Interview
Iman Irannejad
Iman is a multidisciplinary artist, primarily identifying as a storyteller. He feels a strong urge to share the narrative of his own life and community, with the aim of connecting with others and sparking ideas and meaningful conversations. His work centres around humanity, where he creates portraits and figures of both real and imaginary characters in surrealistic environments. Employing a variety of techniques and symbols, he strives to convey messages and evoke emotions in his artistic expressions.
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“I was born in Tehran, Iran. I remember my parents were both art lovers, although they never pursued it as a career. My mother studied literature, and my father was keen on painting. I remember them telling me stories about great Iranian poets and painters. I guess I was also good at drawing in art class at school. But I never thought I wanted to be an artist. I guess it was not a logical choice in Iran, which was going through a war when I was born and has always struggled with big social and economic challenges, even till today. I always felt I wanted to do something great, something extraordinary, to become an inventor or a scholar. This feeling even led me to be accepted into a special talent school in Iran, which has an entry exam and only accepts a few hundred students from all around the country every year. I was really into mathematics and physics in high school. In that special school, we were not taught the regular curriculum that was taught in other schools. Instead, we were given famous mathematical and physics problems to think about and discuss in school.
When I was 15, my mother passed away in a horrifying car accident that I was in as well, and now I can see that everything changed from that moment. I lost my interest in school. My grades, which were high until then, became low, and I was not interested and did not know what I wanted to do. One day, I saw an ad in a magazine for summer filmmaking classes. I do not know why. Maybe because my mother followed Iranian art house cinema, I thought about enrolling, and I guess that was the very beginning of my art journey. The second influence after my parents was my teacher at the filmmaking class. One teacher who taught us film theory opened my eyes to cinema art and art in general, as it had no place according to its worth in the Iranian education system. What was supposed to be a 3-month course continued for 3 years for me, and at the end of school, I wanted to become a filmmaker.
Although my major was math at school, I took the art university entry exam and went to Cinema and Theater school at the Art University of Tehran. I had a great time with my peers and made many short films together, some accepted in international festivals, but again, the Tehran Art University was a part of the Iranian broken Islamic regime education system. By 2009 and graduation, I decided to leave the country due to all the social and economic problems that are not hidden from everyone. I knew I wanted to leave the country for good, so I decided to go to a country where it would be easier to become a citizen. I chose Australia because, to be honest, I did not know much about the world outside Iran. Traveling is hard for Iranians as we cannot get any visas, and there are no visits from outside. If I had my knowledge now, I would have chosen Europe, as Australia is limited in terms of culture and art.
In 2010, I moved to Sydney as an international student to study digital media art. I wanted to learn about modern technologies and trends in media and art. I remember fantasizing about becoming a video artist. A little after moving to Sydney, the Iranian currency lost its value significantly because of US sanctions, and very soon, I could not rely on my father's support and had to work. Long story short, by 2016, I was working as a videographer, earning good money but was not an artist. I managed to get my Australian citizenship through a partner, but I was not doing what I wanted. Then I stopped everything. I felt I lost my way and had to start again. I decided to migrate again, but this time back to my safety, back to my friends and community in Iran. I had savings to not work for a year in Iran and survived. Then, was the time that I finally realized I need to be an artist. A true, pure artist, as I always regarded. I did not even want to use “new technologies.” I went back to the core of image-making and storytelling. I started writing and painting. From 2016 to 2019, I wrote 7 short stories that were published online and two novels in Persian. I also participated in 4 group exhibitions as a painter in Iran. I even found a publisher for my first book, but it never got permission from the Islamic regime cultural ministry to be published. Basically, censorship did not let it be published. By the end of 2019, because of Iran's problems, I decided to come back to Australia to support myself financially and continue my art here. I continued painting, and in 2023, I went for a 3-month artist residency in Berlin and had my first solo show in 2024 in Sydney.”
What inspires you?
“I guess I am an artist because I need to share my condition with the world. Through this sharing, I understand myself better and find people like me to connect with and share the pain and challenge with each other. Supporting each other. Therefore, I inspire from myself and people around me. I believe life is not an easy journey. First of all we are all confused about its purpose then when we define a purpose for ourselves it is challenging to reach it and we face many internal and external barriers. We often get stuck between opposite forces and difficult choices. It is not always dark though there are times that things seems bright, easy and fulfilling. All of these are really worthful materials to share with each other. After all we are all into this with each other and it is more fun and easier to share together. This can be a general broad angle about my art. However the matters I have been mostly involved with has been intimacy, sexuality and to some extent Iranian social and political conditions. I usually start from an image that catches my eye and then explore what and why grabbed my attention and find a the story through the process. Also sometimes I have a feeling or a problem that try to express through images or words.”
What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?
“I guess the main theme is the human condition: feelings, fears, hopes and so on. That is why I mainly paint imaginary characters or real people. I paint portraits and figures in a dreamy surreal environment. I suppose the female face and figure are repetitive themes in my work thus far. I don't have a conscious reason for this, though it may stem from my relationship with my mother and the way I lost her, or perhaps my upbringing in a primitive, totalitarian religious regime. I've been criticized for objectifying women, which I struggled with for a while, as I am pro-women's rights and actually admire femininity in my own twisted way. I don't claim to want to fix society with my art; I simply tell my story honestly. Another theme is storytelling; there's a narrative in all my paintings. There's something uncertain about it, which is why I paint it; if the issue were clear, there would be no need to communicate it through painting. I have to agree that, in general, my paintings tend to be dark. This probably has something to do with my past and how I perceive the world around me. The world is a wonderful place full of mystery and enjoyment, but it's not an easygoing place, at least for me.”
How would you describe your work?
“At first glance, my work may seem like ordinary paintings, sometimes close to realistic painting. But I always leave the experimentation door open, meaning I feel free to change any form or shape that helps me to tell the story in the most effective way. That is why you can see different styles in my body of work. I believe a painting, and in more general scenes an artwork, even a novel, must evoke a feeling, and even if an idea is conveyed, the ideal way is through feelings. My paintings and even novels are about characters in a special environment. Both subjects and environments have personality and characters that interact with each other.”
Which artists influence you most?
“There are many. I think any great artist, regardless of medium, style, or even period, is someone who can express or react to their condition, time, and environment in the most effective way. In paintings, some of my influences are Gauguin, Magritte, and Bacon. All of them have their own unique language to communicate.”
“Ultimately, my goal as an artist is to create something that resonates with people on a deep and visceral level - to inspire them to feel and think in ways that they may not have before.”
What is your creative process like?
“I get inspired by a person, an image, or a true story that happened to me or people I know. I begin with the images that I have at hand or emerge in my mind and discover the story and the painting as I create. That is why I keep changing a painting or writing constantly even when it is close to the final stage. I like to explore and discover my feelings, thoughts, and actions. Sometimes style and elements just appear and even surprise me. I believe if I decide on everything from the beginning, I limit the work. I let the idea and style find their way and this way the work becomes more effective and truer. To execute the ideas, I make sketches and practice first, but the work always changes by the end of the process.”
What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?
“This is a very difficult question. Even the definition of an artist is something not everyone agrees on, and I understand most of the points of view. I believe this is because of the nature of art itself. Art happens when something hidden appears. Something that exists but not openly and someone unveils it; therefore, it cannot fit into one role. It can be anything that opens our eyes to a new or mutual feeling or an idea. People believe artists are needed, that a society must have art but cannot agree on what sort or how to measure and value it, and when they do, history shows they are not entirely correct. Having said that, I think the artist's role is to explore the human condition. To put different aspects under the spotlight. So, we can have a better understanding and share the experience. I think we have had enormous developments and discoveries in art and what it can and could be through history up to now and for a while we just explore them till the next major change in human condition. Something like the Industrial Revolution in the past. Maybe an AI stronger than human.”
Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?
“At my first solo show at Tap Gallery in Sydney in 2023, I was so glad and surprised that visitors could connect and feel the paintings that I thought were very personal. This shows to some extent I could be successful as an artist to transform my feelings and ideas into a mutual language that can reach a wider audience.”
