Advocartsy Presents “Art Brief: Iranian Contemporary Los Angeles” at Arena 1

Southern California is home to largest Iranian community outside of Iran, and this weekend the debut exhibition of ADVOCARTSY, “ArtBrief: Iranian Contemporary Los Angeles,” provides a concentrated opportunity to introduce local artists of Iranian heritage to the Iranian community of the region and to the art community of Los Angeles.

Co-curated by ADVOCARTSY founder Roshi Rahnama and internationally known curator and art critic Peter Frank, “ArtBrief: Iranian Contemporary Los Angeles” showcases a select group of Iranian and Iranian-American artists currently active in Southern California. “ArtBrief: Iranian Contemporary Los Angeles” demonstrates the breadth of expression and meaning characterizing the art of Iranian-American artists, while building building bridges across communities.

Opening Thursday, December 10th at Arena 1 Gallery in Santa Monica with a VIP reception, “ArtBrief: Iranian Contemporary Los Angeles” features twelve artists whose works include photography, painting and sculpture, mixed-and multi-media. “ArtBrief: Iranian Contemporary Los Angeles” runs Friday December 11 through Sunday, December 13 with a Sunday afternoon art discussion at 3pm. Moderated by Roshi Rahnama and Peter Frank, a group of panelists selected from Art Brief artists and local art innovators and supporters will elaborate on how their Iranian roots have impacted their artistic expression, why this expression is of importance to the Los Angeles community, and how the community can best engage and support this endeavor.

Roshi Rahnama founded ADVOCARTSY as a collaborative visual arts platform to interconnect and raise awareness within the community and the fine arts industry, with a focus on works by Iranian and Middle Eastern artists.(In addition to showcasing works by ADVOCARTSY artists, in the spirit of ADVOCARTSY’s mission of collaboration, “Art Brief: Iranian Contemporary Los Angeles” will also showcase artists represented by the following platforms: Ayyam Gallery, Dubai; Abra Gallery, Westlake Village; and Seyhoun Gallery, Los Angeles). ADVOCARTSY works directly with artists and clients, bringing the makers of art closer to its patrons. It also produces art events and exhibitions, cooperating with curators of diverse specialties as well as with international galleries. These shows and events are designed not simply to give artists a new and different platform, but to elevate community awareness of and engagement with visual arts.

“ArtBrief: Iranian Contemporary Los Angeles” artists:

Hessam Abrishami is an Iranian-born painter with over four decades of international contemporary art exhibition experience. Hessam has been praised as a storyteller and moralist as well as a colorist. His personally refined master pallet is used whether present or absent to advocate for peace or against tyranny.

Homeira Aframian is a German-born Iranian-American artist residing in Los Angeles. In her recent works, Homeira studies the human form with a personal intrigue that is genuine and passionate. Homeira’s artistic output is blessed with a vibrant appeal that veers from the expected traditions of the genre in its depth, originality, and unique application.

Fariba Ameri is an Iranian artist with a multi-cultural background living and working in Los Angeles. Fariba’s work is a forthright representation of her own personal longings. Utilizing a variety of textures and colors in mixed media, Fariba’s unique collage-like style explores the chaos and creation of the human experience as a path to balance and freedom.

Bruce Dadpour is an Iranian photographer currently living and working in Irvine. Bruce documents sites of exquisite architectural heritage with a fresh eye in order to explore how they are experienced and inhabited today, consciously framing the natural elements of the scene at hand to organically capture the mood of his subjects.

Babak Emanuel is an Iranian-born American artist currently living and working in Los Angeles. With over twenty years of exhibition history, Babak finds himself deeply engaged with a variety of media in his career, from large-scale painting and printmaking to photography and installation arts. He wants viewers to find their own personal narratives within his work.

Farzad Kohan is a multimedia artist born in Tehran, Iran, and currently living and working in Los Angeles. Farzad often samples contrasting elements in his work to consciously explore themes of love, migration, identity, passage of time, and transformation. Beneath each weathered surface lies a single hidden narrative, resulting in a finished piece that is simultaneously chaotic and methodical.

Marjam Oskoui is a transmedia fine artist working and living in Los Angeles. Born in Germany and raised in Iran until her family’s exile in 1973, Marjam’s artistic work currently explores the intersection of cultural myth with the perception of the reality inhabited, communicating across media to form a basis of understanding.

Michael Radvand is a celebrated Iranian artist of diverse expression. Since his artistic debut in the 1970s, Michael has participated in over thirty exhibitions in Iran, Europe, and the United States.

Hadi Salehi is an Iranian photographer and fine artist who has been studying and creating art since 1987. In his work, Hadi sources various layers of mixed media, such as rice paper, letters, analog film, and writing, piecing together their broken narratives and creating a single, two-dimensional image collaboration to tell a story.

Rebecca Setareh is a Southern California artist who has been featured in numerous national exhibitions. Rebecca has garnered international attention for her talents, most recently receiving praise for her unique, graceful integration of rock and bronze. Rebecca creates an aesthetically whole form from inherently contrasting materials in a creative process that represents the struggle of life itself.

Shilla Shakoori is a contemporary artist from Tehran, Iran, currently based in Los Angeles and Chicago. Shilla’s artistic output springs from an exploration of the synthesis between native and adopted cultures. Despite the inherently conflicting nature of her artistic juxtapositions, Shakoori expresses herself in a harmonious and balanced manner that is ultimately mystical.

Kamran Sharif was born in born in Tabriz, Iran, in 1978. With multiple solo exhibitions worldwide, Kamran’s work is internationally appraised. His works have been exhibited at numerous galleries, and he is a vibrant contributing member of the Los Angeles artist community.

Top: Enriching Cycle of Life,  Shilla Shakoori

Booceh, Hadi Salehi

River of Eden,  Fariba Ameri