Designer art
Commercial art is a rather nascent enterprise in the UAE. The challenge before the freelance commercial artist is to satisfy one’s own creative urges while accommodating the client brief. Zari Etemadi arrives at this balance by experimenting with diverse media. Rajeev Nair met her
Zari Etemadi tries not to conform, and that is a tough task. She is an architect, interior designer and artist, and there are no tangible dividing lines that segregate the three in her works.
Each creative expression has benefited from the other two — a structure for a painting, the colour scheme for an interior design, sheer aesthetics in an architectural project…
Etemadi is one of the established pioneering commercial artists in the region, which hasn’t limited her in pursuing a purely “art for art’s sake” creativity.
And that is where she tries hard not to fall into image traps. She does breathtaking portraits but her forte is modern contemporary art. She enjoys the liberty of flitting between the two while not experimenting with various other forms, styles and media.
A self-taught artist, who nurtured a passion for painting as a child, but followed her parents’ advice to take up a more secure architect career, Etemadi’s personal art preference is a sort of homecoming for her.
Born in Iran, growing up in the US, where she lived for over two decades, graduating in architecture from the University of Tennessee School of Architecture, and working as an architect with the prestigious Jung/Brannen Associates in Boston, Etemadi’s home in Dubai has a series of personal paintings that depict the majestic doors of Abyaneh, Iran.
These renditions in canvas are simply striking and very much wood-like, and they announce Etemadi’s ardent interest in Abyaneh’s doors, which have two sets of knobs that make different sounds: One proclaims the guest as a male and forewarns the female inmates to arrange their head-dress. The other knob announces the arrival of women.
Etemadi is saddened to see such brilliantly carved doors giving way to metal sheet doors, and the pain is reflected in a painting that contrasts tradition with modernity.
Her personal favourites are the paintings of the two door knobs — a male and female, which share space with works also inspired from the Iranian heritage. However, she doesn’t like to be branded as another artist looking for inspiration in Iran. That is just one of the many facets to her art.
Like commercial art, which happened by chance when she was working for an interior designer firm in Dubai, and had to create a 3.5 metre painting. A commercial artist was hired for the project but it did not shape up according to the client brief. Etemadi took up the task, and this painting for the Dubai Police Academy Officers Club brought Etemadi much appreciation and more offers for commercial art.
Currently, Etemadi’s works decorate prestigious projects including Union Properties’ Nautilus Academy at Al Mussalah Tower, Net.Com Project and Executive Club; Jumeira Rotana Hotel; and an impressive 360 cm x 160 cm rendition for Dubai Festival City created to the brief of its interior designer manager Alyson Hutchinson. Private clients have also hired her services for creating contemporary interiors.
Etemadi feels that commercial art is growing in demand in the UAE with the boom in the real estate sector. She is comfortable working to the brief as well as conceiving her own art projects that suit the mood of the property as she did at Jumeira Rotana.
Having worked as architect and interior designer with companies including Schuster Pechtold & Partners, and Wrenn Associates in Dubai, and imbibing a sense for the high-rises in Massachusetts, US, Etemadi says no formal training in art per se has given her a rare sense of creative freedom.
“I have always been good with colours,” she adds. “I just go with my feelings.” Because she is not constrained by the rules of artistic training, Etemadi says she is “able to work with different media and execute different ideas.”
Etemadi has not hosted an exhibition of her works but then her commercial art has already earned her a place of pride amongst the region’s artists. One reason why solo exhibitions have been delayed, she says, is because she has been exploring so many different media and styles.
Etemadi feels there is a message in her current artistic endeavour. She had delved into architecture alright putting aside the dreams for a creative artist career but “however much one may force you into something you might not want to pursue, you can still follow your dreams.”
That requires undiluted commitment, which Etemadi has proved she has aplenty.
Photographs: Mohammed Rasheed
