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ABOUT ART
MIHAN
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The works of the painter [SHIFTEH]
originate in a sensitivity for the colours of the sun, whick finds
its themes in the potic and subtly emotive interpretation of nature
with its seasons and blooms. the artist's imagination draws him
towards the variety of the landscape with a descriptive
impressionistic tone: woods The painter wishes to explore the sense of nature, life in general and intuition, with a primordial unity and the drive to return to the mystery of man's origins, which instinctively drives him on to re-discover the ancieni symbols of primitive drawings. These are magic drawings of horses which, carved into the walls of caves, we now find painted on a wrinkled canvas. Clear and porous, evoking that primitive strength of fusion between man and nature in works on a landscape theme, we see meadows and fields which sink into the edges of autumn of clear birches, red maple and tortuous beeches deep within woods with stems of varying thickness, bending over to simulate the contras of past storms, and the masses of leaves are painted in a dense colors, with areas toned with greens to reds and the deepest blues, only to dissolve them into steamy mists. The spreading structure of trunks with branches ret against the sky makes a curtain which sarves as a link and counterpoint of composition between vegetation and the depth of the horizon, uniting the atmosphere and the grass. The birds are alight like morning fires: the most uncharacteristic and vulnerable of The flowers is The one painted at The level of The closed horizon, or dispersed with others in The field of a more intense green, applying The law of complementary broad leaves and slim stems; wild flowers stand close together and manifest a day-time vitality, a wealth of light and resounding hues, with greens broken up into yellow, dotted :with red, dyed with pinkish white and bright, mixed in The rarefiedsubstance of The background and dancing at The edge of The meadow. The small white and red flowers approach the first level of The composition, and increase The sense of space: The flowers become luminous factors themselves, between dazzling daisies, and in a profusion of stems and regal gems, of chromatic paste enter into The naturalistic composition, assimilated to vegetable substances, and are transformed into cheerful collections of petals, corollas and pistils. At times The dense flowers are interspersed with Thin strips of pale and dark blue, arranged in vertical sections and curves, giving The effect of flexible stems, and blades of grass with oscillating gilded spikes, which scan The space and compose The rhythm of an inner dance.The artist SHIFTEH makes The grass of that field fluctuate, transmuted into a flower, and leads us through observation into a coveted. Metamorphosis with nature and for a moment the artist tarries in a place outside of this world, immersing himself in The unbounded immensity of a sea of grass and clouds made of trees. Safar was five months old when he stopped hearing from his father. He never saw his father's caring face and powerful figure. He never experienced his tenderness and his embrace, His mother, who was his only shelter and source of affection, died some years later, heartbrokendue to the death of her husband. The five - year-old son was left alone, deprived of a mother's love In his child's imagination, Safar invented a mend with whom he could play. This mend was a piece of paper and a pencil. He drew lines and pictures.He would put Safar's thoughts onto paper. Nature gave him the talent that was enhanced by his circwnstances. Even before he was eight years old, his pencil drawings were being printed in the [ Majeleh Etelaat Koudekan J [ achildren's magazine J. when he was ten years old, he was accepted as an apprentice to the Master, Behzad, the greatest miniaturist of his time. After some time, Behzad sent Safar to the school of another Master called Anoush Rahnavard, so that he could study oil painting. Safar was 12 years old when he was acceoted in the Art Academy of Kamal-ol-Molk. His Master was Sheikhi, one of the greatest painters in Iran. He later entered the Faculty of Fine and Decorative Arts and was taught by Masters Hamidi and Heydarian. Here he completed his development as an Artist, using both water-colours and oils. He then entered the Faculty of Architecture and completed a course of study there. Afterwards he returned to his most beloved art, namely painting. During this period he exhibited his works which received great acclaini ftom the people and the Imperial Court of Iran. on the orders of Queen Farah, a gallery was provided for him in Farah Shomali Avenue in Tehran so that he could exhibit his works as well as set up co teach paintting. Safar named his gallery Shifteh. He taught painting to his students, incldIDg children. He continued these activities until the Iranian Revolution when Safar was forced to close his gallery. with a heavy heart he had to leave Iran and flee to Italy. in Italy he looked for a :tree environment so that he could have the opportunity to create more works of art. In 1979 Safar was accepted into the Academia Bel/' art in Roma to furthet his experience of painting. In 1982he entered the Istituto del Restauro in Florence where he learnt how to restore antique paintings. In 1986 he obtained an MA :trom the Universita' Architetura in Rome. In 1990 he attended the Academia Bell'art to study sculpture. In 1993 he became involved in the restoration of antique paintings under the supervision of professor pavia. In 1993 he opened his own personal studio in Rome which he called Studio Architetto Shifteh. In 1994 he was commissioned by a Swedish company, Ullenius, to travel to Sweden and restore several Afressco paintings on the walls of the King of Sweden's palace. After this contract he was offered another to reconstruct one of the oldest theatres in Sweden in the city of Karlstad. This reconstruction lasted 13 months. On 24/03/1996, Safar came to London and opened his own atelier called the Art Studio where he gave painting Lessons to apprentices. EXHIBITIONS Throughout his artistic career, SHIFTEH has partaken in numerous Experiments and been awarded artists' prizes. We recall following:
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cornfields. meadows full of flowers in bloom on clear mornings, with
the constant theme of direct or diffused light which hovers between
the grass and trees in an uninterrupted play of brush strokes.
SHIFTEH draws directly. using oil, water and acrylic colour in a
thick paste. with spatulas and brush strokes applied strongly on the
intentionally opaque surface. neglecting accuracy of detail, and
working with bluish hues whick give the sensation of a damp
atmosphere due to the sheen of the colour, with a direct and
enchanted stroke: preferring backgrounds which are in harmony on the
canvas, he reveals the intense organic vitality of the subject, and
the special dimensions of the works are intentionally broad so that
one can perceive the effect of the chromatic vibration pf expanding
shapes which arises from a light fragmentation of irregular brush
strokes.