Alireza Karimi Moghaddam, cartoonist and illustrator from Teheran, Iran. Photography © A. K. Moghaddam
1.Tell us what you do and your beginnings.
Basically, my personal interest is in “cartoon”. Drawing a cartoon is a basic need just like eating and sleeping for me. A physiological need that has become a natural part of my life. I convey my thoughts to my audience through cartoons as simple, as smile.
In recent years (I mean the last two years) I have moved a bit towards illustration. Of course, I confess that I am not an illustrator and I am gaining experience right now. However, I am a human being who likes to communicate with others through images and I believe in this kind of communication. The image does not know any boundaries, borders, language and anyone at any age, gender, and social status can understand the language of the image.
As a teenager, I became interested in Vincent Van Gogh paintings. My father was painting and we had books about the great painters of the world. It was from there that I gradually became acquainted with the works of the great painters and particularly Van Gogh, and spent all my adolescence with them. I always see a certain simplicity and purity in Van Gogh’s works. In my opinion, these features could not be found in any artist. This is the main reason for my interest in the artworks of this artist.
2.What are your favorite museums in the world? Why?
I believe that every corner of the world can be a museum of the achievements of humanity. These achievements can be beautiful or ugly! I can watch the beauties when I walk on a busy street or among the historical monuments of Persepolis!
But if you mean the museum in its general sense, my first priority is the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam because of my personal interest in this artist. I love the Louvre Museum because it houses a collection of all the classical art of the world. I like the Orsay Museum because it has a collection of masterpieces by impressionist artists. I like the Metropolitan Museum because a special part of it is dedicated to the art and civilization of Iran.
3.How important are social networks in your business? And which platform do you prefer and why?
I see social media as a golden opportunity to introduce my artwork to the world. I sit in my studio, create a artwork and publish it in less than a few seconds, and at the same time thousands of people from all over the world see that artwork and pass on their ideas to me.
What could be better than this? In the process, people may like my artwork and want to buy it. I do this through my own website. I consider Instagram to be the most powerful platform for viewing works of art right now. Because the basis of this platform is the image.
4.What are your future projects?
Holding exhibitions all over the world. Everyone who loves art likes to see the life of their favorite artist from a different perspective. And I like to show Van Gogh’s personal and artistic life to my audience from a fantasy perspective. And of course the publication of a book from my collection on the subject of Van Gogh’s fantasy. (Of course, if a good publisher is found).
5.To create greater engagement among museums, artists and professionals, do you have any advice for cultural projects such as #MuseumWeek?
Museum is the home of an artist. Surely every artist wants to have the best art work in their home. I hope one day to be able to exhibit my art Artworks in the best museums in the world, and this is the point for me to reach the ceiling of my dreams.
Interview by Fabio Pariante, journalist
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Alireza Karimi Moghaddam on social networks: Instagram – Facebook – YouTube – Website
Alireza Karimi Moghaddam (Teheran, 1975) is an Iranian cartoonist and illustrator since 1991 and holds a Master Degree in Graphic. He became famous all over the world for his digital comics dedicated to the artist Vincent van Gogh.
Each work tells the personality and an everyday aspect of the Dutch artist, from the saddest moments to the cheerful and carefree ones, making reference to the most important works of his production, such as the famous “Starry Night” (1889) that van Gogh created from the window of his room in an old convent used as a psychiatric hospital in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, where he was interned, or “Wheatfield with crows” (1890) where the tormented artist allegedly committed suicide in mysterious circumstances at the age of thirty-seven.
Among the comics made, a tribute to the Beatles in which van Gogh together with the post-impressionists Toulouse-Lautrec, Paul Gauguin and Claude Monet cross Abbey Road in London, the famous road that inspired the title and the cover of the last studio album recorded by the British group in 1969.
Moghaddam has won various international awards and has exhibited his production in Japan, Turkey, Italy, Brazil, Belgium, Korea, Yugoslavia and Iran. The artist lives and works in Portugal.
