Honarmand Newspaper
Monday. July 16, 2018
11th Year. Edition No.946. Page No.3
Diba ADIB, Painter Artist in Conversation with the Honarmand
Virtual Exhibition is the Future of Art to Come
July 16th 2018
Art and artist, painting and gallery, young and dynamic.
Whenever we encounter one of these words, sometimes unconsciously, the word of the same row shines in our minds. But what is the reason for this mental association?
Can anyone who has worked in the area of arts be called an artist? Are also all those who have studied in the arts, an artist on the strength of their academic degrees?
Can it be said that all the works displayed in the galleries are valuable works and considered as an art?
What position do young artists have in art world? Have they stood at the end of a long queue from the past, or have they been able to break the queue to create and experience new ideas and new ways?
These are all questions that we, artists and/or visual arts enthusiasts, sometimes come up with. But now, with the possibility of having a conversation with the young artist and painter, Ms. Diba Adib, on the pretext of setting up a virtual exhibition of paintings, it is good to come along with this painter who has more than two decades of study and activities in the fields of graphic, handicrafts and painting, to deal with the flow of arts and visual arts, and especially painting with a look of the new generation.
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– Ms. Adib, what is your view on the importance of choosing the academic path to success in art professions?
It can be said that the academic path leads you to get in touch with and connect to the academic community directly, that its mission is to educate its citizens. In fact, being a fellow traveller with people who have common goals with you, makes moving in any direction more useful and worthwhile. The path that can guide you through the experience and a deep understanding of this journey with the help of its leaders. However, all people who have gone to universities cannot necessarily be known as informed and successful people. The purpose of some people to choose the academic path is merely to receive a degree. While a degree is the least something that is important in the art for the knowledgeable people. If we consider the term education as obtaining, gaining and learning, we will find that the academic path is not the only way to obtain knowledge. Interested people can study arts even outside the art universities. For this group, this route may be harder and longer, but the fact is that even all professional artists have always been studying and growing until the end of their artistic career.
Of course, it can be argued that sometimes you cannot find your favorite field at universities, so the only choice is attending courses and free workshops. For instance, gaining experience in the field of Art Therapy, which is a broad and interdisciplinary knowledge, was only possible for me through participation in the independent workshop under the supervision of the Shahid Beheshti University. So, undoubtedly, this fact should be followed by the fact that our universities have not yet been able to cover all disciplines and artistic branches.
– Considering that, your academic studies were in graphics and handicrafts, do you think this common belief is correct that educated people in the field of painting are more successful in this profession?
It should be taken into consideration that all different branches of visual arts have a common artistic root and language, so that even in the academic curriculum of these disciplines, theoretical credits and practical workshops are existing under the title of basic credits in common, the issues such as Art history of Iran, World Art History, Workshops on Principles, Design, Paint, Sculpture, Photography, …, and given that all these lessons and workshops, both basic and specialized, aim to empower you for a better and more professional performance, then ultimately all of them are going to be the tools and means to accomplish your goals. As we can see, there are so many people who have been educated in painting, but who later become active in graphic arts, or educated graphic artists who enter the photography profession and have a strong performance.
So, in fact, it can be told that all these disciplines are more interconnected and complementary than we think they are. Finally, I can say that when visual literacy is achieved, individuals become empowered and can be successful in any of the visual professions. Ultimately, the purpose of education and study should be this important so that you can learn how to learn.
– Considering the diversity of your artistic abilities, what made you choose the painting as your main profession?
If we believe that for every artist the ultimate goal is to express their ideas and thoughts through art, then we find that all branches of art are the medias for expression. So it is natural that every artist, in their thinking and needs, ultimately chooses the most harmonious media with their ideology and makes it a means of expression. For me, due to years of continuous activities in painting since the beginning of this experience at the age of nine to the years before the Art High School, after graduating from the Art High School and the University, painting has always been one of the most important visual medias. This made me, after familiarizing myself with other artistic interests, to select and pursue painting as a profession.
– What impact did your experiences in other arts have on your painting?
For me, graphic knowledge has always been valuable, and besides, the experience of working with various substances and materials such as wood, glass, pottery, ceramics, metal, etc., it was a great deal of excitement, which led me to choose handicrafts as my academic disciplines so that I will be able to act more powerful with these experiences after graduation.
Of course, as we can see, even many painters around the world have created their works by utilizing the physical and visual characters of various materials, but at the end we recognize them as painters and understand the spirit of their work painteristic.
– It is interesting for painting enthusiasts to know what paths are possible to act in this profession?
It can be said that there are several main ways in this profession in front of artists, such as teaching activities, defining individual projects and organizing individual or group exhibitions, joining an artistic team as a designer or performing custom-made design and painting projects.
– From the perspective of many people, the most attractive activity in the painting profession is to hold a painting exhibition. Please express your thoughts and experiences on this subject.
Honestly, it should be said that the seemingly simplest, but in fact, the most complex way, is holding a painting exhibition. In this regard, I have referred to the statement of my newly held virtual exhibition, but for a more detailed examination of the complexity of this path, it can be said that visual artists after completing their artistic collection, when they reach the stage of production of their works, they usually go to galleries because they find it the only way of introducing their art; however, each gallery has its own working conditions.
In general, artists in this space are faced with several gallery groups. A limited number of these galleries are the first-level galleries that have their history and influences in the flow of art and the economy of art. These galleries, with their many years of endeavor, skill and contacts, can directly affect the collectors and buyers of artworks, and even organize professional exhibitions for their artists abroad. But it should be taken into account that these first-class galleries are more receptive to prominent or well-known artists in their usual routine. In these circumstances, we rarely see the entry and activity of young artists through these galleries into the professional arts field. This can make the new flows of arts less likely to grow. ln such circumstances, young artists sometimes have this wrong impression and function that for them to be seen is necessary to move towards the copying well-known artists works, and even unfortunately some outstanding artists may be satisfied with the reproduction of their works of art.
But nevertheless, increasing the economic value of the art has always been valuable to the artistic community. It is something that has been important over the past decades due to the efforts and achievements of these first-level galleries. Of course, if these first-level galleries would more focus on investing and supporting young artists, it will be possible to see more growth and development of new art trends in the visual arts community.
But besides the effective operation of these first-level galleries, other galleries are active at different levels. With the exception of a limited number, others do not know their work and professional responsibilities due to lack of experience and specialized knowledge of this profession, and in the end, they cannot work well with the art, the artist, the audience, and the buyer of the artworks. In fact, these galleries are merely a place for the installation of works, which the result of working with such galleries for the artist is to receive a certificate of holding an exhibition in the respective gallery for a great deal of expenses. Which includes the gallery fees, preparation of works, transportation, promotions, opening and closing ceremonies. In such a situation young artists face a unpleasant fact that not only they have not been introduced well, but if they succeeded in selling one or two works from their collection, if they were lucky, they still could not compensate for the costs of holding exhibition.
In the current context, a wide range of young artists who choose painting not as a luxury entertainment or as an intellectual brewery, but as a profession and a future job, find it disappointing and sometimes impossible to continue working in such a space.
– So, could it be said that the reason of your virtual painting exhibition or even your previous exhibition held in the cafe has been the existence of the same issues?
Although the existing atmosphere affects my choices for the exhibition, it is definitely an essential part of the concept for any artist who is aware of how to display their works and choose the right atmosphere for their artistic expression. Indeed, the quality is impressed by the place and how to display the works. For example, if you imagine yourself in the space of a cafe, your perception of the atmosphere, which includes hearing the customers talking, the smell of coffee, the music, the light, the composition and the special mood of a cafe, will affect your understanding while looking at a piece of art at the same time. And this thought made this issue turn into the concept of my first exhibition, “Seven Self-portrait Paintings”, which was held in autumn 2014 in a cafe of books. Of course, another reason for me to hold this exhibition was a simple face to face conversation with spectators who even a group of them did not consider themselves to be painting audiences, which, for me, hearing and encountering such people, gave rise to new and different ways of art , painting and its effects.
Also, in the virtual exhibition “Non-absolute Abstraction”, which is running on my personal website since June 28, 2018, only being displayed to public through cyberspace, I am looking for a new and different experience again. In this regard, in the Fall of 2016, I launched my own website for the complete and professional introduction of my drawings and painting works so that it would be a context and the space for my new concept that is the virtual exhibition. Because we are living at a time and era that the scopes and capabilities of cyberspace can no longer be ignored, and it can be said that cyberspace not only does not have the physical and financial complexities of physical galleries, but, if used formally, officially and professionally by the artist, it can show the works very fast and easily at any time of the day, in front of a wide audience from the world. Also, since the duration of virtual exhibitions can be unlimited, in fact, these exhibitions have a start date but may have not the end date. This will allow more audiences to visit the exhibition and even after the sale of all the works, it will be possible to access and watch the exhibition for the audience. The total capabilities of the cyberspace can provide a more complete and professional atmosphere for artists to present artworks. As we can see, virtual space and its facilities are constantly evolving and optimizing, and it is not even surprising if we will see a successful and professional career in a variety of galleries that are only virtualistically introducing artists and their works, as well as buying and selling their works in the near future. As we now see in the world galleries that use 360 degree virtual reality technology, their audience can even experience the presence in the space of an exhibition hall and moving among the artworks.
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Thank you Ms. Adib, we are glad to accompany you in this conversation. At the end of the conversation and after addressing the current issues of visual arts, as well as reviewing your motivation to hold a virtual painting exhibition titled “Non-absolute Abstraction” it would not be in vain if we say that serious attention paid to providing specialized and professional artworks in cyberspace is the future for the advancement of art in the new era, and perhaps if the great visual arts family could more and more solidify and strive to upgrade and enhance the status of visual arts in this way, we can see this progress that, not only our great visual artists would increasingly become recognized and celebrated in the world scale, but also the young artists will have more experience and professional positions, that the result and achievement of such a performance will be the influence of Iranian art and artists on the current and ongoing flows of art in the world.
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