Fludd Senior Interview / 1. Morteza Zahedi

He is brilliant, he has a sensitive view and an extremely personal touch, he's from Iran, he paints and draws and makes book and attends worldwide exhibitions. Of course he's Morteza Zahedi and he's also extremely kind, in fact thanks to him we start our series of Senior Interviews, hosting remarkable creative personalities. Enjoy!

SF: Five words to describe your childhood... ?

MZ: War, Sadness, Fear, Adventures, Discoveries.

SF: When did you start drawing, what were your favourite subjects?
MZ: As a child I would draw what was in hand, for me drawing meant the same to any other child. I just drew and painted anything and everything …

SF: An important step for your self-improvement and artistic growth?
MZ: Maybe the first time I went to Bologna’s Book Fair, I met there artists that gave me a new vision about illustration and art in general. The real possibility of growing and developing your artistic skills beyond the markets or the fashions of each moment.

SF: How is the place where you live influencing your work?
MZ: I'm living in Iran at the moment and it doesn't influence or inspire me at all, here is similar the hell actually, very closed!!!  I need especially, peace of mind, tranquility, silence and to be alone, but I don't have silence and tranquility, unfortunately…

SF: Which is the aspect of your profession that you dislike the most?
MZ: When I have no ideas and all the tasks related to money… specially printing the bills after doing a work! And also, I don't like to draw something without goal in front of people who watch !!!

SF: Is there a project you're secretly rising since a long time?
MZ: Yes indeed!! but I’m afraid it is a secret... !

SF: You as an artist in three adjectives... ?
MZ: Eclecticism, spontaneity, a kind of poetry (much better when “others” tell you!!)

SF: If you were living 100 years ago, which artistic movement or group would you have worked into?
MZ: No, really too hard to choose! Maybe the Bauhaus in order to be a Paul Klee's student... ?

SF: what is for you the main difference between a commissioned painting and a commissioned illustration?
MZ: I see no difference. I mean, I don’t see the differences that people usually point out. In one case or another, the order translates into a programme. And work answers to a programme. What really matters is to take on the job with dynamism and the requested demand. This is only the starting point. According to the unconscious and the operative capabilities of the author, the work can lead to an outcome that does not commit the author’s “freedom”, even if this meant getting a job done.

SF: Three artists you would like to exhume and interview?
MZ: Only three?! Jean Dubuffet, Andy Warhol, Jean Michel Basquiat…

SF: which is the most "artistically friendly" city you have visited?
MZ: I'm still searching... but so far probably Paris.

SF: Three irreplaceable visual art values that are useful for the human cohabitation?
MZ: Diversity, sincerity and sensibility.

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More about Morteza and his work: Website ! - Un Sedicesimo / ed. Corraini - su Le Figure dei Libri.
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