TEHRAN – The director of Shokuh Gallery, a major art gallery in Tehran, has said that the lack of communication between people and art aficionados impacting the art community following the outbreak of coronavirus has caused the artists to lose motivation and feel depressed.

“Our type of work is closely connected with people and if this communication does not exist, the artists and the gallery owners will feel depressed,” Behnush Forutan told the Persian service of Honaronline on Tuesday.

“Artists can work in isolation for a while, however, they need to display their artworks and hear the responses and see the feedback, or else they will lose motivation,” she noted.

She added that the galleries and the art centers need to continue their activities because if the art does not exist in society, people will lose their high spirits. 

“Holding exhibitions during the coronavirus pandemic is very hard. We need to observe all the health protocols. We ask the visitors to disinfect their shoes before they enter the gallery, and next we provide them with face masks and disinfectant solutions, while we also try to observe social distancing,” she said.

She added, “The artists who are well known can sell their artworks most any way, and do not need to hold exhibits, but new talents and young artists need to be introduced, and this has been very hard these days. Holding solo exhibits helps introduce these young talents where they can find opportunities to sell artworks. However, the artist themselves also show no interest because there is no guarantee there will be visitors at the gallery.”

“During this deep recession facing the country, only a few can be found to purchase artworks, and even some of the private collectors decided to sell their collections to make a living. As a result, young artists cannot count on selling their artworks these days,” she lamented.

The gallery is currently playing host to a group exhibition by the Sakoo Art School in Tehran.

The exhibit will continue until July 14 at the gallery located at 19 Amir Nuri Alley, North Salimi St. near Andarzgu Blvd.

Photo: Paintings by a group of artists are view in an exhibition at Shokuh Gallery on December 7, 2019. (Honaronline/Amir-Hossein Khalili) 

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