Residents fled home country in order to share their art with the world

Iranian refugees Ali Fathollahi and Nanda Sharifpour arrived in Las Vegas six months ago.

The married couple, now living in Spring Valley, taught art classes at Azad University in Tehran, the capital city of Iran, providing a front-row view of the government's censorship of the country's art community.

"The art the government supports is fake. It's dead," Sharifpour said. "It lacks any political or religious views."

Artists in their own right, the government's strict censorship affected their lives as well. The couple lamented over having to hide their art from people. Eventually they had to leave most of it behind when they fled.

Fathollahi said he felt broken after a government official came to one of his exhibits and began tearing his artwork off the walls and destroying it because it was too suggestive.

"Can you imagine how broken you feel when someone tells you that you can not display your art?" Fathollahi said through his wife, who translated for him. "And this is in front of your students, your family and your close friends."

One of Fathollahi's latest works is a coffee table, on display at Blackbird Studios, 1551 S. Commerce St., as part of an exhibit titled, "Alinda." The simple table is adorned with images of past Iranian rulers gathered around a life-size coffee cup.

The artist said the story behind the piece hits close to home.

When the king did not like a powerful statesman or anyone else threatening his rule, he would invite that person to dinner, Fathollahi said.

After dinner, the person would be served a poisoned cup of coffee and forced to drink it, he added.

After his run-in with the government, Fathollahi said he and his wife were told their services were no longer needed at the university. Eventually they were invited to a late-night meeting. They fled instead.

Fathollahi said he refuses to drink the coffee.

Their country's opinion on art was not always like this, according to Sharifpour.

"Art has a long history in our country," she said. "As teachers, we are students of the past generations and are inspired by the art."

The husband and wife's art uses symbols from Iranian culture.

Sharifpour's oil paintings portray life-sized women confined to the tight space of the canvas and surrounded by goldfish, which she said are seen as guardians of life, and for her, represent one's hopes and dreams. The women's hands are bound by an invisible force.

Fathollahi creates collages using images of Iranian shahs and rulers juxtaposed against scantily clad Western women, skulls and swords.

The two admit that their work is politically charged and is out to make a statement, something they never could have done in Iran.

"The people are guarding dead traditions no longer useful and handing them down to the next generation, like a dead corpse being protected for centuries," Fathollahi said. "We have a responsibility, as artists, to society. We can not write the laws, but we can show those who do what is wrong with them."

Throughout their marriage, the artists said they have relied on each other for support, especially through the tough times.

"He understands me. We talk to each other. We help each other," Sharifpour said. "We are the first audience of each other."

Fathollahi said it is his wife who gives him strength.

"Nanda is someone to endure the pain beside me," he said.

Their work is on display at Blackbird Studios through the end of February. The majority of the pieces are new, but some of Sharifpour's oil paintings made the trip and had to be re-stretched after being removed from their stretcher bars, rolled up and smuggled out of Iran.

When the two arrived in Las Vegas, they asked around the Arts District, inquiring about where they could exhibit their work, and were directed to Gina Quaranto, owner and curator of Blackbird Studios.

"They came wandering into my gallery about six months ago and said, 'We want to talk to you about a show,' " Quaranto said. "I'm very grateful to have their work shown in my gallery."

The message that comes across in their work fits well with the gallery's overall mission, she said.

"If you look at all of my past shows, they're different, but there is a common thread of questioning the world," Quaranto said. "That has been the job of my gallery. It is off the beaten path of First Friday, off the beaten path of mainstream art."

Sharifpour and Fathollahi said exhibiting their art without fear is the greatest moment of their artistic lives.

"For thousands of reasons, we are happy to be in the U.S.," Sharifpour said. "We are here to start a new life and a good one. But I can not forget my own country, my people."

Her husband agrees and said he hopes that other Iranian artists creating in the name of freedom of expression will be inspired by his work.

"Whenever someone in my country did (work like this), I felt that my pain was eased," he said with a sigh.

"I hope I create something that, when someone sees it, their pain is alleviated too."

Contact Paradise/Downtown View reporter Nolan Lister at nlister@viewnews.com or 702-383-0492.