Background
Graffiti art is one of the new popular phenomena, especially in terms of its relationships with youth subcultures; youth protest culture and street art in big cities around the world. Graffiti is also a way to express political and cultural opinions of marginalized and excluded groups have no serious access to the official propaganda facilities. Not only is graffiti a way to express their ideas and ideals symbolically, but also it is a way to distinguish their culture (the underground culture) from the official culture. According to some sources, the first graffiti was done by ECNCE in 1995-1996 in the capital city of Tehran. There is a hidden link between graffiti and other elements of the Iranian youth lifestyle (especially the underground music) in major cities (Tehran, Karaj, Mashhad, and Shiraz). Although one can see political and social criticism in the Iranian graffiti as well, the most striking aspect of it is the social one. There is no serious experience in graffiti in the pre-revolutionary Iran. Stencils and murals with revolutionary themes are the most common forms of graffiti in the post-revolutionary Iran. The Iranian new graffiti creators are young people who do not act in line with the official culture, but sometimes conflict with it and even find fun in such an experience. It is a way of identification for them. According to this view, the Iranian youth take diverse elements from different cultures and integrate them into a new integrated whole. Thus, the present youth culture or subculture is composed of elements borrowed from the West and indigenous elements. This culture, more than anywhere else is visible in the underground culture (music and graffiti). The underground youth cultures, thus, has a critical stance towards the status quo socially, culturally and sometime politically. So, their culture is in accordance with what is called ‘the global youth culture’. There is no serious research on the social background of the Iranian graffiti creators, thus at the present time one can only suggest some primary hypothesis. Observers believe that there is no clear link between social class and graffiti in Iran.Related Films
''Writing on the City''Notable Artists
''ICY & SOT'' - Hailing from Tabriz, brothers and stencil artists Icy & Sot started their professional career in 2008, but have been creating work on the streets since 2005. Their graffiti addresses issues of peace, war, love, hate, hope, despair, children, society and Iranian culture. They have held numerous exhibitions worldwide and their unofficial street artworks have appeared in Iran and throughout Europe, South America and the United States. In August 2012, the artists attended one of their exhibitions outside of Iran for the first time. “Made in Iran”, held at the Openhouse Gallery in New York City, featured their new works and site-specific installations. Since then, Icy & Sot have been based in New York City – which provides a better platform for their creative endeavors and greater freedom of movement – leaving behind a rich underground street art scene in Iran. ''BLACK HAND'' ''-'' Black Hand epitomizes the illegal aspect of mural and graffiti art in Iran. Censorship is harsh and Black Hand is compelled to keep his anonymity, as he explains to ''The Guardian'' "I hide my identity for security reasons. Under the Iranian municipality laws, writing on walls or advertising without official permission is a crime." In April 2014, the artist organized an exhibition of his own work that took place in an abandoned house in central Tehran which was under the protection of the Historical Preservation Society for its unique architecture, but which the authorities had decided to demolish anyway. Black Hand is considered Iran’s Banksy by many, and has revealed that he takes inspiration and is heavily influenced by the UK artist’s style and artistic philosophy. Like Banksy, Black Hand engages with social and political issues. His art is provocative but is not meant as protest – rather, as a way to find peace. An example of his art ''(shown in gallery),'' which went viral on social media, is a mural of a woman holding up a bottle of dishwashing liquid as if it were a sports cup. Black Hand painted it after the Iranian government barred women from sports stadiums in June 2014. Two weeks later, the municipal government had painted over it in bright blood red. ''GhalamDAR'' - GhalamDAR started his career at fifteen, and from 2011 to 2014 he teamed up with the Elf Crew, one of the first graffiti groups to emerge in Iran. He has a distinctive style that sets him apart from the rest of his fellow street art practitioners. Rather than being influenced by the mainstream graffiti styles coming in from the West, he takes inspiration from traditional Iranian art forms such as calligraphy (''khattati'' or ''khoshnevesi'') and miniature painting (''negargari''). GhalamDAR’s art exemplifies a new direction in Iranian street art, positioning street art within the context of Iranian art history. The recent urban beautification projects initiated by the Iranian government that sanction some street artists and their works have helped artists like GhalamDAR to feel less threatened by the illegal nature of their practices. Finding locations around the city has become easier and people’s responses to street art are less negative than before. He told ''AMC'': "Sometimes we talk to the residents in a particular area to ask them if we can paint there. I show them my ID and tell them that I’m a university art student. I remember once in a while they would come out to see what I was painting, but after a while they stopped being suspicious of our work and didn’t mind us." ''Mehdi Ghadyanloo'' - Tehran-based artist and designer Mehdi Ghadyanloo began decorating his native city’s high-rises and office buildings about eight years ago, with monumental surrealist and hyper-realist murals produced by himself and his company, Blue Sky Painters. Ghadyanloo’s graffiti blurs the lines between architecture, art and the urban environment, as well as between reality and fiction. Ghadyanloo currently teaches a course on mural art at Soodeh University in Tehran. His art is sanctioned and supported by Tehran’s municipal government, as he told ''Young Persian Artists'': "...most of my large-scale work is financed by the municipality. Some 8 years ago, the municipality set up a committee to help promote mural art in Tehran. The city is an architectural mishmash with buildings often having only one facade and the other three just left blank and grey. This doesn’t make for a beautiful city but it is a great environment for mural work. I think the municipality really felt the need to bring some cohesion or at least colour to the often confused and smog-smeared architectural face of the city."Gallery
References
More references
* https://culturesofresistancefilms.com/content/tehran-ratz-graffiti-new-iran * http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12624786/index.pdf * https://www.sid.ir/en/journal/ViewPaper.aspx?id=250650 * https://www.dw.com/en/iranian-filmmaker-jailed-for-a-year-over-graffiti-documentary/a-36508806 * https://artradarjournal.com/2015/01/16/4-iranian-street-artists-to-know/External links
* http://www.kolahstudio.com * http://www.irangraffiti.com/ * http://irangraffiti.blogspot.fr/ * http://www.fatcap.com/city/tehran.html {{Street art