Painter picked as Islamic Revolution Artist of the year

The opening ceremony of the Islamic Revolution Art Week has honored Iranian painter Hassan Rouholamin as the Islamic Revolution Artist of the Year.

Rouholamin, mostly known for illustrating stories from the history of Islam, won the title for his painting in memory of Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, Quds Force commander, who was martyred during a US air raid in Baghdad on January 3, 2020.

The Islamic Revolution Artist of the Year for 2020 was scheduled to be announced during the 6th Islamic Revolution Art Week, but the Art Bureau postponed the event due to the coronavirus outbreak in Iran.

The other nominees for the title were filmmaker Javad Afshar for ‘Gando’, a docudrama about the spy case of Iranian-American journalist Jason Rezaeean, singer Gholam-Reza Sanatgar for his songs ‘Qassem Is Still Alive’ and ‘O Iran’, graphic designer Mohammad-Saber Sheikh-Rezaee, and writer Mohsen Kazemi for writing the memoirs of Kazem Darabi in a book titled ‘Teahouse Painting’. Darabi was an Iranian suspect in the 1992 Mykonos Restaurant assassinations case in Berlin.

Rouholamin’s paintings usually call to mind the ambiance of the Renaissance paintings. In his works, he regards stories from the history of Islam and contemporary events.

In 2017, he created a painting of Mohsen Hojaji, an Iranian soldier who was martyred by Daesh terrorists in Syria.

In November 2016, the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art unveiled Rouholamin’s large painting featuring the last moments of the life of Imam Hussein (AS).

In January 2019, his collection ‘The Truth Is with Ali’ containing paintings about Imam Ali (AS), was showcased at an exhibition in Tehran’s Niavaran Cultural Center.

Rouholamin, 35, was also nominated for the Islamic Revolution Artist of the Year award in 2018, but he failed to win the honor.

Presented every year by the Art Bureau of the Islamic Ideology Dissemination Organization, the Islamic Revolution Artist of the Year has announced the final nominees of 2021.

The finalists are director and screenwriter Jalil Saman, poets Afshin Ala and Ali-Mohammad Moaddab, graphic artist Mohammad-Reza Doust-Mohammadi, as well as author Vahid Yaminpour.

The winner will be announced on April 14 on the closing day of the Islamic Revolution Art Week.

The art week is annually organized to commemorate the martyrdom anniversary of documentarian Seyyed-Morteza Avini who was martyred in 1993 during his last trip to the former Iraq-Iran war zone in southwest of Iran.

MG/MG