EM: <\/strong>My name\nis Elham\nMovafagh. I live in Tehran, the capital city of Iran. From my early childhood, I loved painting. I mostly used pen &\npastel and later in my teenage years had painted a few of oil paintings.\nHowever, my love for art was affected by the requirements in my high school,\nNODET, (National Organization for Development of Exceptional Talents). The most\nimportant role you should have in this school was to be best at mathematics and\nscience, while\nart was not being valued equally. I had to give up art, chess and\nmusic. I remember, feeling extremely disappointed, depressed and stopped\npainting. Years later when I fell in love for the first time I started painting\nagain to express my feelings. White canvas help me feel relaxed and peaceful, I\nlove to\ncreate things of my own. I have a BA in architecture and now I am in the\nprocess of getting my master degree. \nProfessionally as an architect , lm working for international company\nwhere I design interior spaces. <\/p>\n\n\n\n NY Glam: What projects are you currently working on? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n EM: <\/strong>I am working on a new painting; it is a reflection of my adventures and\na map art. It is a larger painting than I usually paint \u2013 seven square meters. The idea of\nthis painting is to show\nthe world\u2019s diversity presenting different countries and their cultures. The\npaining will include my dairy in Farsi, the language of my\nancestors, and English, as an international language. <\/p>\n\n\n\n NY Glam: What art do you most\nidentify with? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n EM: <\/strong>Painting\nand photography using different materials, especially mirrors. I like to capture\nnature and architecture. For me photography is about making a moment immortal.\nI believe when you take a photo and share it with the world, it may seem just\nas any other photo of this place, but, it is not \u2013 everything is changing in a seconds, the\nworld is transient and being able to capture a blink of eternity is what art is\nto me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n NY Glam: What themes do you\npursue? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n EM: <\/strong>I call\nmy themes \u201cEllish\u201d because they are a mixture of different themes that have\nbeen filtered through my mind and because they mirror my personal style. I am\nnot following any specific themes. I use modern art, abstract, expressionism,\nsymbolism and decoration and the techniques I use are mono print, linoleum\nprint, collage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n NY Glam: What\u2019s your favorite\nart work?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n EM: <\/strong>I admire Jackson Pollok\u2019s paintings for his unique talent to show that art is formless yet, has special patterns, which not everybody can see. I like the mystery of his forms! My favorite is his early years painting \u201cMural.\u201d His ability to create so many layers with unique color combinations fascinate me. I also like Persian artists, especially, Monir Farmanfarmaian who worked with mirrors creating unique art pieces. I like traditional handmade woven carpets art by Nazgol Ansarinia. The \u201cRhyme & Reason\u201d capturing the beauty of people\u2019s casual life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n NY Glam: Tells us about some\nof your recent exhibitions. What memorable responses have you had to your work?\n<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n EM: <\/strong> Honestly, up until now have only shown my art\nto my friends and family, it was no\nexhibitions.. I\u2019m very exited because my\npainting \u201cValinor\u201d became part of group exhibition named \u201cLove\u201d, at the Zarna Art Gallery in Tehran . The\nexecution was opened on 02 Aug 2019 and\nthe closing day will be on 07 Aug 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The most memorable response\nis, \u201cI love the raw look of your art.\u201d \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n NY Glam: Tell us about one of\nyour projects, which you are very proud of. <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n EM: <\/strong>I think\nit may change as I paint more, but right now, it\u2019s \u201cMy\nadventures.\u201d My self-portrait with my precious collection of museums, metro,\nflight tickets, coins and many other little things that I wanted to preserve\nnot just in my memory, but to share it with the world. When you look at this\npainting, you can see through my art the countries\nI visited: Italy, France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Belgium,\nSerbia, Turkey, Russia, United Arab Emirates, China. This\npainting is not completed, I am hoping to visit New York some day and add the\nticket to the Empire State Building,\nStatue of Liberty and Broadway show.<\/p>\n\n\n\n NY Glam: What does \u201cbeing\ncreative\u201d mean to you? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n EM: <\/strong>The\nability to develop not to be shy of different\nideas and to create, using\nunusual materials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n NY Glam: What are you trying to\ncommunicate with your art?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n EM: <\/strong>I think,\nlike all artists, I am trying to express what\nmoves me, what feels important to me. Like showing different cultures and a\npeaceful world . I use many different materials such as mirrors, newspapers,\noil watercolor, and metals, to reach a point of harmony in their combination. I\u2019d like to believe, that when people can see\na reflection of themselves in the mirrors embedded in my paintings, they can\nsee themselves in the world and see the world through their own imagination.\nOne of my latest painting I call \u201cBlack gold.\u201d It\u2019s\nabout war for power over oil and how it\u2019s affecting regular people. I may sound\ntrivial, but I would like to believe that my art could help people see the\nsimple idea that peace is universal and precious no matter where we from and\nwhat our position in society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n NY Glam: What role does the Artist\nhave in Society? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n EM: <\/strong>Not to\nbe concerned of consequences or approval but also finding strength in\nthemselves to show the truth and to inspire people. I believe true artist can\nencourage trust, love, respect and peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n NY Glam: What are your thoughts on being an artist in today\u2019s world?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a0EM: <\/strong>I believe, the world of art is timeless and above judgment, it is also a hard work and soul of the painter. As an artist born and raised in Iran, I am eager to live in a peaceful world. I believe art could play a crucial role in bringing different cultures to understanding and accepting each other and to finding peaceful solutions in conflicts. The world facing bigger problem – the global warming and all the countries have to come together make peace and find solution how to save our beautiful planet. I sound trivial again but\u201d I\u2019m not the only one \u201c the dreamer and so many people from all over the world have similar thoughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n NY Glam: How has painting influenced\nyour life? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n EM: <\/strong>A few\nyears ago after I started painting\nconstantly, I realized that I can express my thoughts and emotions in my\npaintings and relieve myself, painting\nmakes me see everything in life differently. All my uprising and schooling was\nto put my mind in a frame of what is accepted and expected in my society, to\ndiscipline and suppress my spirit. When I am painting, especially, abstract \u2013\nthe walls of those frames fall, I feel unbounded,\nformless and free. <\/p>\n\n\n\n NY\nGlam: What art movement or artist would you say influences your work most<\/strong>?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n EM: <\/strong>It is hard to name a specific one, many artists\ninfluenced me deeply but the one I was always fascinated with was Leonardo da\nVinci. I was a teen when I read a fiction book called \u201cThe da Vinci Code.\u201d It\ninspired me to study Da Vinci\u2019s life, he was a genius: as a painter, as an architect and engineer. I spent much time watching and studying\nhis work. He is the reason I became an architect. I traveled to Milan only to\nsee his painting \u201cThe Last Supper.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n NY Glam: What can we expect from you this year?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n EM: <\/strong>I have some new ideas, but all in its time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n NY Glam: Can you share with us three favorite things about your city\/culture?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n EM: <\/strong>Tehran is the place I was born and my hometown, the capital city of\nPersia (now Iran) \u2013 it is a place full of ancient culture. The city walls were built in 1553, then in1786 it has become the capital\nof Qajary Persia. The old town of Tehran with lots of traditional bakeries is\nmy favorite place. The bread is served hot from the old-style stone ovens. I\nlove the smell and the taste! Tehran is surrounded by the mountains, I love to watch them from our\nrooftop at the sunsets, or on a rainy day \u2013 the rain washes away the air pollution and you can\nsee the mountains in their full might and beauty with all the different colors,\nwith their white peaks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I love the historical center of\nTehran on weekends and its traditionally quiet Fridays, in a contrast to overcrowded\nweekdays. I walk on narrow old-fashioned streets, enjoying the silence and sensing the\nold town\u2019s authenticity. When I go to Old city center during the week I like to\nvisit the Grand Bazar, which is at least 400 year old and is a city within a city \u2013 one of the most amazing places I\u2019ve ever\nseen. I love its architecture its vanity its rich colors and laud noises its\nsmells and its atmosphere of an everlasting festivity. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Exclusive Interview with Elham Movafagh-Painter NY Glam: Tell us a little about yourself and your career beginnings. EM: My name is Elham Movafagh. I live in Tehran, the capital city of Iran. From my early childhood, I loved painting. I mostly used pen & pastel and later in my teenage years had painted a few […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7740,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7739"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19357,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7739\/revisions\/19357"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"http:\/\/nyglamour.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Inverted-World-1024x683.jpg\")
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