Biography: Mani Gholami
Mani Gholami was born in 1970 in Tehran. He began to paint from an early age but it was not until he went to Ahmad Vakili that he decided to become a painter. He later took the National University Entrance Exam and was accepted at art school. Gholami has a degree in painting from the University of Fine Arts in Tehran. He has had numerous solo and group exhibitions in Iran. His passion for painting from group pictures has lent his work a unique quality that is truly Gholamiesque. Gholami uses pencil and oil paint to draw forth the personal characteristics of his figures both in the context of their inidividuality and in the depiction of the individual in relation to the people and objects around him and yet Gholami’s look is keenly analytical. This painter shows us a very nostalgic picture of that which has been, friendships that have passed, people who have touched us and are no longer anywhere to be found, moments that were shared but passed in the transience that is the essence of man. And yet Gholami’s works surpass the individual and rise to show man’s discomfort and almost superficial stance in this fast moving world of images and technology, a world in which the native, the local, the ordinary man is fast losing his identity. Gholami’s works don’t just lie in the nostalgic but rise to gently direct the viewer toward the underlying reasons for separation and isolation of his figures both in their friendly gatherings and in their individual portraits. As we watch his figures laugh, dance, play and interact we are highly aware of the transience of their gestures and poses that take on an almost fake reality. There is a forced fakeness but one which we have all learned to take on in our societies in order to attain that which we so long for: a panacea to calm our tormented sense of isolation and loneliness. Gholami’s deep oils and gentle pencils both vividly show the viewer that fear lying underneath the various poses of his figures. Mani Gholami is presently living and working in Tehran.
Excerpt of 'Our Window': An Interview With Mani Gholami
Art Exhibits
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