Dastan’s Basement at START Art Fair: Saatchi Gallery

Dastan is pleased to announce its participation in START Art Fair at Saatchi Gallery. 

The Basement's booth, which is located at the curated section of the fair titled: “This is tomorrow”, is dedicated to showcasing the works of Farhad Gavzan. 6 pieces from the artist’s newest series as well as a monumental work spanning 150x1000 cm will be on view at this exhibition.

Farhad Gavzan is an Iranian drawing artist who builds on his native land’s arts and crafts to create authentic and original contemporary drawings.  

Historically, Iranian Calligraphers would achieve a meditative perfection of their craft, while creating an abstract work of art through “Siah-Mashq”, which is a rote learning technique in essence.  The calligrapher would repeat the same letter many times over to achieve technical perfection.  It was at the same time an inward journey that was meant to lead to inner peace.  Calligraphy was considered sacred since it was often utilized for writing religious texts or even the Koran.

Gavzan’s drawings, though contemporary in nature, are rooted in the this particular branch of his native land’s arts.  He follows the same meditative path in his large horizontal abstracts as the calligraphers. His approach, though automatistic in nature in his initial strokes, it is later, by repeating the primary patterns, that he creates the final artwork. 

Prior to an undertaking he decides whether the inward journey ahead is a strenuous one or rather short and that determines the size of his paper. As the path is introverted the result of the journey often resembles internal organic matter.

Farhad Gavzan was born in 1974 in Northern Iran. He received his diploma from the industrial school of Iranian Broadcasting Services, and later, in 2003 graduated from the Tehran university of Arts with a Masters degree in Painting. 

His first exhibition was held in the Seyhoon gallery in Tehran in 1998. Since then he has exhibited his works nationally and internationally. He has published several books, most notably a book titled Human, in which he documented his quest within the hidden layers of humanity through his painterly conduct and his monumentally large drawings. 

In 2005, Farhad Gavzan established the Drawing House, which is the only specific drawing center in Iran. This center tries to provide opportunities for emerging and established artists through using various media to explore ideas around contemporary drawing and make them visible in the public domain. 

By holding exhibitions, workshops, specialized meetings, symposia and creative teaching sessions, Drawing House aims to create an atmosphere, in which various and at times opposing mindsets can express and represent themselves and establish independence and expand drawing as a medium.  Furthermore, Drawing House strives to play an active and influential role in the various aspects of society, environment, cultural heritage through public drawing.