Iranian veterans warmly welcome Darrudi’s painting exhibition

TEHRAN,May 12(MNA) -- The exhibition of paintings by Iranian surrealist painter Iran Darrudi was inaugurated amidst warm welcome of veteran artists and cineastes at the Iranian Artists Forum (IAF) on Wednesday. Prominent actor Ezzatollah Entezami, sculptor and painter Taha Behbahani, former director of the General Office for Dramatic Arts Hossein Mosafer Astaneh, and Tehran City Council member Ahmad Masjed-Jamei were seen among the visitors on the opening day. All six galleries of the forum are dedicated to a collection of 70 old and recent paintings by Darrudi. Cosponsored by the IAF and Iran Darrudi Foundation, this is the 57th solo exhibit of the artist, in which her huge masterpieces are on show, and of course some are put for sale. “Between Two Dots”, a biography written by Darrudi herself and published by Ney Publications, as well as “The Story of Mankind and Its Perseverance”, a book written by Mehdi Mozaffari Savoji about Darrudi, are also available at the exhibit. In a press conference held before the inauguration, Darrudi talked about her intention of establishing the foundation, saying that the foundation was long a wish for her and that she always liked to leave a foundation to continue her way after her death. Iran Darrudi Foundation was established last year by a group of Iranian art and cultural figures, and Darrudi has donated her entire works to the foundation. She regarded promotion of culture of painting in Iran as her major duty and said, “I chose painting in 1960 along with working in Iranian press where I began to write reviews on paintings. I later traveled to the United States to study cinema to make use of the medium for painting. “I always wished Iran enters the world of art someday and tried to introduce paintings through television. I worked for TV also here in Iran for six years and later taught art at the Sharif University of Technology,” she said. She added, “Since then I had put aside the best of my works to display them in a private museum.” The 75 year-old artist, had transferred all her works to Iran in 2010 for the museum, “this is part of the works I have donated to my foundation, and I only ask God to give me at least three more years to complete the second volume of my book,” she concluded. The current exhibit running until May 29 is the first official activity of the foundation in collaboration with IAF.