TEHRAN – An exhibition of paintings by Iranian artists entitled “Reflections of Spain” (“Reflejos de España”) is currently underway at the Iranian Artists Forum (IAF) in Tehran.

The exhibit opened on Thursday during a special ceremony attended by IAF director Mohammad-Mehdi Asgarpur, Spanish Ambassador Angel Losada Fernandez and a number of foreign diplomats and Iranian artists.

Hamid Pazuki is the curator of the exhibition, which is displaying works by 18 artists representing their ideas about Spain.

Among the artists are Ehsan Azari, Razieh Iranpur, Parisima Bahrami, Vahid Beikverdi, Mahnaz Hassanpur, Nushin Khodadadi, Kasra Sharifi-Monfared, Golbarg Shabani and Yasna Askari.

The exhibition, which will run until May 15, also showcases works by Mehdi Alainejad, Shirin Ghaffari, Farzad Qazi-Zahedi, Maral Qandili, Mahziar Kabiri, Bahareh Mollapur, Alireza Nekui, Niusha Niujpur and Payam Yasini.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, IAF director Asgarpur expressed his thanks to Losada Fernandez for his contributions to the event.

“Opening a window to a dialogue among civilizations in the language of art is perhaps the best and sole way to keep the peace in the world,” Asgarpur
 
“As an NGO, the Iranian Artists Forum has always done its best since its establishment to host unique cultural events and today, we are organizing an amazing exhibit that represents ideas of a number of Iranian artists about Spain, a beautiful and lovely country, which has some of the most perfect sunsets in the world,” he added.

In his short speech, Losada Fernandez also elaborated on his aim to organize the exhibition. He said that he would like to present his country during his diplomatic missions and he believes that art is the best medium of introduction.   

He noted that organizing art events in other countries improves mutual understanding among different cultures.

Losada Fernandez said that the word “reflections” has purposely been selected for the exhibition and added that reflections help the images be better seen.

Accordingly, in collaboration with the IAF, the Embassy of Spain called on a number of Iranian artists to “reflect” their perception of Spain in their paintings.

He said that when we know people’s perceptions of us, we can better communicate with them.

He asked art aficionados to visit the exhibition in order to know how the Iranian artists see Spain. 

Photo: Spanish Ambassador Angel Losada Fernandez and IAF director Mohammad-Mehdi Asgarpur visit the exhibition “Reflections of Spain” at the Iranian Artists Forum in Tehran on May 4, 2023. (IAF/Leila Ebrahimi)

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