquote — became “to represent the underrepresented” and to do my best to promote an exciting programme for artists from Iran, the younger artists that had no representation in the US.  And little by little, there were so many fantastic artists from Iran that lived abroad in the United States and Europe that I felt it was really unfair to just concentrate on one group of artists, that [my programme] would become more available to artists who maybe faced more challenges in the US — being away from their families and not having that kind of friend and family support, and not having a gallery behind them, which often the artists in Iran do — and decided that, you know, I have to come up with a programme that would be beneficial to both sides.  

“My mission […] became to represent the underrepresented.” 

So that’s how it started.  My first exhibition was in 2013, if I remember correctly. I represented 27 Iranian artists who called themselves “The Sixties Generation,” which would roughly translate to the 1980s generation of artists here.  They were basically the first generation of artists [who] were born after the Revolution and they lived through the Iran-Iraq War.  Many of them were not able to leave the country and had their full education — high school and artistic education — done in Iran.  So it was a very interesting and exciting first show for me, as it showed the variety of artwork, the quality of the artwork, and the whole conceptual ideas behind how the Iranian artists worked, which, to me, seemed that at that time it had a very strong communicative force, communicating through metaphors and symbolism.  To me, that makes the works of the Iranian artists so powerful and strong.  

Josselyn: Can you tell us a bit about your curatorial process?  Do you have a general set of themes that you curate your shows to, or do the artists you work with decide their own themes?

Roya: I would say that it’s, you know, a combination.  I never tell my artists what to do, because they have become artists to have the freedom to decide what they want to do [laughs] and they don’t need someone else dictating to them what they should and should not do.  But there is a dialogue, definitely, between myself and the artists that I work with. 

It always starts with a studio visit.  A lot of things happen during studio visits.  We document the work and the images, we go through all the artwork, the related artwork, the new, the old…  We sort of go through the process of their art.  We go through the conceptual ideas behind the art that the artist presents.  We go through the consistency of the work.  And, you know, I give my opinion all throughout.  

After the visits, I do a lot of research on the artists: where they’re represented, who they’ve shown with, what other things have been written about the artist, etc.  So I do a bit of research and then try to relate the concepts/ideas and the type of artwork of a few artists together, so that I can curate an interesting and exciting exhibition with a point of view and a title.  This is how I work for my group exhibitions.  Then, I go through the whole editing process of working with the various artists’ works and how I can put some of these artworks together and tell a story.  As we know, Iranians are very good with storytelling, starting with A Thousand and One Nights, and I think it’s a major part of how our artists from Iran work.  So we go through that.  This is how I usually work with group exhibitions. 

If it’s an exhibition of a solo artist, then there are two ways.  

One: sometimes, you know, an artist starts on a body of work and I jump in the middle and give my input.  It’s usually about the size or quantity of the works to be shown.  We worked, often, on a title together, coming up with who we want to write the catalogue essay together.  I usually try to find somebody [who] is non-Iranian who would write an essay, and usually a lot of journalists that write, you know, art critiques for art magazines and news, whether it’s online or not.  Usually, I would try to communicate with them in advance to get some ideas for how we are going to work on the catalogue and how these essays are gonna look in the catalogue. 

Sometimes I do these shows in a retrospective type of way, like I did with a photography exhibition with one of my artists, Dariush Nehdaran, and we showed seven bodies of work throughout 14 years of artist exhibitions and cumulative work.  So it was more like a retrospective curated by me, with elements in each group of work that sort of related to one another, that made the works very specific to that particular artist.  

And sometimes I would go to the artist’s studio and see a few sketches and preliminary ideas onto which I can build.  So I can give, like, for example, the instance of Maryam Khosrovani, who is an artist that predominantly works with paper.  She had come up from Iran and she had done some beautiful sketches of tiles in her garden, her home, sort of water hoses, images, pictures of, like, corners of a Persian garden.  From that little vignette, we were able to come up with these great ideas and create a very conceptual Persian garden-themed show.  All works on paper.  Very minimalist and conceptual.  And we decided that, basically, the four walls of the gallery will become the Persian garden.  So, as you can see, there are many different ways of working.  

Sometimes I go to the artists’ studios and, you know, that’s before I follow them on Instagram for a while, and I’m just blown away by the work that’s in their studios, or in different exhibitions in different cities that they’ve had.  For instance, the Safarani Sisters.  Right away, we know that we can work together, and I curate a solo exhibition for them.

Sometimes, I go through the artists’ studios and I’m very curious to find out what they have worked on before that is not necessarily shown in the works, and come up with some old works that have been sitting there for maybe ten or fifteen years that the artist has not dared to show, or has not finished.  Then, with a bit of manipulation [laughs] and working together, I make sure those works come to a final stage where they can be shown.  I can give Farsad Labbauf as an example of that.  We had a fantastic show a few months ago together.  

And sometimes I go to an artist’s studio, like Aida Izadpanah, who has done a lot of work in abstract painting.  Because she’s an artist that works with porcelain and porcelain painting, we were able to come up with a fusion of the two works, little by little – sculptural paintings, as she calls them – and totally create a new body of work.  So, you see, it’s many different ways.  And I love this aspect of my curatorial job, which is very much in tune [with] the creative process.  

 

Tima: How much is social media helping you discover artists you never knew before?

Roya: Yes, social media has become very important, because, you know, not only…  Artists contact me on social media, and therefore I follow them on social media for a while until something really interesting catches my eye.  Or if I’m working on a show that is a group show with a thematic point of view, then I always search for something else – a new artist or something that I could fit into that – and that really works.  So it has been very great.  And sometimes [it goes] the other way.  You know, I follow artists myself on their Instagram for a while until I feel that I have the necessary platform to showcase their work, and then we start communicating.

Tima: That’s great.  Roya, I have a question.  Do you also work with non-Iranian artists as well?

Roya: I did work with some non-Iranian artists.  They were artists from Cuba.  I did a show called Iran X Cuba in 2016, where I showed the work of 11 Iranian artists and 11 Cuban artists.  Having travelled to Cuba twice, I felt that the conceptual idea behind the works of the artists from Cuba and Iran were very similar.  They had both gone through a major revolution.  They had both been the recipients of major sanctions for many, many years.  In terms of… also the ability to speak freely, you know, they were very similar in terms of that.  And they worked a lot with symbolism in their artwork – indirect messages.  Because of these sanctions […], the basic needs such as paints, canvases and stuff were so unavailable in Cuba that the artists have become extremely conceptual and very creative in their way of expressing themselves.  So when I went to Cuba and said, “I want to do a show with Iranian artists and Cuban artists,” they jumped at it.  They said, “we are so excited – nobody has ever done this before.”  And even though [they are] thousands of miles away and our cultures have nothing to do with [one] another, we have very similar pains and we have gone through similar experiences.  The show was outstanding, I thought.  So yes, I did work with Cuban artists. 

 

 

Tima: What is special about working with Iranian artworks and Iranian artists?

Roya:  Well, I mean, to begin with, we have a country with a very long history and a deeply-rooted artistic culture.  Visual, musical… This depth has a strong impact on the visual artists from Iran and the language of contemporary art in Iran.  I think as much as we want to call our art contemporary, we are deeply connected to our roots.  I think that’s what makes the work of Iranian artists interesting.  I mean, if Iranian artists were going to become copies of Western artists, there’d be no need for them to be.  That’s why I think the art world in Iran is so vibrant and exciting and it’s […] represented in so many different mediums – because of this rich culture and heritage of ours that needs to be, definitely, shown, even in contemporary art.

Josselyn: You talked about the cultural and political challenges that Iranian artists face.  In your opinion, how do you build a community for them so that they can freely express themselves without any judgement?

Roya: First of all, I give the whole credit to the Iranian artists themselves.  I think the Iranian artists have excellent training in Iran.  I mean, there are amazing art schools in Iran, and they really master their art academically due to exposure to master painters and mentors in Iran, [who] are still alive and active in the art scene.  So I think most of the credit goes to the artists in Iran themselves and their curiosity, their interest in learning and searching and finding new ways.  I think the access [to] the Internet has also been extremely helpful for artists, so they don’t live in a cocoon and are […] exposed to what happens in the West.  They are all aware of who has a show in which museums and who is the, you know, artist of the moment, who’s the sweetheart of the press, etc., etc… [laughs]  But they continue performing in their own way and staying true to their own art.  

What my role as a community builder is, is when I work with artists outside of Iran, I create a community so that they are supporting one another.  They all come to each other’s shows.  If somebody needs, for instance, let’s say, some creative stuff on a catalogue done, another one jumps in.  If somebody wants to ask an opinion on a painting, they can talk to another painter.  I put them together.  I bring them together.  I create ties.  Myself, I’m – I don’t know – old to them [laughs] because they are all at least 20 years younger.

Tima: I know that you’re doing this great job, putting all the Iranian artists together as a community and helping them, supporting them.  I’ve heard a lot.

Roya: I think the artists in the diaspora need that community a lot more because, as I said, the support of their family… Their families are not there, their friends from school and childhood and colleges are not around them.  So it’s really important to create an artistic community of the young artists in New York.  At least, I tried to do that.  But, as I said before, what makes them special is their own creative energy, their intellect, their talent, their curiosity, and their ability to communicate with symbolism and metaphor.  

You asked me how I am able to build this community so they can speak openly.  They speak openly, but the style has become embedded in their work to communicate with symbolism and metaphor, which to me is very attractive and sexy [laughs].  I don’t think everything needs to be said out in the open.  It leaves a lot to the imagination of the viewer.  That’s why, when I have exhibitions and non-Iranians visit, they are very much puzzled about what’s going on and they’re trying to decipher what the message [is].  And I think that’s really attractive.  We don’t want to hand everything on a silver platter to everyone.  I think the viewer needs to do a little bit of work.  

Josselyn: Yes, absolutely.  I think that’s the power of art [laughs].  So, how would you say diaspora has influenced the artwork that these artists produce?

Roya: I think they get a lot of energy from the cities that they live in.  A lot of their work becomes inspired by the city of New York, those of whom I work with.  For instance, Dana Nehdaran, who’s a great artist of mine.  He’s an amazing figurative painter and can do portraits in an hour.  Follow his Instagram – I think he has over 150 portraits.   He’s working on a project: a diary of portraits.  Every day, he paints someone new.  [Inspired] by the city of New York and the subway system, and the water damages done to the subway tiles and the walls in the subway, he created a whole new body of work called Fe26, which is related to Fe, the chemical symbol for iron.  A whole body of work that he did with iron powder.  These iron powders are then painted over and watered, so that the iron starts rusting and comes out of the paint.  It creates these images that are just phenomenal.  And then he treats them, sands them and so on and so forth, varnishes them… You know, I’m not going to give you all of his tricks of the trade [laughs].  But he created – for two to three years – a whole new body of work that was completely unrelated to what his original practice was, and was totally inspired by the city of New York.  So you can see this as an example.

 

 

[Editor’s Note: You can find Dana at @dananehdaran_studio]

Josselyn: Apart from New York, I know that you also work in Paris and London.  Do you think Iranian artists have to be represented on Euro-American platforms to be considered successful, or could they do the same in their home country?

Roya: I think that artists obviously need to be represented in their own countries, because I think it’s really important for an artist to have representation in their own land, you know?  It sort of puts a stamp of approval that this artist is recognised in their home.  I think it’s really important.  But I think that the challenges of Iranian artists due to the whole political and economic situation for the past 40 years has been underrepresentation, because bans on travel, visa issues, inflation and the devaluation of the Persian toman – that every month, every year goes down – have prevented artists [from] really becom[ing] major players in the international art world.  Not because they are not talented, not because they don’t have the ability to compete in the western hemisphere.  They haven’t been able to do so because of so many challenges and so many difficulties at every turn.  So underrepresentation is one of the major issues for Iranian artists, and I think that, for me, that’s the important thing to do.  That’s why I try to represent my artists, whether it’s at VOLTA London in London, Art Asia in Paris, or to participate in art fairs in San Francisco or Miami or New York.  It’s to bring the artwork of my artists into an area where other artists are showcased.  As you know, I mean, contemporary art is very international, and I don’t want my artists to be pigeonholed that they are from one part of the world, that they can be doing only one type of stuff.  Honestly, when their work is shown on an international platform, it blows people’s minds.  As I said, they are extremely well-trained.  They are very, very creative.  They are very serious about their art and very aware of what’s going on everywhere else.  Just because they don’t have the ability to participate in the global art market doesn’t mean that they are not present or aware.  It’s just [that], unfortunately, the economic and political situation with Iran has prevented them.  Otherwise, there would have been an explosion a lot earlier of Iranian art.  

Tima: Absolutely.  It’s a really unfair competition.  At Blue Rhino, we try to do the same.  We’re trying to create some kind of opportunity for underrepresented artists, unseen artists who don’t have any chances to present their artwork.  Yeah, you’re doing a great job.  

Roya:  Thank you [laughs].  I know that what’s challenging for Iranian artists is the inflation that is – basically, in the past five years, it’s tenfold.  The money of Iran has been devalued, like, ten times.  I remember when I was in Iran last time (I think in 2017), a dollar was 3000 toman.  Now it’s close to 30,000 toman.  So how do you price Iranian art?  

[Editor’s Note: Since this interview was recorded, the inflation rate has continued to rise even further.]  

Tima: That’s the main issue, always.

Roya: It’s a major challenge, because if you start to deal with Iranian artists internationally, pricing needs to be the same worldwide.  Because Iranian artists have not been able to show their work outside of Iran as often as possible and their market has become very much inside Iran, they cannot suddenly from one year to another or 2-3 years later quadruple their price point or make it ten times higher to meet inflation.

Tima: Yeah.

Roya: So that is an extremely difficult challenge that Iranians face.  Believe me, it’s not their talent or their ability.  [Laughs].  It’s just that economics and politics are playing with them.  Even when an artist comes – something as simple as spending the money they earned in Tehran in the US or London or Paris, in Euros or dollars, it just doesn’t go far.  

Another one of my challenges – not challenges, it’s a pleasure for me! – is to house the artists that come from abroad so they don’t have to go to a hotel and they don’t have to spend their money on these things, because it’s just  mind-boggling how expensive they are when translated to dollars…

Josselyn:  Yes, absolutely.  The fact that they face struggles both locally and internationally really makes it very difficult.  When you’re showcasing their artworks on international platforms, have you ever encountered buyers/viewers/art lovers who have a distorted perception of Middle Eastern art?  

Roya: Oh, absolutely.  That is one of the first questions: “Oh my God, we had no idea that Iranian artists were so good or they were capable of this and that!”  Unfortunately, that happened at the beginning of the Revolution.  There was a lot of art of women behind the veil: paintings, photography…  I’m not gonna name the artists, but that created such a cliche for Iranian artists in the market.  [It did] such a disservice, in my opinion, to this generation of artists.  That is why, then, the United States and the western press has milked the idea of “chadur art,” as I call it, to the point that for a long time, it kind of effaced what was happening in the art world of Iran.  It really served the purpose of western media, you know?  That, to me, was awful.  So, my first exhibition was to show 27 artists in so many different mediums (not one [piece of] chadur art!) to show that this is not what’s happening – this is what you want to show from our artists, not us.  

Tima: Yes.

Josselyn: That’s really powerful.  I think it’s very important to challenge Orientalism in the art world.  What do you think the role of art is in society?

Roya: Well, I think the role of art is to educate and facilitate dialogues.  It is to bring humanity and empathy to the world.  I think it’s to bring people together, because the artists of the world are gentle souls who have beautiful messages to give that are often related to the human condition.  Whether they’re Iranian or Israeli, American or French, they are very much affected by what is happening in the world, and I think that it’s very important for art to be spread as much as possible – more than it currently is.  

Unfortunately, there’s this conception that art is very elitist and that it’s accessible only to a certain echelon of people, but I think it’s very important to start education in art very young, in elementary and high schools, so that more people are naturally drawn to art.  I always give the example of music and art.  Music is so widespread.  Everybody is listening to their own genre of music on their headphones, everywhere.  They can connect and be together through music.  Why not art?  My hope is that one day, art is going to be as accessible as music.  Believe me, on that day, we will have a better world.  

Josselyn: Yes, that’s amazing.  Do you think art has the agency to change society?  Because you talked about this vision of art changing the world and being something that would be popularised.  

Roya: Yes, I definitely do.  I think it’s right on.  As my friend Maryam Eisler so eloquently said: “Art […] [is] the best form of soft power, and where politics often fails, art has the ability to win, through open dialogue and broadening of minds, leading to tolerance and acceptance.”  

Understanding and empathy: that is the role of art.  People forget about the most important role of art, because everybody’s so preoccupied by who sold for how much in which auction and what fair, and whatever – how many millions the ten top white male artists in the world and the ten top white male gallerists in the world have made – that we lose the perspective of why art is here… Why art is so important.  It’s not just about who sells and how much money they make.  It’s about how they soften the world, how they communicate.  The sheer talent of these artists is few and far between.  It;s so special.  They create this connection.

“Art […] [is] the best form of soft power, and where politics often fails, art has the ability to win, through open dialogue and broadening of minds, leading to tolerance and acceptance.” Maryam Eisler.

Josselyn: How do you think the art world can better support these underrepresented emerging artists?

Roya: I think that the most important thing for an emerging artist is to be able to show their work, which is not possible unless they have support from a gallery, institution, curator, or some kind of project, like mine.  I really think that more and more people should concentrate on representing underrepresented artists, not just going after artists with major names, who are often spoken about and have often been represented in the media, in the news and so on and so forth.  I think the most important way for them to be noticed is through the work of institutional curators.   I’m talking about foundations and museums.  I always say, “Get off your chairs and go visit artists in their studios!”  Because you will not learn unless you see.  Unfortunately, they are so busy.  You know, after COVID, so many jobs of these curators have been expanded to more areas of responsibility.  It’s very difficult for them to have the time and opportunity to do this.  But I say that to support emerging artists, we need to spend more time funding and supporting the great art foundations worldwide that give the opportunity for artists to do art residencies, give them stipends to come abroad, live [there] for a few months, do work, exhibit… It all starts with patrons of the arts who have the vision and the financial ability to pick these artists up, show their work, and make sure the world sees their work.  

Josselyn: Totally.  Do you think the Middle Eastern art scene has improved because of the efforts of the art world since you began your career?  

Roya: Yes, I think the Middle Eastern art scene has improved tremendously since I started… I wouldn’t say ‘since I started.’  I would say, since 2005-2006 – since Christie’s and Sotheby’s started their Middle Eastern auctions in Dubai.  Do you remember?  When all the United Arab Emirates started having their major museums built, they started buying tremendous [amounts] of art from the Middle East, Iran being probably the most important Middle Eastern country that has a major history of art.  That’s when I would say that art from the Middle East, especially Iran, became very vibrant again.  The prices started rising, especially for modernists in Iran: people like Zenderoudi, Tanavoli, Ehsai, and those guys.  And then, that trickled down to younger artists in the contemporary field.  I must say that the visionaries, the gallerists that started representing works by artists from Iran – like Leila Heller, like [inaudible, possibly Sawsan Al Bahar] in Dubai, Dastan’s Basement in Tehran, galerie nicolas flamel in Paris, Taymour Grahne in London – have supported artists, I would say, starting 15 years ago, and started to bring the works of these artists to art fairs and show their works so that they would become more visible.  

There are great foundations, such as the Farhang Foundation in Los Angeles, which has supported the art and culture of Iran and supports major exhibitions.  Curators are encouraged to participate in a curatorial competition, and then the work of the curator who wins, the artists are presented.  All of these are very positive.  There are also patrons who are part of Middle Eastern communities at large museums, like the Guggenheim, the Metropolitan Museum, at LACMA, at Hirschhorn, at Tate Modern – I don’t want to name them! – and people who have major personal collections, like Mohammad Afkhami, whose exhibition of personal collections is at the Asia Society right now until the end of the month [August 2022] and has travelled from Canada to here.  

 

 

There have been many exhibitions from great artists in Iran in the last 5-6 years: at the Guggenheim with Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, at LACMA, at Met Breuer, at Asia Society, Aga Khan Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum.  So nothing makes me happier than seeing this vibrancy and excitement and people jumping on the bandwagon, trusting artists from Iran and realising what great work they’re doing.  It’s very, very important.  

Josselyn: I think it would be very encouraging for the artists as well.  Can you tell us a bit about your upcoming projects? Maybe the next step in your career? 

Roya: Yes, upcoming projects…  We just finished a phenomenal show with Zeynab Movahed’s paintings in New York.  My next art project is to represent 5 Iranian artists at VOLTA art fair in New York.  Then we go into the solo show of Maryam Khosrovani, which I mentioned briefly before on Persian Gardens, called Chabar Bagh.  Then I will be participating in Asia Now Paris with other Iranian artists I represent, and then Miami Untitled.  That basically locks this 2022 year [laughs].  Hopefully next year, onto bigger and better things!  I’ve been working on creating an art residency and transforming the shed on my property in Connecticut into 2 artist studios and an apartment for the artist to live upstairs, to come live there for a couple of months in the spring and work on a project that would later be exhibited.  The apartment and the artist studios are done.  I just have to get a permit from the city for water lines and things like that, so that it can be a fully-functioning studio.  So, that would be my project.  

Tima: That sounds great!

 

 

Josselyn: Do you have any advice for young Iranian artists or young curators?  

Roya: For art curators: Get off your desk and go visit!  [Laughs] COVID is over.  Even during COVID, you could have done studio visits and seen artists over Zoom, like we all did.  That’s my message for them.  

For Iranian artists: You’ve got to learn English.  Master the language!  The international world of art is in English.  The Internet’s language is English.  Nobody can present you better than yourself, so if you are not able to speak the language of the art [world], then you’re behind.  My number one advice to them is: Please make sure your English improves and that you can openly and comfortably speak about your art.  And not to be afraid.  Artistically, as I said, they are extremely strong, they are totally with it, they are intellectually there, they are completely aware of what’s going on in the world.  Keep doing the work that they’re doing.  Just [laughs] improve your English!  

Tima:  That’s great. […] Roya-joon, do you want to share anything we haven’t asked?  

Roya: I think you’ve set me a very broad and wonderful set of, maybe, 15-16 questions that we’ve been able to go through.  The only thing I think we didn’t answer is: What was my role on the steering committee of Iran Modern at the Asia Society?

My role in that… We had 2 fantastic curators, Fereshteh Daftari and Layla Diba, and they both did a fantastic job.  My job was basically – and a few other people on the committee – was to bring the community of Iranian people, the diaspora in New York City, especially, together to support this exhibition financially, and to make sure people attended the gala, that we have a lot of people attending the exhibition, that the book created by Melissa Chiu on the exhibition was sold and reprinted… This type of role. 

 

 

Josselyn: Thank you.  We have some questions from the audience.  Someone asked, “Are you interested in hosting art performances or community art projects?”

Roya:  Absolutely.  Actually, 2 of my artists, the twins – the Safarani Sisters – are also performance artists, and they have recently had a solo exhibition at the Morris Museum in New Jersey.  They did have a wonderful performance there.  Yes, we do support that.  Actually, at Asia Now (the art fair in Paris), one of the questions was whether they would be open to doing a performance there.  

Josselyn: We have a second question.  “Are you going to be at Photo London, the photography art fair?”

Roya: No, because it’s at the same time as my brother’s wedding [laughs].  And it’s right before the New York VOLTA and Frieze fairs, so I couldn’t be in both places at the same time.  But I would definitely do the following year, because Photo London was extremely positive for me and my artists.  Not only did they get a lot of press, they also sold very well and they were exposed to many new lovers of Iranian art.  

Josselyn: Final question: “Is there any opportunity for a curatorial internship?” 

Roya: There is not an opportunity for curatorial, because I basically curate myself, but I’ve had interns who have helped me in my office and prepared a lot of the background, a lot of the legwork that goes into curating our shows.  So, they definitely get part of the curatorial experience working together.  Basically, I don’t have a big office.  We’re all sitting next to each other and going everywhere attached at the hip.  But there are curatorial internships in New York City and abroad that they could apply for, and I would be happy to give them a list.  

Tima: We have a position for anyone interested in a remote curatorial internship. If you are interested, you can get in touch!  

Roya: Magic of Persia in London, led by a good friend of mine, is also a great platform that supports young Iranian artists, whether in curatorial, exhibitions, auctions, whatever.  They can definitely help through there.  And the Farhang Foundation in Los Angeles is another one.  

[…] 

Tima: There is someone who asked about “showcasing my sister’s artwork in your gallery.”  It’s quite hard for someone who hasn’t seen the artwork to reply to that!

Roya: Contact me directly!

Tima: It depends, of course.  There’s a whole process of checking the bio, the artwork, the portfolio… It’s not a case of replying, “Yes, I can,” or “No, I’m not interested.”  It’s quite hard.  Message Roya-joon and you can get a better response!

Roya: I get this message a lot, from people inside and outside of Iran.  “I have a fabulous cousin who’s a great artist,” or “a sister who’s a great artist.”  OK then, your fabulous cousin or your sister should contact me directly, not you!  The first step needs to come from the artist themselves, if they are interested in doing something more international.  They can’t be pushed by someone else.  

Tima: I get the same message every other day.  “I knoe someone who’s really talented and wants to be on your platform.”  Why doesn’t he contact me?  Reach out!  “No, he’s shy.  He cannot introduce himself.”  No.  If someone doesn’t want to stand up, you cannot force him or her to present their artworks.  They need to do it by themselves.  

Roya: Absolutely.  There are more than just artistic abilities.  For an artist to be successful, they need to be able to present their work very well.  They need to be able to handle marketing, interviews, press packages, things like that.  The days when an artist could stay in the background and the gallery or somebody else did everything else are over, I think.  With so much work being done on social media directly from the artist themselves, those who have that ability definitely benefit.  

Tima: Great, thank you so much!

Roya: Thank you for having me.  Contact me on Instagram, please, on @royakhadjaviprojects.