Alone (aka Tanha) reports from Tehran that his city recently hosted its third public street art/graffiti event. While the first two were held in gallery spaces, SPRAY 2011 — presented by KolahStudio and hosted by Adrenaline Extreme Sports — took place outdoors on a 70-meter wall. Alone shared the following video and photos of the successful event:
Photos and video courtesy of A1one
Based in Tabriz, Iran, Icy and his younger brother, Sot, began crafting stencils in 2006. Since 2008, their stencils have graced not only the walls of their city, but galleries in Iran and abroad. Particularly appealing about their work is their focus on human rights issues, particularly child labor. Here’s a sampling:
Images courtesy Icy and Sot
Credited with having introduced street art to the Islamic world, A1one also spends many hours in his studio. I particularly love his stencils and his Persian/Arabic — styled calligraphy. Among the images he recently shared with me are these:
Photos courtesy of A1one
Beautiful Crime brought Iranian artist A1one to my attention the other day, and I’ve been spending a good deal of time looking through his flickr. Adam at BC likes him “because it’s raw, effective comment.” As for me, I just think his work is extremely varied, and that that’s something that isn’t always true of street artists. Also, I was surprised that street artists could be so prolific in Iran.
My friend K recently wrote a paper for his art history class comparing Iranian calligraphy and Eine‘s work. I wish I’d found A1one a month ago, because A1one’s work would have been perfect for K’s paper. A1one’s lettering is beautiful on the street, and it’s an interesting twist on classic graffiti.
Now, this last one is sure to strike some people as very similar to work by José Parlá, and I love Parlá’s work, but what’s nice about A1one is that his pieces can actually be read by people other than the artist. For example, the above piece says “Nefrat” or “Hate”. A1one also notes that while Parlá works on expensive materials, A1one uses found materials as a canvas.
Check out more at A1one’s flickr.
