Fereydoun Ave: “For me, art is a whole; it is not made up of parts.”
Within a field of references extending from the Iranian wrestling tradition to Greek mythology and contemporary allegories, how do history and personal memory come together in your work?
You know, I’m 81 years old. I don’t question how things come together. All I know is that they are all part of me, and that they come together subconsciously. When I paint or engage with art, I try not to think. For me, art is a whole; it is not made up of parts, so I don’t think of myself as doing different things.
And of course, you have to come to terms with the materials you use. Not exactly come to terms with them, but become friends with them, so that they work for you. I think it is important to know the material you are working with, to befriend it, to allow it to behave according to its own nature, and to make use of all the different qualities it possesses.
What is at stake here is not my own ability, but the abilities of the material itself. I am grateful to it. I am its friend.
Read the full interview on Alem
