My Trees Are Leafless . An Interview With Pantea Cyrus
While looking at the paintings of an Iranian woman, one wonders what her artistic world would be like.
What place could a woman hold in the contemporary art of Iran, when a woman’s presence in Iranian miniatures and paintings is a symbolic one'?
But during the interview, we came to realize the difference between this modern woman and that
reserved being of yesterday. Although Pantea Cyrus’s paintings are generally in Impressionism and Expressionism styles, and we had severe criticism towards Classic art, it was obvious that this painter had to some extent succeeded in presenting her creative personality.
Pantea Cyrus who got her BA in Industrial Design from Azad University, Tehran in 1997, is fond of figure drawings, black pencil, oil paintings, watercolor and pottery. She has presented her art in various— individual and group exhibitions and has studied with great artists including Petgar, Aghdashloo, Bidgoli and Khorraminejad.
Though she began painting before high school, the beginning of her professional work was with Aidin Aghdashloo. She believes the problem of art is not a problem of equations. The past is always a present concern and the problem is that the path of existing or setting into it differs. She believes that with all their differences, men and women are equal. "Women are defeated, surrendered or involved. This is the problem. One can easily come up with a legendary hero among men such as Arash the Archer, Kaveh the Revolutionary, Rostam the Hero and ... but how about a legendary heroine'? Our only definition of a two-legged creature is a man, and if a woman is to get any credit, she will be compared with men."
E-Science, Architecture & Construction — Fall 2005 — No. 7