Recently, NPR ran a story about an Iranian art exhibit that debuted at the Crewest Gallery in Los Angeles, California. I find it interesting to see how the recent turmoil in Iran affects the artists of the country.
In the interview, curator Shervin Shahbazi speaks of the many pieces that should have made it to the exhibition but where stopped by Iranian customs agents. And most were held because they contained the color green and/or other political statements about the current regime in Iran.
Green happens to be the color of the opposition party that was lead by presidential hopeful Mir-Hossein Mousavi in the heavily debated election of 2009. This election lead to rioting in the streets of Tehran and conspiracies that the election was rigged by the ruling party. So it goes with out saying why the Iranian government would have a problem with the world at large getting their hands on these pieces.
The censorship of Iran is so strong, that none of the artists where able to even give their real names out of fear of retaliation by the government.
But despite the difficulties presented to these artists, many of their works still made it to LA, and are being snatched up at a very fast pace.
All images provided by the Crewest Gallery’s Flickr Page
Scream-FRZ
