Aun Gallery is a

contemporary art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic co ...

gallery in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

's capital city

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

. It is owned and created by Afarin Neyssari. The building offers 120 square meters of open exhibition space, a five-meter high ceiling and a paneled roof.

History

The

Vanak Vanak () is a neighbourhood in the northern part of Tehran, capital of Iran and there is a square and a street named after it. The word Vanak means "Small (ash) Tree" in Persian. The name derives from the original older village of Vanak (''Deh-e ...

area has been popular with

Iranian art Persian art or Iranian art () has one of the richest art heritages in world history and has been strong in many media including architecture, painting, weaving, pottery, calligraphy, metalworking and sculpture. At different times, influences ...

ists since the early 2000s, at which time it was a quiet residential area with light industry.

Imprisonment of Owner

Aun's owner, Afarin Neyssari, and her husband Karan Vafadari were arrested in Tehran's Imam Khomeini International Airport by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Intelligence Service (IRGIS) on 20 July 2016 when she was about to board a plane to travel to Italy in order to jump start an important art project, which was to prepare for Mr. Bizhan Bassiri's solo exhibition at the Venice Biennale festival as approved and certified by the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art and the Minister of Culture. Karan was supposed to join her a few days later on their trip, and to visit his three children who live in the US. Karan received a call from Afarin, and when he went to see her he too was arrested. Afarin and Karan were held in solitary confinement for over one month, and were not allowed to speak to a lawyer for 5 months. Afarin first spoke to a lawyer when she first showed up in court, 5 months after imprisonment. The Iranian judiciary has coerced the family to dismiss their chosen lawyer multiple times, and as of May 2017, they still have not found a suitable lawyer. As a Zoroastrian, Karan could be another example in a history of confiscation of Zoroastrians' property. Karan is a US citizen, and Afarin is a Greencard holder. A wave of public support for Karan and Afarin followed, from the artistic community within Iran, as well as from customers and friends of Aun Gallery. Robert Toscano, former ambassador from Italy to Iran, refuted the authorities’ justification for their detention i
an open letter
saying that “One has to be truly gullible and the easy victim of propaganda” to accept such charges. He continued, “The reason must be a different one…political blackmail toward the US (of which

he is He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

also citizens), envy for their success, intimidation toward the Zoroastrian community, desire to grab their properties, ndrepression of contemporary art.”

Media

Aun Gallery has appeared in magazines and publications such as Bidoun, as well as other local and international publications. The gallery also featured in international travel magazine websites and online magazine '' The Culture Trip''.

International work

Aun's artists have exhibited globally.

Artists

Artists shown at the gallery include: * Amin Aghaei *

Darvish Fakhr Darvish Fakhr (born 1969) is an Iranian American artist born in Newfoundland. He is an artist in the field of Iranian portrait paintings. Biography Born in 1969, Fakhr grew up in the U.S. before moving to Britain where his practice has been b ...

Golnar Adili Golnar Adili ( fa, گلنار عدیلی; born 1976 in Virginia) is an Iranian-born American multidisciplinary artist based in Brooklyn, New York. Much of her work is influenced by growing up in post-Iranian Revolution in Tehran and issues of disp ...

* Mohammad Hossein Emad *

Nazgol Ansarinia Nazgol Ansarinia (born 1979) is an Iranian interdisciplinary visual artist. Biography Ansarina was born in 1979 in Tehran, Pahlavi Iran. She holds a BA degree from the London College of Communication, and a MFA degree from the California Col ...

* Parham Taghioff

References

External links

Foreign Residency Artist
on

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{{coord missing, Tehran Province 2009 establishments in Iran Art museums and galleries established in 2009 Contemporary art galleries in Iran Buildings and structures in Tehran Tourist attractions in Tehran Culture in Tehran