Biography, Exhibits , Art Statement  and Projects                                                           Back to Main page

Bio:

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mr. Darab Shabahang began his artistic endeavors after the Islamic revolution. In grade school, he had always been very comfortable and enjoyed the arts and music very much. He went to India and received his degree in Physics instead and then attempted to receive his masters in London for the same field. However, the onset of the revolution prevented this as he became actively involved in politics in India. He traveled to Europe and became a member of the World Confederation of Iranian Students. When returned to Iran, he was very disappointed by the outcome of the revolution and since he did not have permission for a formal job, he turned to art. Studying at Kamal al-Molk, the famous arts institution in Iran, He studied under Hossein Sheykh, who had been one of the original students of Kamal al-Molk. Other teachers included Bangeez, Marzaie, Broumand, Amamehpich, Aghdashloo and Ruyin Pakbaz. He once again became familiarized with drawing and painting. In 1983, he established Shabahang Art Atelier, a studio near the University of Tehran. It later became a center for artists and musicians to gather and collaborate. The Saeed Broumand Group and the Jacob Amameh Peech Group and, for sometime Ruyin Pakbaz, in visual artists, Hameed Motebassem, Hemmati, and Hammidi in music, and Ali Dehbashee and Asghar Abdolahi in literature were all involved in the studio at some point. He tried to learn and participate in all of the fields and take advantage of the knowledge of these friends. In 1985, he published Memories of Kamal al-Molk, and the Artists’ Calendar with the help of Dehbashee. Later on, he translated The Language of Painting and The Art of Framing and also published these books, as well as other books that were never published. At the studio, He played and taught Setar, but most importantly he tried to learn as much as he could from respected artists such as Ruyin Pakbaz who taught classes later at his studio called Tandis. During this time of three or four years, he learned much about the history of art, the fundamentals of visual arts, and the experiences of different styles. He held several individual and group exhibitions in Tehran, the last exhibition was the second bi-annual exhibition organized by the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Arts. After eighteen years of living in Iran after the revolution, eight years of which he was not permitted to leave Iran, he turned to consider immigration with his family, in the hopes of allowing his two daughters to live in a country with more opportunities for them. . After immigrating to Canada, Mr. Shabahang further continued his contribution to the arts community on an international level. He was involved in the local arts communities in North Vancouver for almost 4 years and served as a director and juror for NVCAC, North Vancouver Community Arts Council and the Chare of the visual Arts committee of the West Vancouver Library. Later he established the Artpars Original Fine Arts and WACA, the Web Association of Canadian Artists. He studied at BCIT, British Colombia Institute of Technology and Capilano College in the fields of animation, graphic design, and web design. These studies helped him better monitor Artpars and WACA through the web. With cooperation of artists and colleagues in Canada, the US, Iran, and Europe, he was able to take WACA and Artpars to an international level. In 2000, he established a gallery to house the Artpars and WACA community called Artpars gallery in Park Royal South Mall in West Vancouver. Artpars and WACA through the cooperation of the two organizations, continued to make art a solid and stable facet of the society.

He was the first in Vancouver, Canada to host such large and influential multi-cultural exhibitions. He organized an event with 45 selected members of the Society of Iranian Painters, sponsored by Tehran Museum of Contemporary Arts, in 2004. His important contributions continued, again not just his fine art and painting contributions, but his organizing and hosting opportunities for Iranian artists to be exhibited internationally. In 2002, to appreciate great artists such as Mr. Hooshang Seyhoon the famous artist and architect of Iran before the Islamic revolution who is now living in west Vancouver, at the opening of Artpars gallery in Capilano Mall in north Vancouver, he invited the famous Canadian portrait artist Elizabeth Smiley, who was once the portrait artist for the Queen Elizabeth, now to paint the portrait of Hooshang Seyhoon live in front of the public. Mr. Shabahang also joined and painted a live portrait from Mr. Seyhoon . The ceremony was published in the local newspapers.

Mr. Shabahang has extended his research in classical Persian painting "Negargary", to Persian classical music and is planning to perform and exhibit both music and visual arts in a contemporary presentation in Washington DC. His synergistic combination of Persian visual art and classical music certainly constitutes a highly original and significant contribution to fine arts.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darab_Shabahang"

 

(Arts Alive Magazine, North Vancouver, Canada)
"Originally from Iran, Darab Shabahang has enjoyed long and varied careers as both a scientist and as an artist. He completed his Bachelor of Science degree in physics from Poona University, India, and spent several years in England. He returned to Iran in the 1970's during the country’s revolution but was unable to continue his work in physics.....  Shabahang turned to art, his childhood hobby. The 1980's and early 1990's were a very productive time for Shabahang: he worked as a music teacher, taught art classes, and published art books through his own atelier,  Shabahang Art Studio. He also began to develop his career as a painter. His teaching career allowed him to explore a diverse range of styles: impressionism, expressionism, realism, cubism, and classical work. He found himself drawn  to expressionist work, and, as his skill developed, began to participate in individual and group exhibitions throughout Iran. His greatest love, however, was his research on traditional Iranian art. He spearheaded a group of academics and artists seeking ways to incorporate traditional Iranian styles and colors into modern work. Almost 20 years after the revolution in Iran, Shabahang grew tired of the social and political oppression in his homeland. He and his family moved to Canada in May 1996..."

 

Exhibitions:

 

Exhibitions in USA:
Watermark Gallery, Impressionist and Post... works June 03, 2007
Children of Persia, ................................................Oct 15, 2006
100 years Prison, .............................................,...

Exhibitions in Canada:
 Artpars Gallery, North Vancouver: 9/11: Art for Peace- 2003
Artpars Gallery, Capilano Mall, North Vancouver: Abstract- 2003
Artpars Gallery, Park Royal, West Vancouver: Immigration- 2002
Artpars Gallery, West Vancouver: 9/11: Art for Peace- 2002
CityScape Gallery, North Vancouver 2000
WVCAC , West Vancouver Library-1999
NVCAC , North Vancouver Community Arts Council-1999
NVCAC , North Vancouver Community Arts Council-1998
NVCAC , North Vancouver Community Arts Council-1997

Exhibitions in Iran:
 Shabahang Art Studio: Two Solo Exhibitions 1996
Tehran Museum of Contemporary Arts: The 2nd Bi-annual Exhibition, 1995
Shabahang Art Studio: Three Group Exhibitions, 1995
Shabahang Art Studio: Two Solo Exhibitions, 1994
Shabahang Art Studio: Three Group Exhibitions, 1993
Afrand Art Gallery: Group Exhibition, 1992
Farhangsara Niavaran: Group Exhibition, 1984
Kamalalmolk Art Institute: Solo Exhibition, 1983
Kamalalmolk Art Institute: Group Exhibition, 1982


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DARAB B SHABAHANG

Distinguished Artist, Approved by USCIS as (Extraordinary Ability) in Arts - 2007

Arrived in United States from Canada in (2004), Darab  Shabahang continued study, research and provided arts and cultural services. He finally was qualified as a distinguished artist, and was qualified for permanent residency in Maryland.

Employment

Darab Shabahang is now a contract employee of  Voice of America as a web & graphic artist.

His present long term project is to provide arts and graphic services to Voice Of America PNN ( Persian News Network) website. A contract between the Artpars ( his business name) and Voice of America.

Mission:

"Lack of identity and originality have been a barrier in developing the contemporary art of Iran. Henry Matisse learned much from Persian Miniature but he remained a French artist with an original style. To learn the universal language of contemporary visual arts while remaining original in our creation has been my long term goal and commitment. I have experienced this in several projects.
In my first project I tried to experience the visual language of our past generations. I never intend to copy their style or even their views.

1- In the first part of this project, I got involved in a nostalgic relationship between the past and present in Persian painting. I have extensively studied one of the most important facets of Persian classical painting called "Persian Miniature" or "Negargari". I was drawn to the traditional Persian painting style, especially those belonging to the "Shahnameh " also known as the Book of Kings, created for the order of Shah Tahmasbe Safavi. These paintings were partly kept in the Metropolitan museum of art in New York. I studied these particular masterpieces of Persian Miniature paintings, not only because of the brilliant colors and the stylized line drawings known as "Ghalamgiri", but mostly because of the abstract visual elements used in creating spiritual, virtual spaces. Although they illustrated history, poetry and literature in this Iranian book ordered by Kings and their Royal families, artists had their own philosophy and aesthetics independent of their employers. In their art, they created a new virtual-spatial relationship that could never be found in real life; a spatial relationship independent of time and space. The viewer has a chance to explore and travel in the paintings, discovering countless stories. In fact, the story was an excuse to visually experience the journey in a new world created by the artist. The artists of Persian Miniature never used the physical perspective, the real people or objects. They followed the Persian philosophy, a spiritual belief system called "Erfan". Rumi, the great Iranian poet, was one of the pioneers of this philosophy.  

I have been deeply influenced by the aesthetics of these "Negargari" paintings and learned a lot to take advantage of.

2- My next task was to continue to explore the philosophy and spiritual experience of Persian classical music in the past to better understand the aesthetics of our arts and compare Persian traditional music with that of the Persian traditional painting and other crafts such as  rugs, ceramics and ornaments etc. I desired to learn and compare the artistic language in music, painting and literature belonging to one same culture. "

Past Projects:

i) Calendars with the portraits of Persian Artists..

ii) Artistic research on immigration, a common theme in my past life.

iii) Portraits to include and portray objects and values associated with the individual painted.

iv) Abstracts from nature using digital photography.

He often enjoys photography as a way to supplement his painting. he has taken lots of pictures for use in a series of digital paintings, some of which will be ready to publish on the internet shortly.

Darab Shabahang

The Cover Artist

Persian Classical Music
Instructor and Researcher 

 

Refrences:

Refrence Letter From NVCAC

Letter of Recommendation From

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 

 

 

Art Statement:

" I combine nature and human life to express my personal vision through my art.  To me, art is a necessity. I create a new reality abstracted from nature including human life. Through art, a new world is born in which our dreams become visible. I keep digging into my deep cultural roots to grasp my identity. This is how I understand the world and share my ideas with others, with the hope of fostering a more civilized and advanced community. Now, after 40 years, I understand how science, politics and art have  interchangeably shaped my entire life.

The artist must create a new reality out of his or her actual life based on his or her inner voice. Therefore, creativity and life experience are the main sources of artistic creation. My goal is to study the roots of the cultures I am living in as my original inspiration, but then to break the rules in order to create and discover new realities. I strive to be a contemporary artist, however, remain original as well.

Arts education, promotion and leadership

To grow and understand the arts, artists and art communities and their need to educate themselves simultaneously and cooperatively. To promote the arts we need to connect to other artists all over the world. The following is my plan to realize these goals:

i) The principles of visual literacy: Public Visual Awareness program

After many years of study and practice I believe that the visual language could be considered similar to other languages of art like literature and music. Visual language is essential for everybody who is willing to understand or communicate visually with the works of art. Not every drawing or painting necessarily has artistic value.  Visual Language  is not only for artists and art students. It is for everybody.  Public arts education raises the quality of our cultural standards and reduces the public ignorance in society helping people to view visual art as another language through which they can speak.

ii)  International and Multicultural Artists Network

To create an international and multicultural artists network had always been a dream of mine. I founded * WACA, the Web Association of Canadian Artists, and * Artpars to sponsor the multicultural  and international arts and cultural network.  The following  national and international projects gave me the confidence to achieve my goals.

1-Art for Peace
 This project was first started in September 2002 in Artpars Gallery, Park Royal, and was based on the Tragedy of 9/11, 2001 in New York City.

2- Beyond the Art of Illumination: The Contemporary Art of Iran:
This project was initiated by Darab Shabahang through WACA, and The North Vancouver Community Arts Council (NVCAC) to host an international art exhibition with the contributions of  the prestigious SIP (Society of Iranian Painters) members and sponsored by the Museum of Contemporary Arts in Tehran

* About Artpars and WACA
Before the conception of Artpars, I studied at BCIT and Capilano College in the fields of animation, graphic design, and web design. These studies helped me better monitor WACA through the web. With the help and cooperation of many friends and colleagues in Vancouver, the US, Iran, and Europe, I was able to take WACA to where I wanted it to be. In 2000, in the midst of establishing WACA, I became involved in a gallery by the name of "Art by the Sea", including the works of other artists in Vancouver. By the end of the year, the gallery seemed to be quickly on its way to closing, and I saw an opportunity to finally establish a gallery to house the Artpars and WACA community. I hoped to open a gallery that would separate itself from the snobbish reputation that many artists and galleries had received and allow for it to be a place where every individual could enjoy art. I wanted to create a network of artists, educating artists as well as art lovers, and promoting multi-culturalism in the art world. Through the years, our guestbook became filled by artists and non artists, showing the great response to such a community. Everyone from students to seniors seemed to find something they enjoyed, and many expressed to me how they felt like their artistic ambitions were more within reach. We have monthly meetings at Artpars for WACA and perhaps through the cooperation of the two organizations, we can continue to make art a solid and stable facet of our society. "