Abstract at the glass-roots

An octogenarian Iranian artist whose works are on display in Dubai reveals how traditional art and architecture have influenced her.

When I tell Iranian artist Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian that she is remarkably agile given her 83 years, she says: "Oh, but I'm not 83.

I'm actually older. I was born when Iran was following the Arab calendar. Then, they shifted to the Farsi calendar and I think the Western catalogues and agents compute my age according to the Gregorian one. So, there are [a] few months or a year more, and who knows, maybe according to some other culture's calendar, maybe I'm 100," she says.

Farmanfarmaian talks of the past as if reminiscing about a long-gone era. Her recollections of her travels and narratives are rich in detail and she seems to bring people from the previous century back to life.

Born in Iran — officially — in 1925, she says she always wanted to be an artist and study art in the West.

"I left by boat with my brother and a friend, and arrived in New York three months later," she says.

Fortunate encounter

Admitting that she was fortunate to be born into a highly progressive family, Farmanfarmaian adds that the journey on that boat was as enriching as the ambience in her parental home.

"I got lucky that the English commanding officer on the boat maybe took a fancy [to] me. He was extraordinarily kind and allowed us to eat with the officers," she says.

Stopovers at Karachi and Bombay during the build-up to the independence of Pakistan and India (1944) was, she says, in retrospect, an important event in her life. "I don't think at that time, given my age, I was aware of the kind of political change that was taking place. We didn't really go out into the streets as much as I would have liked. But the captain took us to the cinema, the British Club and showed us the life of the British Raj," she says.

Talking about the grandeur of the moment, Farmanfarmaian's eyes widen while remembering the large, red, velvet seats on which she sat to watch her first film. "The name I cannot remember," she says.

"It was a different world then. A world at war. So I couldn't go to Europe to study and went to Cornell University in New York, followed by Parsons School of Design."

After 14 years in the United States, Farmanfarmaian returned to Iran, which, she says, was always part of the plan. Even now, although she is critical of both countries, Iran will always be her home.

"I think the home country will always have a special bond with a person. You can enjoy many freedoms and privileges in your new adopted country but there can never be a disconnect with the home country," she says.

Throughout her career as an artist, Farmanfarmaian ensured she steered clear of politics or using her art to make statements.

Despite her father's prominent role in Iranian politics and Farmanfarmaian's own opinions and ideologies having been shaped by the various influential people visiting her father, she chose to keep her art free from it all. "It's very easy to become a political artist. There's so much to speak out against. But for me, it did not give me the creative satisfaction I desire," she says.

Describing herself as an abstract expressionist, she says her art has been primarily influenced by her exploration of traditional Iranian art and architecture.

The late Fifties and Sixties were, she says, "glorious times" to be in Iran.

"I was fortunate to travel freely throughout the country. Without fear. I can still travel but I think the fact that I was [at] my creative peak and able to discover Iran at a time when there was great respect for artists, helped me."

During her travels she was able to identify a metaphysical transformation in the relationship between decorative surface and form. Farmanfarmaian reveals that she is inspired by mirror mosaics which have been used in Iranian architecture since the 1700s.

"That was when mirrors began to be imported from Europe. The broken pieces were saved and used as variations of mosaics," she says.

"I think I've always been attracted by geometric shapes and forms. I like the mathematics-and-metaphysical connection.

"But there is also an autobiographical element to some of the works," she says of the exhibition in Dubai.

"Miniatures with miniature objects, shaped in strange ways ... there is definitely a nostalgia to them, no?" she asks.

Although Farmanfarmaian's personal growth was nurtured during the Shah's rule, she says the current censorship has not stifled creativity in any way.

"A lack of freedom has led to more innovation. I visit New York often and some of the exhibitions I've been to in Iran are as avant-garde as the [ones by] Western-trained artists.

"The stupidity of people, such as [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad and [US President George W.] Bush, will not affect a medium as wonderful as the arts," she says.

Bring up the two presidents and she dismisses both of them with a vehement sleight of hand. "They're both idiots. No point in talking about them," she says.

Her experiences have proved that the people-to-people contact around the world is far superior to any political rhetoric.

"I've never experienced anything but kindness from all the people I have met in the US and in Iran, the people we meet everyday, the youth, they enjoy American culture and I'm quite impressed with the way they balance their tradition with external influences," she says, adding that the next big thing will be "Iranian rap".

- Recollection: Works by Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian is on at The Third Line Gallery, Dubai, until November 15.