Nazanin Afshar
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Drawing and Painting Courses
Learn the basics and improve your drawing skills.
This course is especially designed to help you learn at your own pace. The instructor will work with you individually to help you achieve your goals effectively; whether you are a beginner, intermediate or advanced.
Four two-hour weekly sessions,
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GROUP EXHIBITION
Thirteen artists question the phenomenon of selfie in the exhibition presented at MEKIC art gallery from May 30 to July 14, 2015. Inspired as much by the generalization of this documenting practice, often viewed as purely narcissistic, as by recent studies aimed at understanding this particular obsession with self-observation and self-exposure, these artists approach the selfie from an artistic perspective, joining in the discussion of this new “twist” on photography, from initially being a mnemonic device, to now becoming a common means of communication in the digital age.
The participating artists reflect on what distinguishes a selfie taken with a cell phone camera and instantly shared on social networks, from the art of portraiture that, practiced through centuries by almost all major artists, often took the form of a true introspection exercise, touching the most intimate aspects of the self. By exploring the interplay of these two genres, the artists experiment with the form of expression offered by the tools, which enables self-representation while questioning the degree of theatrical performances that accompanies it.
Indeed, since photography, originally an artistic practice, has become globalised, this “art" can nowadays be considered as a mere exercise accessible to most, thus blurring the lines, and giving access to a pictorial realm where the creator of his own image portrays a character who, while being himself, is often dissimilar to him.
Whether using pencil, brush, photography or video, the twelve participating artists present a dynamic and personal work that combines their artistic preoccupations, their visual narration and their gaze on the outside world inundated by an overflow of our own images.
Opening: Friday May 29, 2015, from 6pm to 9pm
Artists: Nazanin Afshar, Yassaman Ameri, Mina Hedayat, Maryam Izadifard, Hadi Jamali, Ronak Kordestani, Payam Mofidi, Nima Emrani, Parisa Rajabyan, Elham Rassmi, Bahar Taheri, Mehrnaz Tanbakoosaz,Dara Najmabadi
MEKIC Art Gallery
4438, rue de la Roche, Montréal
Information: (514) 373 5777 info@mekic.ca
Group exhibition
Thursday, May 21, 2015, at 5:00 pm
Exhibition runs until May 30, 2015
Without pretension or artifice, free of conventions and bordering on the whimsical, SALONESQUE invites you to dress how you like, to be who you are! With no theme but comfort and inclusion, SALONESQUE includes guest artists The Royal Pickles, a septet of swinging ‘swing’ musicians.
Borrowing from a tradition when the royally sanctioned Académie des beaux-arts held its first semi-public art exhibit at the Salon Carré in Paris. In 1725, the Salon was held in the palais du Louvre and was essential for any artist to achieve success in France, marking a sign of royal favor. The MAI’s version of this historical event takes the form of a non-juried exhibition where section by section of the gallery walls will be filled from floor to ceiling (the more art, the more wall space covered).
This evening gala officially opens this non-juried exhibition running from May 21st through to the 30th, 2015.
With no shortage of applicants, over 150 artworks have been received to date, grouping together nearly one hundred visual artists of diversity and of the Milton Park area! Gala SalonEsque celebrates World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development and the democratization of art.
Swing by for cocktails, degustation prepared by French Chef Olivier Chaudet, formerly of the restaurant Le Paris Beurre à Outremont, and music by Les Royal Pickles, a septet of swing musicians about to embark on a European tour. Before developing quite the reputation, Les Royal Pickles could often be seen playing in public places throughout the city of Montréal, a story that has a direct link to BUSCAR : ECLECTIK 2015, to be presented here at MAI on May 29th and May 30th.
Two spectacular events that honour the diversity of imagination and that close MAI’s 16th season with elegance and musical eloquence. All are welcome.
MAI Gallery
Free Admission
MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels)
Facebook Event
Painting Auction
The painting profit will be donated to ’’Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal''.
Thank you for your successful, prompt and valuable participation! The capacity is limited, please buy the tickets at:
ARËM , Event Facebook
Hosts :
Chef Reza Azarpoor, ARËM
Nazanin Afshar
Opening: Aug 6, 2014, 7pm-10pm
Mekic Art Gallery
4438 rue de la Roche
Montreal, Qc H2J 3J1
(514) 373-5777
Montreal, I Love you
Group Exhibition
From April 12 to May 20, 2014, the MEKIC Art Gallery will present an exhibition entitled Montreal, I Love You, showcasing the work of seven Iranian painters who use their diverse plastic mediums in a creative process inspired by their singular visions of Montreal life, integration, and multi-culturalism, presenting the city they have adopted in all the plurality of its many faces.
This exhibit arose out of a meeting of these young Iranian artists who, revisiting the theme of immigration, reflect jointly on the various aspects of life in Montreal. They integrate their personal and collective past, as well as fragments of their reinvented life, with Montreal's urban, social and cultural landscape in order to exhibit artworks of Montreal as it is dreamed, seen, real, or imagined.
Without dwelling on stereotypes surrounding the migration and assimilation of one culture into another, the artists reassess symbols and narratives that depict daily life in this colourful metropolis and, in turn, their immediate environment. This yields pieces tinted sometimes by emotions felt in response to a specific place or event, sometimes marked by poetry, imagination, or humor that may be tender or ironic.
The exhibition, as its name implies, intentionally exploits the image of a heart that, overused as it is, unquestionably remains a universal symbol of attraction, affection, and love.
Beyond the interaction between Iranian and Quebecois culture, the goal of this unique exhibition is also to create a space that invites visitors to indulge in the game of creating a collective work on the large canvas of Montreal, I Love You.
Artists participants:
Nazanin Afshar, Maryam Izadifard, Ronak Kordestani, Elham Parsian, Naghmeh Sharifi, Mehrnaz Tanbakoosaz, Maryam Tavaf
Opening: Friday, April 11, 2014 from 18 h to 21 h
Exhibition: from April 12 to May 20, 2014
MEKIC, art Gallery and Bookstore,4438, De la Roche, Montreal, www.mekic.ca
info@mekic.ca, 514 373 5777
Figurative Drawing Workshop
March 14, 2012, 5:30pm-7:30pm
Mile-End Library
5434 Parc Avenue
Montreal, QC
Free admission
Required materials:
1. Soft drawing pencil(B6 or more) or soft graphite
2. Drawing pad or papers.
Figurative Drawing Workshop
In collaboration with Image de femmes
Mar 8, 2011, 5pm-7:30pm
Mile-End Library
5434 Parc Avenue
Montreal, QC
Required materials: pencil and paper
Figurative Drawing Workshop
Organiser: Festival Accès Asie
Sep 24, 2010, 1:30pm-3pm
Gesù | Centre de créativité espace Aline-Letendre
1202 rue de Bleury
Montreal, QC H3B 3J3
514-523-1047
Pencil and charcoal on paper
Reservation is required
Ce fut un jour, chez nous...
Opening: With invitation, Apr 29, 2010, at 6pm
Apr 30-May 21, 2010
Musée des maîtres et artisans du Québec
615 Ave. Saite-Croix
Montreal, QC H4L 3X6
514-747-7367
WWW.mmaq.qc.ca
Images de Femmes Celebrates International Women’s Day
The seventeenth annual exhibition of the women artists in Mile End
The women of Mile End’s vibrant arts community have come together for the 17th year to invite the public in Celebration of International Women’s Day.
Hosted in collaboration with the Mile End Library and neighbourhood organizations and businesses this collective exhibition of paintings, sculptures and installations is entirely organized, created and financed by the 50 participants artists.
Images de Femmes was created in 1994 as a venue to meet and provide better visibility to women artists in the area. In addition to the art presented at the Library, Mile End shops and stores will host artworks in their storefront windows, accessible to the everyday lives of local residents.
Mar 6-21, 2010
Opening: Mar 6, 2010, 1-4pm
Mile End Library
5434 Parc Avenue
Montreal, QC
Drawing workshop with model and live music
By Nazanin and Sofia
Mar 10, 2010, 6pm-8pm
Horizons and Contrasts
The exhibition "Horizons and Contrasts" comprises some forty paintings and photographs from a collective of artists from Iran, Turkey,Syria and Morocco.
The visitor of this exhibition can discover unique and contrasting works of art in a space conducive to dialogue on the polyphony of contemporary art, whose various manifestations and forms of expression stimulate, question and puzzle the viewer.
Mekic is proud to present this collection of art work forming a kaleidoscopic portrait of art free and bursting in the diversity of its various codes and signs. All these aspects are to be discovered here in this unique exhibition!
Paintings: Nazanin Afshar, Khadija Baker, Khosro Berahmandi, Makhfi, Manya Saadi-nejad, Naghmeh Sharifi
Photographs: Mehrad Ahari, Ali Ihtiyar, Kamal.
Opening: Dec 4, 2009, 7pm-10pm
Exhibition runs until Jan 8, 2010
Mekic Art Gallery
4438 rue de la Roche
Montreal, Qc H2J 3J1
(514) 373-5777
Identity
This summer MEKIC Art gallery is honoured to take you along on a fascinating journey into the artistic world of Nazanin Afshar. The exhibit is comprised of 35 drawings (medium and large scale) through which the artist invites us to apprehend the notion of our deeper self. The artist is not attempting to forge a new definition of the meaning of identity which is one of philosophy’s essential questions starting with the famous inscription written on the Delphi Temple: ‘Learn to know oneself’. Rather, the artist tries to understand the inner identity of human beings, which often stays hidden behind a social identity that rests on the belonging to a given society, culture and tradition.
Through her art, Nazanin Afshar focuses on identity questions in order to illustrate the individual as an autonomous being, which builds a large part of his/her identity through social relations and through positioning against the other. According to the artist, and because society is organized as it is, this way of building one’s identity draws human beings away from their authentic nature. A sort of disability and imprisonment ensues. Indeed, driven by the desire for recognition and identification among society, the individual learns to be what he/she is told to be. Such training creates an inner fault line between one’s social identity and one’s personal identity. The conflict that follows may be quite painful as it forces the individual to often withdraw into a world of sadness, hypocrisy, and disgenuineness.
Abstaining from moral judgment, Nazanin is, nevertheless, questioning these ways of shaping identity. With her drawings, she wants to go beyond appearances to reach the identity layer that belongs to one. The lines used in the drawings are, thus, subjective and emotional. They try to convey what the artist has grasped from those who supported her artistic approach and those who have confided in her. To various degrees, they told facets of their mind, secrets or fears which originate in the tension when having to face the other, when asking what one is for oneself and what one would want to be. Each drawing describes a personal story of an individual that entered into a dialogue with the artist based on trust. In addition, acceptance of one’s nudity by oneself while facing the artist suggests the sincere involvement in the delicate exercise to search for a true nature, indicating furthermore the implicit willingness to find oneself.
Usually working with a colour-rich palette, Nazanin has chosen for this project to limit herself to the use of black ink. The black colour comes to life with the use of different brushes, different types of paper and water. According to the artist, the method allows the viewer to understand more rapidly the substance of the work which goes beyond what is seen at first sight. As she explains, what really matters in these drawings is not so much the figurative representation as the hidden detail that is to be found in a straying look, in some reduced features or even more in something indefinable that remains confined in the imprecise lines of a face.
To better let our senses wander before her pictures, Nazanin makes it a point not to give them titles. She believes that titles are subliminal and that they therefore influence the viewer emotionally without him/her realizing it. She thus invites our inspirations to form the titles,, the deeper meaning of the works and the answers to the following questions: Can one know oneself? How feasible is it to really know the others?
Jun 19-Aug 9, 2009
