‘Iran art galleries courageous overseas’

Iranian art galleries have shown brave strides in presenting the country’s top artworks in international auctions, a gallery director says.

It takes lots of guts to take part in international art fairs despite the immense economic obstacles, Mojdeh Tabatabaei, the owner of Mojdeh Art Gallery in the Iranian capital city of Tehran, said following the 22nd Christie’s Dubai auction.

She noted that Iranian galleries are continuing to “expend a lot of energy and money to be part of the contemporary global art scene and keep the name of Iranian art alive.”

The problem is that many of the items bought at international auctions were purchased by Iranian nationals, Tabatabaei said, explaining that such items could have easily been purchased domestically.

“We must encourage international collectors to purchase Iranian art,” Tabatabaei said, adding, “They must feel the need to have Iranian artworks in their collections.”

The supply of Iranian artwork outweighs international demand, though selling art to foreigners remains a top priority to galleries.

Iranian galleries have maintained a high presence at top international auctions like Christie's, Sotheby's, Bonhams, and Art Dubai.

During Christie's Dubai 22nd auction this year, some 163 artworks were auctioned, of which 49 were from Iran.

Tabatabaei offered that both Iranian art galleries and international auction houses can improve the market by being more selective and limiting the amount of artworks available during sales.

“My honest take is that Iranian artists and galleries came up on top… They did all this and more to keep the name of Iranian art alive, and they did it so well. I admire them all,” Tabatabaei concluded.

AI/AI