Khosrow Hassanzadeh - I ran
Nationality
: Iranian.
Date of Birth
: 1963, Tehran.
I am truly delighted for being invited to exhibit a series of paintings on the threemost sacred holy sites of Muslims in the world: Makkah, Madinah and Al-Aqsa Mosque. I am intimately familiar with, deeply inspired by and personally drawn to this topic. I grew up in a family where one’s greatest hopes and aspirations, and highest honors, were to make the pilgrimage to Makkah and Madinah. And visiting Jerusalem is considered a dream yet to be materialized. My immediate family and all other Iranians living in our surroundings have always revered this house of God. They have held in high esteem not only the house of God but also all other sacred places in Islam. I have done several paintings on the theme of Makkah. When working on these paintings, I used only white and gold colors.White represents peace and freedom while gold denotes holiness and sanctity. I used only these two colors in all my works on Makkah, Madinah and Al-Aqsa Mosque in order to project the most pure and sacred concepts of Islam and the holy sites themselves. For me, the culture of Makkah, the performance of Haj and visit of the holy places represent the concepts of freeing oneself from the chains and limitations of unjust and impure behavior, thought and intention. Those who make the pilgrimage wear a garment of simple, white fabric. This for me symbolizes the humbleness we feel in face of the greatness of God. Furthermore, the simplicity and purity of these garments that we wear during the Haj remind us that we, as human beings, are linked with one another in the most basic and profound ways irrespective of power, wealth or titles. I completed the project on the holy Islamic sites at a time when the West had first launched its most prolific media attack against Muslim countries, labeling them as war-mongering and hostile nations. In reaction to this, I intentionally placed an emphasis on the use of the color white to highlight the fundamental concepts of peace and freedom that are the hallmarks of Islam. It is only in my works of Madinah that I used a color other than white and gold. In the portrait of Madinah I added the color green, which represents a life devoted to God. The use of these three colors allowed me to capture the simple beauty, grace and splendor of Madinah. The combination of my series on these three holy sites, and the use of the purest of colors are to signify that at their roots, Islam and Muslims as well as the holy sites themselves represent nothing other than the most beautiful and honorable of human endeavors: peace, serenity, freedom, equality, justice, perseverance, devotion, and humbleness. And in the end, these pursuits are the only ones capable and worthy of bringing us closer to the truth that is God.
: • Studied painting at Mojtama-e-Honar University (1989 – 1991) and Persian Literature at Azad University (1995 – 1999), Tahran. • Works as an actor and visual artist in Tehran. : • Many solo exhibitions in most Arab and non-Arab countries. • British Museum, London. • Iranian Contemporary Art, Christie’s, London. • 1st and 2nd Exhibition of Iranian Conceptual Art, Tehran. • West through East, Barcelona. • 1st Benali of Contemporary Iranian Painting. • International Bank, Washington D.C.
Education
Exhibitions
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