Past Event
With a career spanning three continents and more than half a century, Iranian sculptor Parviz Tanalovi has made an unparalleled contribution to art in the Middle East. Following his formal training as a sculptor in Italy, Tanavoli returned to Iran, where he was influenced by historic Persian and modern Iranian folk art, culture, and poetry. He broke with tradition and began creating modern art with a distinctly Iranian aesthetic.
This documentary tells the story of how the artist was inspired to create his unique body of work. The screening will be followed by a Q&A between Parviz Tanavoli and writer, director and producer of the film, Terrence Turner.
In collaboration with Maryam Eisler
Parviz Tanavoli (b. 1937, Tehran, Iran; lives and works in Vancouver, Canada) is an Iranian sculptor, painter, scholar, and art collector. He trained as an artist in Italy from 1955 to 1959 before moving to the United States to teach sculpture at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. After three years, he returned to Iran to lead the sculpture department at the University of Tehran, where he worked until 1979. Tanavoli is widely recognized as the father of Iran’s modern sculpture movement and a founder of the Saqqakhaneh movement, a form of modern Iranian art that borrows from local folklore and religious iconography. In 1989 Tanavoli moved to Vancouver, where he has continued to live and work. He has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions throughout the world, including Austria, Italy, Germany, United States, and the United Kingdom.
