.jpg "Aidin Aghdashlu poses with one of his works in an exhibition at Tehran’s Asar Gallery on November 14, 2014.")
TEHRAN – A large number of visitors, fans and art lovers queued up to see the paintings of Aidin Aghdashlu at the opening of his exhibition at Tehran’s Asar Gallery on Friday.
Visitors lined up for more than two hours outside the gallery to visit the exhibit “Memories of Destruction”, a retrospective of the master and art critic displaying his works created over the past 40 years, the Persian service of ISNA reported on Sunday.
The staff of the gallery kept reminding the visitors to leave the gallery to let the outsiders get a chance to visit, however there was another line inside for taking photos with Aghdashlu.
“I hope people have liked the works. Today I felt I have received a positive response to my works upon seeing the courageous visitors,” Aghdashlu said.
“I have always tried to be modest and have not promoted my works. I wanted this exhibit to be a proper one for an artist who is displaying works he has done over a period of 40 years,” he added.
The high interest might reflect the visitors’ curiosity to know what the artist has been through over the past 40 years, Aghdashlu remarked.
He continued that he has kept all the paintings he created within the past year for the exhibit. “There are also several works from my previous collections on show to better familiarize the youth with the techniques used in my works.”
Veteran painter Parivash Ganji, who seemed very happy to see the large number of visitors, said, “I used to think people only queued up for bread and cheese, but now I see they will queue up to see paintings if necessary.”
Veteran artist Enayatollah Nazari Nuri said he is not surprised to see such great number of visitors. “People are aware of the position of Aidin Aghdashlu. This line is not just to see his paintings, they are here to see the artist himself. This is precious to see people care for their popular artist.”
Eleven paintings and one sculpture have been put on show at the exhibit, which will be running until December 12 at the gallery located at 16 Barforushan St. off Iranshahr Street.
RM/YAW
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