Farairan’ Choice Ahmad Nadalian

Born in 1963 in Sangsar, an ancient town on the skirts of Alborz Mountain in Semnan, Nadalian was drawn to arts since he was 14. He studied painting at the College of Fine Arts of Tehran University (1988). After graduation he went to France and studied the history of art in various museums and cultural centers  of that country. He obtained his Ph.D in painting and wall decorations from Central University of England (UCE) in 1996. Nadalian is one of the pioneers of Environmental art in Iran and his art and fame has spread to the whole world.

According to John Grande in his book Dialogue in Diversity: Nadalian is an Iranian sculptor whose life’s work involves engendering respect for living creatures and the natural environment. To achieve this, besides living with nature himself, he established sculpture grounds in a peaceful environment in natural surroundings. Water is a living element that contributes to his sculptures, and many of the symbols he engraves and sculpts are derived from ancient mythology and the rituals of pre-Islamic civilizations.”

Without the motion and sound of the rushing water, my work has little meaning.  The river has been transformed into art. The rising of the water level in spring and the lowered level in autumn gain significance from the life-affirming rituals that are part of the philosophy of ancient Iranian mysticism.

                                     

  There was only the earth on which we trod and the satisfaction of knowing what had to be done each day.

                                       

^{Nuclear Energy}

As part of his art, Ahmad Nadalian buries his creations all around the world in holes in the ground.  People who observe him doing it may secretly want to retrieve the “treasure,” hoping to find gold and jewels.  But at the bottom of each hole there is a simple stone with a motif carved into it.  These stones are the treasure, though people often do not realize it. For the carved stones represent the artist’s ideas and good wishes for the whole earth. In this way he seeks ,to repopulate the spirit of neglected streams and rivers in his native Iran and around the world and share these treasures with future generations. Over the past decade the artist has traveled to cities and remote regions in every continent (with the exception of Antarctica) to work with children and local residents to create countless treasures which are then tossed into rivers and buried under the earth, spreading his message on a scale that few artists have before. Nadalian’s “message to contemporary man is to remain aware of the dangers of environmental disasters and political crises. If there is any audiences in the future, this work will tell them the story of life and humanity.”

I think about the future.  I have deliberately buried many of my carvings in their natural settings.  These burials are secrets I share with the earth, an exhibition for later generations.  These pieces highlight the value of the earth, the cradle of humanity and its civilizations.

                                       

^{Adam & Eve                                                                                                                        Fetus}

The universality of Nadalian’s stone images and their ties to his Persian heritage, are part of their appeal. As natural images with deep historical roots they are both recognizable and enigmatic. For the artist, “walking along a riverbank and washing the stones, which he has already carved, is not only a performance, but also a prayer, a form of worship, an invocation” For him art is a blessing and a connection with Time-Space.

^{Bicycle-No-War}

In the past, rituals and beliefs stipulated that elements such as water and earth remain pure; to pollute them was a sin.  Today the descendants of those ancient societies have neither retained their divine beliefs nor gained the necessary know-ledge to combat the ecological crisis.

Polluted environments are the result of polluted emotions, thoughts and attitudes; a pure world belongs to a pure being.

  The pollution of nature comes from the pollution of the human soul.  We may be wrong in thinking we can work to save the environment; we have to realize that we too are part of the environment. All we need to learn is to stop polluting it any further.  This awareness will help us humans more than anything else.

Environmental crises and the need to resurrect a pure environment call for a new art form.  Environmental art can play an important role.  Art is capable of illustrating the crisis, critiquing its conditions, and describing a utopian world.

                                   

^{Free Fish}

Sources:

Edward Lucie-Smith
Dialogue in Diversity

Earth, Sea, Sun, And SkyArt in Nature

Landscape Architecture:  6/2008

http://www.wwwebart.com/riverart/index.htm

http://www.morning-earth.org/ARTISTNATURALISTS/AN_Nadalian.html