Who is Reza Azimian?

I knew from my childhood that my eyes and mind could not cope with what existed and the reality existed, and I had always been looking for something hidden or not hidden. I don't know what it is, I just know I'm looking for it. When I feel I am approaching it, my mind starts to sound like a radar. That means I'm just getting started and I have to find the hidden thing. I don't know maybe I'm just a searcher.

What message do you wish to convey through your work?

I'm not really looking for messaging. At times my work may seem to convey a sense of message and concept, but in essence I try to represent the reality as it is not seen or understood. The reality I see is not enough and it is very crude and incomplete. At least I think so. I'm trying to put things and shapes and colors aside so I can get a new meaning and reading.

 

'Overall' / Oil on Canvas / 150x300cm (Diptych)

Did you always know you were destined to be an artist?

I never thought about exactly who I was and what I was doing. I've just done what I always had to do. That is, I didn't deliberately seek artistic work. As I grew older I realized that this type of thinking and this kind of production and doing was called art. Since I can't do or think about anything other than what is called art, then I'm probably an artist.

There is a clear Western influence in your works, how does your identity influence this?

In my opinion, the effects of art in the West, East, etc. are reciprocal, and this confrontation has happened since time immemorial. As can be seen in Western art, many elements and symbols of Eastern and Far Eastern art have been found and mixed over time and throughout history in Western art and culture. I see clearly the influence of Far East art, Middle Eastern art, and especially ancient Iran in Western abstract art. The works of famous artists of art history or even contemporary can be seen. And vice versa, the influence of western art on contemporary eastern art. But I think for many reasons, such questions are a little irrelevant in the era we live in. I think that any artist willfully or unwittingly influence his or her identity and culture, and not just in the outer form. I personally have no limitation on what I want to show because I do not believe in these classifications. If there is any influence of Western art and images on my work then I have to accept it. But I emphasize that when an artist tries hard to show that an artist is from a particular country, he or she departs from the real art and what it is. For me, the top priority is something that comes to my mind, not what they expect.

'All Of Me' / Oil on Canvas / 120x100cm

Is there a particular audience you have in mind when you create?

No. My target audience are all people who have eyes to see, are capable of understanding and analyzing form, content and meaning, and are living in the present. From every corner of the world. With every culture, language, and ethnicity. I am a human being and I do what any other human can see and if he can understand and enjoy. No more no less. The cultural and geographical classifications have never had a place in my mind

Soundtrack to your studio?

Electronic music, hard rock and at times classical music. I don't like traditional and pop music. I don't like Iranian mystical and repetitive music because I don't like the past. The past can be just an hour for me, tens or hundreds of years ago. I hate the past for many reasons.

To view Reza Azimian's full profile click here.