Ebrahim Ehrari
Ebrahim Ehrari (* 1938 in Urmia , West Azerbaijan Province , Iran ) is a freelance artist who lives in Berlin and is represented by the Berlin- Baku Gallery . In 2007 he founded this with his artist friend Salhab Mammadov and his son Emin Mammadov (Baku). His early work is characterized by graphic techniques in the manner of symbolism ; later he found more intense color, more abstract oil and acrylic paintings in larger versions.
biography
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Childhood and family
Ebrahim Ehrari was born in Urmia ( West Azerbaijan Province / Iran ) in 1938 as the youngest of seven children. He grew up in a middle-class family; the father was a notary, the mother a housewife. Ebrahim Ehrari's cultural identity was shaped during his childhood by the regional language ( Azerbaijani ), which experienced a sudden turning point in 1946. After the Iranian province of Azerbaijan was defeated by Persian troops, Farsi was introduced as the official language. The use of his mother tongue in public spaces was associated with reprisals. This incision in his free development had a lasting influence on Ebrahim Ehrari and sensitized him to external influence at an early stage, which in his artistic work repeatedly led to a substantive discussion.
Youth and Studies
Ebrahim Ehrari - encouraged by his drawing teacher - had the desire to study art at the University of Tehran during his school days. In 1957 he successfully graduated from high school with a high school diploma. In the end, despite minimalist chances, he passed the entrance examination to the university in Tehran, but his plan to study art was thwarted. His father expected him, like the latter himself, to study law. However, the son was not ready to submit and from then on had to provide for his own living. He financed himself with a wide variety of jobs and this made his studies a long way off. From 1957 he worked as an advertising artist in the press department of the Ministry of Water and Electricity in Khuzestan (southern Iran, province on the Persian Gulf) for his livelihood. In this phase of his life he was also mayor in Bushehr (southern Iran, province on the Persian Gulf). He also worked as a pipeline welder on the island of Kharg in Iran. Above all, the events experienced there had a lasting influence on the artist in his artistic work, especially in his motifs. Encounters with European work colleagues and media reports made him dream of a free life in Europe .
The first years in Berlin
Finally Ebrahim Ehrari moved to Berlin in 1966 in order to make a fresh start with his savings. In Berlin he married Hanna Hufman from the Netherlands. With their support, he began studying graphic design at the University of Fine Arts in 1969 with professors Wolfgang Ludwig and Hans Förtsch. In 1973 he successfully completed his studies, which gave him creative possibilities to express his thoughts on social conflicts through artistic means. During this time of reorientation, Ebrahim Ehrari had two daughters.
The homecoming to Iran
Because of his ties to his homeland and in order to convey the basics he had learned in his homeland, Ebrahim Ehrari became a lecturer at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Academy of Applied Arts in Tehran in the field of graphic techniques in 1973 . However, this did not bring the necessary satisfaction; there was too much surveillance and restriction by the Iranian secret service SAWAK. In addition, the lecturer had too few linguistic means of expression to pass the specialist language learned in Berlin on to his students in the old national language. In the same year, Ebrahim Ehrari and Kurt Scharf , head of the Goethe-Institut Teheran, got to know each other, who over the years should become Ehrari's close confidante and who is responsible for some of the accompanying texts for the art catalogs that have appeared. As a result, Ebrahim Ehrari was responsible for organizing the exhibition in 1975 as part of the German-Iranian cultural work at the Goethe-Institut in Tehran. In addition, Ebrahim Ehrari remained true to his artistic practice during this time and worked on optical illusions that stand out entirely through precision and illusion.
Permanent move to Berlin and further career
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In 1975 Ebrahim Ehrari and his wife, who did not comply with the conditions of the system controlled by the secret service, decided to return to Berlin with their children. Ebrahim Ehrari studied art history at the Free University until 1976 . The Eurocentrism in the subject disappointed him, however, and he broke off his studies in art history. From 1976 to 2003 he was then head of the etching workshop of the Federal Association of Visual Artists Berlin (BBK) in the Künstlerhaus Bethanien . This activity enabled him to finally devote himself to his artistic work.
From 1981 to 2007 Ebrahim Ehrari was a member of the Lankwitz cultural initiative, later the Schwartz'sche Villa sponsoring association , for which he took over the chairmanship in 1986. In 1984 the artist moved into his first own studio, also in Steglitz . In 1985 the artist received an artist-in-residence grant at the Arts Council in Belfast for 12 months . From 1988 to 2010 he was chairman of the Azerbaijani-German cultural association in Berlin. During this phase of his life, Ebrahim Ehrari became an important figure in the Berlin and international art scene with numerous exhibition projects.
Ebrahim Ehrari has been a member of the Association of Berlin Artists (VBK) since 1979 . Until 2010 he was also a member of the Professional Association of Visual Artists (BBK) .
Ebrahim Ehrari has been actively involved in cultural exchange between Germany and the Republic of Azerbaijan (former Soviet republic ) since 1983 , after which he founded the Berlin-Baku gallery in 2007 together with his artist friend Salhab Mammadov and his son Emin Mammadov. The gallery in Berlin-Schöneberg is the partner gallery of the QGallery in Baku . It promotes cultural relations between Azerbaijan , Germany and the world. Ebrahim Ehrari has since been represented in the artist program of the gallery, for which his daughter Parwane Ehrari took over the management in 2014.
Ebrahim Ehrari lives with his family in Berlin and still works there today as a freelance artist.
Awards
Ebrahim Ehrari was awarded an honorary doctorate from Baku Free University, Azerbaijan , in 1993 . In 2003 he also received an honorary doctorate from the State Academy of Fine Arts in Baku. Furthermore, in 2011 he was made an honorary artistic employee of the Republic of Azerbaijan . He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his commitment.
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Early work
After obtaining his Abitur, Ebrahim Ehrari spent a lot of time on the open sea through his work as a pipeline welder and dealt with the underwater world there. The silence and clarity of the water fascinated him so much that these impressions repeatedly influence his works. At the same time, he was also moved by the associated environmental destruction, the breaking of this silence, the turbulent seabed and its disturbed environment as a mirror of his own life experiences in childhood. For him, these experiences were best implemented using etching techniques. A special feature of his motifs were enigmatic and encrypted imagery that require deciphering and its own interpretation. This is not about striving for a realistic representation in art, but one with the theme of the picture in the picture.
“ I am a person with so many pent-up problems from childhood and problems from my country and culture that I need such a puzzling form of expression. "
Ebrahim Ehrari is particularly keen to develop a universal visual language that can be understood both in his home country and in Germany . For this reason he brings together expressions of symbolism , realism and pseudorealism. A popular stylistic device are optical illusions that are able to draw people's attention to what is happening in the picture by thinking about what is seen, stepping out of everyday structures and thus reaching a new level.
Ebrahim Ehrari's depictions in this creative phase mainly show the depiction of spaces that express the security and the place of retreat of people and at the same time are an illusion. The human being, who can appear in many forms, is trapped in them and must develop the courage to want to break out of this fixed structure of order and rules. The artist achieves this by eliminating perspective and proportions as well as an iconography that takes place on several levels of reality.
Ebrahim Ehrari demonstrates excellent skills in his graphic work. Especially in color etchings and Aqua Tinta , which are characterized by their wealth of detail. At the same time, they have a more in-depth visual language which, with their symbols, refers to new visual worlds and breaks up common ideas. The amalgamation of European and Oriental pictorial traditions is Ehrari's primary intention; H. a combination of concrete images and poetic beauty. The artist achieves this primarily through his expressive symbolism. His rooms stand for limitation, a tip for danger, water for life and the horse for strength.
Further development of the oeuvre and current artistic work
In the course of his artistic work, Ebrahim Ehrari increasingly dealt with various other techniques, including mixed techniques, and left the graphic expression behind him. The three-year occupation with computer art finally led the original graphic artist to painting, whose expressive possibilities Ebrahim Ehrari still uses today. He has also remained true to the enigmatic visual language he originally developed, with its extraordinary symbolism and the imaginative and socially critical themes. In the second half of the 80s, mixed techniques were already emerging that were less figurative and showed increasing color intensity. This motif and tendency appear in the current paintings in distinctive, colorful representations on formats that are often more than twice the size of his graphic works.
For a long time, the etchings loaded with symbols could best convey Ehrari's attitude to life. For example, he used the sea as a symbol of memory in order to process past experiences. Ebrahim Ehrari also justified the graphic work method with the fact that she did not have the opportunity to let her imagination run wild. Everything has to be designed beforehand in your head.
It is all the more remarkable for the artistic oeuvre that it developed into oil and acrylic painting on canvas in the 2000s. A way of painting that is characterized entirely by chance, reworking and spontaneity. Ehrari's latest catalog (2015) lists and describes twelve of these works in order to understand the background to each choice of motif. As in earlier catalogs, this article was also written by Kurt Scharf. For example, the work “The Pomegranate from Sheki” (2013) shows a bright red pomegranate in the center of the image. This refers to paradise in the Koran. In general, this symbol has only positive attributes in other religions and reminds of its roots in its background: the Azerbaijani mountain landscape. Ebrahim Ehrari's works, like this one, are characterized by the representation of the concrete in combination with the color in its purest form, sometimes more sometimes less. The background is only partially recognizable as a landscape, the rest plays with the viewer's imagination and leaves plenty of room for your own interpretation. The exploration of structures and surfaces are further characteristics in Ebrahim Ehrari's paintings.
Ebrahim Ehrari's works are represented in numerous national and international collections. a. in Afghanistan, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Germany, France, Greece, Great Britain, India, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Sweden, South Korea, Czech Republic and in the USA.
His artistic output comprises around 3000 works. It contains around 2500 graphic works.
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Cultural activities
Ebrahim Ehrari met Nabi Xazri in the 1980s, who was preparing the Azerbaijani cultural week in Berlin , and for which Ebrahim Ehrari would later become responsible. This encounter also resulted in the first visit to Baku , which was to lead to another important encounter - with Salhab Mammadov. There the artist also established contact with the Azerbaijani Artists Association. This was the beginning of Ebrahim Ehrari's significant contribution to the further development of cultural activities in Berlin. In 1987 he founded the Azerbaijani-German cultural association, which decisively promoted cultural exchange between the two countries.
The meeting with Elcin Afandiyev (Heimatverein Baku) at the end of the 80s brought about several important cultural projects - both in Baku and in Berlin. a. in the field of theater, film, art, music and dance, which further promoted the exchange of cultural relations between Germany and Azerbaijan.
In 1991 Ebrahim Ehrari was responsible for organizing on behalf of Azerbaijan as part of the Caucasian Culture Month at the House of World Cultures in Berlin . There followed - also at the HdKdW - some culturally relevant activities, including a. Readings, festivals and the supervision of the Caucasian Culture Month (1991) and the Azerbaijani Culture Week (1993). In the same year he was part of the cooperation between the Azerbaijani Artists Association and the Academy of Fine Arts in Baku.
In 2007 Ebrahim Ehrari was involved as an organization and artist in an exhibition with various artists from seven countries on the Silk Road in Berlin-Mitte. For the Buddy Bear exhibitions he designed three bears (two large and one small) with motifs typical of Azerbaijan. The first bear was acquired by the Berlin waterworks; the second bear traveled the world with the bears of other nations. His version of the little bear last stood on Wittenbergplatz in Berlin.
Also, to the commemoration of the events in Khojaly is Ebrahim Ehrari has successfully sought; to set up a Chodjali sculpture by Akif Asgarov, Ali Ibaduillayev and Salhab Mammadov in public spaces in Berlin . It has been in the Gottfried Benn Library in Berlin Steglitz-Zehlendorf as a reminder and reminder for all people since 2011 . They were ceremoniously unveiled by Azerbaijan's Deputy Minister of Culture Adalat Veliyev and Cerstin Richter-Kotowski, City Councilor for Education, Culture and Educational Services, as well as Norbert Kopp, District Mayor, and the Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Berlin HE Parviz Shahbazov.
Since 2014, the Academy of Fine Arts Baku has been working on the initiative of Ebrahim Ehrari with the Weißensee School of Art , which promotes student exchange within the framework of projects and stays in the respective partner city.
Many of Ehrari's activities took place in cooperation with the Azerbaijani embassy , for which the artist is also a member of the cultural advisory board , with the Azerbaijani artists' association, the BKK, the Schwarzschen Villa and the Künstlerhaus Bethanien .
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Exhibitions
Solo exhibitions and projects (selection)
- 1973: Goethe-Institut, Tehran, Iran
- 1978: Galerie de Sfinx, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- 1979: Galerie Friedemann, Gütersloh
- 1980: Galerie de Sfinx, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- 1981: De Schakel, Voorburg, Netherlands
- 1982: Galerie Stodieck, Mönchengladbach
- 1982: Petruskirche Lichterfelde, Berlin
- 1985: Graphic Studio, Dublin, Ireland
- 1986: Traveling exhibition, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland
- 1988: Fenderensky Art Gallery, Belfast, Northern Ireland
- 1988: Kommunale Galerie, Berlin
- 1993: Bulino, Steinen Schlächtenhaus (Black Forest)
- 1998: Raiffeisenbank, Deutschlandsberg, Austria
- 2000: Museum, Graz, Austria
- 2002: Buddy Bear for Azerbaijan, Berlin
- 2003: Kommunale Galerie, Berlin
- 2003: Q-Gallery, Baku, Azerbaijan
- 2003: Buddy Bear for Azerbaijan, Berlin
- 2006: Burstert Gallery, Albrecht, Potsdam
- 2006: Petra Lange Gallery, Berlin
- 2010: Galerie Berlin-Baku, Berlin
- 2012: Galerie Horst-Nico Kress, Mannheim
- 2013: Gallery Berlin-Baku, Berlin
- 2013: Conference Center, Malmö, Sweden
- 2014: "Im Rausch der Fantasy", Galerie Berlin-Baku, Berlin
- 2017: "BerlinꚙBaku - The Founders", Galerie Berlin-Baku, Berlin
- 2018: "Ebrahim Ehrari.80", Galerie Berlin-Baku, Berlin
Group exhibitions (selection)
- 1972: Galerie Litfass, Berlin
- 1974: Simultaneous exhibition Berlin / Tehran, Iran / Urmia, Iran
- 1975: Iranian-Dutch Society, Tehran, Iran
- 1976: Montparnassa, Mykonos, Greece
- 1977: Galerie Laubach, Berlin
- 1979: Galerie l'auberge, Celle-Boye
- 1982: Petruskirche Lichterfelde, Berlin
- 1983: State Library, Paderborn
- 1984: Galerie Stodieck, Berlin
- 1985: Fenderensky Art Gallery, Belfast, Northern Ireland
- 1986 - 2000: e.g. Partly repeated participation in exhibitions in Berlin, Weiden, Ludwigshafen, Munich, Paderborn, Hamburg, Westphalia, Italy, France, Poland, Portugal, Greece, Russia, Argentina, Brazil, USA, India, Japan and Afghanistan
- 2001: Petra Lange Gallery, Berlin
- 2002: Galerie VBK, Berlin
- 2008: Galerie Berlin-Baku, Berlin
- 2014: Central Park Praha, Prague, Czech Republic
- 2014: "My home is my castle", Jang Pyeon Museum, South Korea
- 2014: BBK exhibition in Leer, East Frisia
- 2015: "smArtcities", Korean Cultural Center & Gallery Berlin-Baku, Berlin
- 2015: "out of the border", HO l Berlin, Berlin
- 2016: "Lyrisch Fantastisch", Association of Berlin Artists (VBK), Berlin
- 2017: "Pomegranate and Feuerberg - Azerbaijani art of the present between fantasy and world view", Art Station Kleinsassen, Kleinsassen near Fulda
Bibliography (excerpt)
- IT - Flights, Bibliophil., Berlin 1972
- "Iran today - graphics, painting, fabric printing", Tehran - Iran 1975
- “Le globe”, Exposition, Nantes - France 1979
- "Moulin de Gennebrie", Melle - France 1979
- Bedaeckers Berlin-Steglitz, Berlin 1980
- "Mixed feelings" - etching techniques & graphics, Berlin 1982
- “Galerie de pret grand 'place”, Grenoble - France 1984
- Listowel Print, Ireland 1985
- "Ebrahim Ehrari", Wilmersdorf Art Office, Kupijai & Prochnow, Berlin 1988
- "Male Formi Grafiki" 85/86/87, Lodz-Poland 1985–1987
- "Six from Berlin / Aberdeen", Berlin 1987
- "House on Lützowplatz: Dreams, Faces, Visions", Berlin 1987
- “Folk tales from Azerbaijan” with illustrations by Ebrahim Ehrari, Verlag Dr. Köster, Berlin 2007
- Catalog “Deep in the Intoxication of Fantasy” with works from 2013–2014
- Catalog "Ebrahim Ehrari", 2015
Numerous other catalogs for Ebrahim Ehrari's exhibitions (individual and group) have been published.
literature
- Udo Christoffel (ed.): Representations of Berlin artists. Ebrahim Ehrari. Wilmersdorf Art Office (Volume 1), Berlin 1988.
- Ebrahim Ehrari (ed.): "Mixed feelings" - etching techniques and graphics. 1st edition. Berlin 1982.
- Ebrahim Ehrari (Ed.): Ebrahim Ehrari. Deep in the intoxication of the imagination. Berlin 2015.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Gallery Berlin-Baku. Retrieved April 11, 2018 .
- ↑ Ebrahim Ehrari: "Mixed feelings" - etching techniques and graphics . 1st edition. Berlin 1982, p. 16-20; 162 .
- ^ Kurt Scharf: Representations of Berlin artists: Ebrahim Ehrari . Ed .: Udo Christoffel. tape 1 . Wilmersdorf Art Office, Berlin 1988.
- ^ Gallery Berlin-Baku. Retrieved April 11, 2018 .
- ↑ Ebrahim Ehrari: "Mixed feelings" - etching techniques and graphics . 1st edition. Berlin 1982, p. 162 .
- ↑ Ebrahim Ehrari: "Mixed feelings" - etching techniques and graphics . 1st edition. Berlin 1982, p. 17-19 .
- ↑ Ebrahim Ehrari: "Mixed feelings" - etching techniques and graphics . 1st edition. Berlin 1982, p. 19 .
- ↑ K. Sander-Wietfeld: Eastern and Western culture closely connected with etchings . Westfalen Zeitung, October 27, 1983.
- ↑ Ebrahim Ehrari: "Mixed feelings" - etching techniques and graphics . 1st edition. Berlin 1982, p. 19-20 .
- ^ Gallery Berlin-Baku. Retrieved April 11, 2018 .
- ^ Gallery Berlin-Baku. Retrieved April 11, 2018 .
- ^ Detlef Olschewski: Art by Ebrahim Ehrari. Retrieved April 11, 2018 .
- ↑ Götz J. Pfeiffer: Out of the ordinary . Ed .: Tagesspiegel POTSDAMER Latest news. Potsdam February 27, 2006.
- ^ Gallery Berlin-Baku. Retrieved April 11, 2018 .
- ^ Kurt Scharf: Representations of Berlin artists: Ebrahim Ehrari . Ed .: Udo Christoffel. tape 1 . Wilmersdorf Art Office, Berlin 1988, p. 36 .
- ↑ Kurt Scharf: Deep in the intoxication of the imagination . Ed .: Ebrahim Ehrari. Berlin 2015.
- ↑ Kurt Scharf: Deep in the intoxication of the imagination . Ed .: Ebrahim Ehrari. Berlin 2015, p. 7 .
- ^ Gallery Berlin-Baku. Retrieved April 11, 2018 .
- ^ Gallery Berlin-Baku. Retrieved April 11, 2018 .
- ^ Ingeborg Ruthe: Enigmatic and encrypted . Ed .: Berliner Zeitung - Culture Calendar. No. 124 . Berlin May 31, 2018, p. 7 .
- ^ Matthias Reichelt: flapping wings . Ed .: Der Tagesspiegel. No. 23521 . Der Tagesspiegel, Berlin 7 July 2018, p. 19 ( pressreader.com ).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ehrari, Ebrahim |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Artist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1938 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Urmia , West Azerbaijan Province , Iran |