Selected Artist - ShowPOD Chicago - September 2015

Pilsen is known as one of the most artistic neighborhoods in Chicago. Every 2nd Friday of the month, Pilsen artists open their studio doors to public to showcase their art. Most of the buildings in Pilsen are owned and managed by Podmajersky who have been doing an amazing job in terms of promoting the artists in their area. One of the events they manage is  showPODs which are a series of 7 exhibition spaces, compact, dynamic, unmanned, and designed to support concepts of art experimentation and installation. Conceptualized by John Podmajersky III, and created by the Chicago Arts District, showPODs create an instant art experience in the non-traditional space and format of a high exposure art installation operating around the clock. showPOD, by design, can be viewed by anyone at anytime during the life of its installation, allowing a rich public art experience that breaks down the traditional limits of a gallery space or museum.

I'm honored to be selected as one of the artists for ShowPOD in the month of September 2015. The aim of my installation is going to be a cultural exchange, to share a part of Iranian Culture which is colorful, poetic and mystic. I will be sharing more updates and images soon. At this stage I'm finalizing the sketches for all the windows.  This is an ambitious and challenging project yet very exciting and I can not be more grateful to be selected as one of the artists to show during 2015.

Below images are only few of the windows for the installations. Stay tuned for more images and for the progress on the project.

Art in Melbourne - Visit of The NGV

My last visit to Australia was short and sweet. Although the main reason was to spend some quality time with family, I could not resist going to view some art in Melbourne with my mom. National Gallery of Victoria is located in Melbourne - mostly known as the NGC - is an art museum founded in 1861 and is considered the oldest public art museum in Australia. The museum operates across two sites right opposite of each other: NGV International which is locate don St Kilda road in the heart of the Melbounr Art Precinct of Southbank and The Ian Potter Center which is located nearby Federation Square. I personally enjoyed both locations but if this is your first time in Melbourne you need to spend some time in Federation Square itself. It's just surrounded by amazing architectural designs and nice cafes. Within all the artworks I saw at the NGV, the one that really caught our attention was the interesting work by a Brazilian Artist, Rivane Neuenschwander's Watchword dated back to 2012. It invites audiences to select different clothing labels that feathers words adapted from handmade protest banners and slogans found on the intervened and pin them into an abstracted map of the world. The artist intends that the choice of words and how they are re-formed and re-enter the world, will manifest the audience's values and hopes.

I just love it when the artists try to interact with their audience through their art. This is how artists can send a powerful message to the world and truly share their art and thoughts.