Parastoo Ahoon — Contemporary Art Curator Magazine

May 2

May 2 Parastoo Ahoon

Biography

Parastoo Ahoon is an multidisciplinary artist who lives and works in New York City. She was a MFA candidate at Pratt Institute 2011-2012 and Graduated of MFA from Boston University 2014.
She works with various materials and multiple types of media, such as Sculpture, Installation, mixed media, video, and performance. She has exhibited her works in National Pavilion of Iran, Venice Biennial, Italy. 8th National Sculpture Biennial of Tehran, Iran. Mykonos Biennial, Athens, Greece. International Biennial Art Olympia, Tokyo, Japan. Festival Fleurs de Lava, Clermont-Ferrand, France. MagicInLA Auction Gala, Bonhams Auction House in LA. Highline Nine Gallery in NYC, A.I.R Gallery, ‘’The Beginning Choice’’, Brooklyn, NY. Nave Gallery, Boston MA. Imago Mundi art, International group show, Italy, Changsha International Sculpture Festivan, Chansha, China. Santa Isabel de Hungaria, Sevilla, Spain. LTMH Gallery, New York, NY.1st Tehran International Sculpture Symposium, Imam Ali Museum, Tehran, Iran.. 16th International symposium of stone sculpture in Friuli Venezia Giuliareana Del Rojale, Italy. 1st International Sculpture symposium of Uttarayan, Vadodara, India.1st International Sculpture symposium of Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey. Magic of Persia contemporary art prize, London, UK,
She also has her sculptures installed in urban space in Iran, Turkey, Japan, India, UAE, Italy, France and China.

Artist Statement

The primary aim of my work is rooted in a very self-conscious identification as an Iranian national. However, I fill my work with Eastern and Western details, scattering the viewer’s ability to locate what is unique to Iranian culture. I believe that all immigrants bring something new to the culture they inherit while, at the same time, gain a new perspective on what they have left behind. In my case, this unique way of seeing, understanding, and analyzing my history, culture, and traditions is expressed visually through the lens of an expatriate in exile. Most recently, I have been working on a series of paintings entitled Lasting Memories. In this group of works, I have been exploring the concept of conflict. The shredded wefts in certain parts of the canvas juxtaposed with the pristine, untouched iconography in other parts symbolize a constant shift between beauty and destruction. This notion is well expressed by this quote by Haruki Murakami: “No matter how much time passes, no matter what takes place in the interim, there are some things we can never assign to oblivion, memories we can never rub away…even if their wefts are broken.”

What first prompted you to think of becoming an artist?

I grew up in Iran surrounded by artists. My brothers are musicians and interior designers and my sister is a fashion designer. My mother was really good at handcrafts and I was seeing that respect and interest to art at home. I’ve always been good at drawing and had a big support from my parents to go to art school instead of a regular high school where I got my diploma in graphic design. My passion for sculpture led me to choose and continue to study art.

What kind of an artist do you ultimately see yourself?

I consider myself a multidisciplinary artist. I’ve worked in sculpture, installation, mixed media, performance and video painting.

What are you hoping to communicate to the viewer through your work?

The communication between me and other people is a big part of my work. Working with various materials and multiple types of media, I encourage the viewer’s own thoughts and feelings. This is based on the social and political issues of my immediate surroundings such as hardness, patience and beauty. Life’s difficulties, thoughts and emotions become about being in the moment, seeing a situation, paying attention to life, and creating art pieces that discuss these experiences.

Can you explain the process of creating your work?

Most of the time, ideas led me to choose the style and the material that I should work with to present the idea visually, conceptually, and understandable to the viewers. I always draw the ideas on papers first and sometimes I make a model if I need it.

What is your favorite part of the creative process?

My favorite part is when I make the art piece with the real material; it could be a sculpture, an installation or a painting.

Can you give us an insight into current projects and inspiration, or what we can look forward to from you in the near future?

My recent projects are paintings, installations, and video paintings that breed from my own Iranian socio-cultural interaction placing them to my present research and study base environment. It is transforming traditions to the contemporary culture. For me, there is always a discrepancy, and sometimes a contradiction, between the culture I grew up in, and what we learn about it through the history. In this series of works, I have tried to exhibit these discrepancies through juxtaposition of the iconographic elements that show power and beauty, and the broken wefts at some part of the pieces that show destruction and oblivion. In the next step, I will have sculptures and three-dimensional forms that represent the same idea. I use the same patterns, colors and designs but in a different style of art; a mixture of painting, sculpture and interior design.

Website http://www.parastooahovan.com/

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