Maryam Jahani Portfolio

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Maryam Jahani Portfolio Biography www.maryamjahani.com www.instagram.com/maryamjahani [email protected] 00989123636975 3

Maryam Jahani Portfolio Maryam Jahani was born in 1986 in Tehran, and teenagers which made her very en- Iran. She studied architecture in college, thusiastic about teaching arts to children. but had a strong affiliation for arts, conse- She then started her own personal atelier quently she studied advanced design and where she privately taught young children printmaking and started to professionally in addition to creating her own art. To this and independently paint and printmake. day, she is still teaching arts and printmak- During this time, she attended, volun- ing in a few renowned art schools. In her teered, and assisted in holding many art own words: workshops. Furthermore, she took courses “I was a detail-oriented person since child- on methods of teaching arts to children hood and carefully observed everything: 4

GPBHIROAY Maryam Jahani Portfolio faces, hands, patterns on clothes, the paintings on the neighbor lady’s dress when she came to have a cup of tea with my mom, the shadows created by columns, how things look in darkness, and the shape of the clouds. I would re-imagine all these things as a portrait of a wom- an, or a silhouette, or a cat’s head, or even a mighty dragon. Sometimes I traced the patterns of a Persian rug and imagined them as a horse, or a woman with closed eyes. Today, I endeavor to reinforce the curious gaze of children and flourish their creativity when I teach them.” She has experienced with a lot of art techniques includ- ing pastel, oil painting, water color, ink, and acrylic. Her technique of choice is acrylic which she uses on canvas, cardboard, or wood. She is an expert in using calchogra- phy in printmaking. She likes to use impressionist colors, has an expressive brush and a childlike approach to art in her paintings. She paints freely. She has been influenced by many 20th cen- tury artists such as : Matisse,Vangogh, Vandongen,….) which helped her find her own path. She focuses on the feminine in her works. Women and girls play a significant role in her works. On this subject, she says: “I can’t ignore the important role of Forough Farokhzad in my artistic life. I instantly fell in love with her free, loving, and rebellious character. She had dared write poetry on femininity, romance, and even lust in a traditional and closed society, without care for judgments. In addition to this role model, sexual discrimination and inequality in today’s Iran made women’s issues a serious concern for me.” Each of Maryam’s works tells a story: “I believe all hu- mans are ultimately alone in the depths of their minds. In my art shows, I have encountered many people who tell me that they identify with the women in my paintings or they felt that they had seen those women somewhere. The women I paint have real world equivalents because I paint their feelings and I actually think about them as I paint them.” Her artworks have been shown in many group and indi- vidual art exhibitions in Iran and all around the world. She has had her works presented in Tehran, Shiraz, Mashhad, Istanbul, Milan, Oslo, and Chicago. She has also won priz- es in art contests. Her works have been praised by crit- ics too. After COVID-19 pandemic hit, she has worked profusely in her personal atelier. She also started an on- line workshop to teach arts to more children around the world. She has taught and held workshops for students from Iran, Canada, United States, Netherlands, and Ger- many. Art comes into play when people feel helpless. It is then that the creativity of the artist jumps out of the canvas and into the real life. My belief - based on personal expe- rience – is that it is not the individual that chooses to be a painter. Painting is just another method for organizing the information in our minds. We use painting to tell and re-tell stories. Being an artist is a long game and is a life- long path.” 5

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Maryam Jahani Portfolio Painting Maryam Jahani Portfolio 7

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Maryam Jahani Portfolio LIFE IN SQUARES | 2017-until now This collection is inspired by the film ”Loving Vincent” and started by an artwork named, “When I went to visit Vincent Vangogh”. Most of the artworks in this collection are square-shaped. Some of them were shown in the group exhibition. The 4th Showing of Several Generation of Iranian Contemporary Artists (@ Laleh Art Gallery) praised this work and selected it for publication in the exhibition›s artist book. 9

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Maryam Jahani Portfolio SMALL NOTES | 2013 I started this collection - my first solo painting exhibition- with a painting of my mother. I found I was passionate about women as subjects in my paintings. In these paintings, ladies are sitting with their eyes closed and their stories untold. I vicariously experienced their lives as I was painting. All works in this series are small in size. Technique: Acrylic on canvas 15

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Maryam Jahani Portfolio QUARANTINE This collection started in the course of Covid 19 when most people in the world went into quarantine. I painted my feelings about fear, loneliness, and the prevailing silence louder than any scream. In these works I have made more connections within and to my interior self. I participated in the annual Iranian Visual Artist Festival with two paintings from this collection. My artworks were selected and shown in the exhibition of this festival. 21

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Maryam Jahani Portfolio Printmaking Maryam Jahani Portfolio “I love the extraordinary nature of printmaking. Happenstance has a very significant role in printmaking, sometimes even equal to the artist herself. It is as if my print is a live creature and works alongside me on the piece. It is truly unpredictable. I love printmaking because it is just like life; we simply cannot control every aspect of it.” 25

Maryam Jahani Portfolio COLLECTION: FROM CLOSER 26

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Maryam Jahani Portfolio COLLECTION: MONOPRINT 30

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Maryam Jahani Portfolio COLLECTION: MY GOLDFISH “TOGHROL” My Goldfish, Died. (2011-2010) I dubbed the first work of this collection «Toghrol.» It represents my childhood memories of friendship and loss. Every new year, I used to buy goldfishes for our Haft-Sin(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haft- sin). Afterward, everybody in the family chose a goldfish and named it. I once called mine Toghrol. It was the first fish to die that year. Its death felt like losing a friend. The first showing of this collection was at a group exhibition of printmaking in Hoor Gallery. Two of the works in the collection were chosen by the «Young Art Festival» and displayed at the Saba Gallery in Tehran. Technique: CALCHOGRAPHY 32

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Maryam Jahani Portfolio COLLECTION: SECOND GENERATION 34

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Maryam Jahani Portfolio Women have been a recurring theme in most of my artworks.I love to express what I feel about my own and fellow women’s feminity. 36