Intense imagery
The Darebaghis — Iranian brothers Mostafa and Morteza, and Mostafa’s wife Shahla Moghaddam — exhibit their works at Majlis Gallery, Bur Dubai, through Nov. 4. Rajeev Nair has the details
If there is a meeting of minds in the paintings of Iranian brothers Mostafa and Morteza Darebaghi and Mostafa’s wife Shahla Moghaddam, it could only be coincidental.
For all the current American moorings of Mostafa and Shahla, the three still are bound by strong, regional impressions — of the land and its people.
They had first exhibited at Dubai’s Majlis Gallery in 1997. Then, they were fresh from “their shared studio, looking north towards the mountainous fringes of Tehran and venturing south to seek new experiences and inspiration.”
Today, they have travelled further afield; in fact, Mostafa and Shahla work out of their studio in the US, while Morteza finds comfort in Tehran.
Over the years, they have evolved new languages but retained the “simple intensity of their artistic statements.”
That captivating intensity is the essence of the current exhibition. If Morteza presents his collection of truly Arabian sketches, painted specially for the current show, Mostafa and Shahla are rooted in their individual artistic leanings.
Together, the three styles, with their varied palettes, brush strokes and attitudes, make for a visually stunning imagery. And yet, there is a synergy, a faint echo of three minds working in unison, that resonates at the exhibition.
In Morteza’s current collection on show, there is absolutely no scope for ambiguity. He paints dhows, beaches, oryx, camels and people with astounding directness.
Which comes as a surprise if you study his original portfolio that has a large share of figurative abstracts. At Majlis Gallery, he almost poses for an impressionist.
Mostafa, but, adheres to his style statement: Of angular shapes and the recurring imagery of roosters, fishes and goats. Some of his paintings make two perfect halves: One section totally abstract, the other with his vintage angular patterns.
It is a style that rubs off, occasionally, on Shahla’s works too. But the larger collection proclaims her preoccupation with bold colours, dramatic brush strokes and an eye for details.
Morteza, younger to Mostafa, and currently in Dubai as part of the exhibition, is rather shy when it comes to words to describe his artistic career. As one of Iran’s original artists, his comfort zone clearly lies in painting, in expressing himself through colours and not in words.
For the Dubai exhibition, he has painted dhows, beaches, boats and camels — all representations of what he saw here. Nothing was photographed. No rough sketches were made. He painted them all from memory — including a rendition of the Majlis Gallery. 
The paintings, for its direct content, could even be considered too simplistic to be heavyweight art. But the finer details and the instant sense of association they generate make all the difference.
How about closing one of your eyes, and cutting out the boundaries of the painting, to study the boats and beaches minutely? The paintings suddenly seem to come to life, to lie out to infinity, beating the space-time constraint of the canvas. If that isn’t the success of art, little else is.
“I like my (direct) style,” says Morteza. “With these paintings, I simply want to bring out the culture of the region.”
Yet, there is the figurative abstract artist, not wholly into reality bites, lurking in the background. The Arab nomads — men and women — all have dabs of red on their headwear or on the desert background. “Red is a very warm colour,” explains Morteza. “It perfectly suits the warmth of the region — the desert and the city.”
There is fluid motion too to the paintings. One work looks at the land ashore from the stern of a dhow. Another has waves breaking on the shore. In both, the fluidity of the subject is perceptible.
Morteza does not bring politics to his art. “I don’t like politics, and I don’t like to bring politics to art.”
But what he does bring to his works is life. Intense and natural.
