Lot 204: Whispers of the East #5, 2008

Whispers of the East #5, 2008
C-print in artist's frame. 112.3 x 80.2 cm. (44 1/4 x 31 5/8 in).  Signed, titled, numbered of six and dated 'Whispers of the East #5 S. TIRAFKAN IRAN 2008' on the reverse. This work is from and edition of six.

 London, British Museum, Safavids Revisited, Room 34, 23 March - 18 October, 2009 (another example exhibited)

 Acquired directly from the artist; Private collection, London

Sadegh Tirafkan was born in 1965, Iraq, to Iranian parents. In 1989 he graduated with a degree in photography from Tehran University and has not looked back since, thrusting his artistic vision onto the international stage early in millennium. In a way he has become the vanguard of the Iranian artistic movement... Tirafkan believes that Iranians have a yearning for new things but also that they don't yet have the means to accomplish their ambitions. 'We don't think "quality",' he says. 'There is no finishing. I've always maintained that we Iranians should not be shallow in our approach to art. We only have to look back at Persian classical or Safavid art to measure the superb professional accomplishments in architecture, miniature painting and calligraphy.' And indeed, in his recent work Whispers of the East, Tirafkan has teken inspiration from Safavid miniatures, incorporating their timeless beauty into his politically charged work with a contemporary twist. (H.Amirsadeghi, ed., Different Sames, New Perspectives in Contemporary Iranian Art, TransGlobe Publishing Limited, UK, 2009)