Conceptual portrait of Prince Reza Pahlavi

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Conceptual portrait of Prince Reza Pahlavi
by ramintork
09-Apr-2010
 

Conceptual portrait of Iranian House-hold names. The challenge is to use found objects that can easily be found around my house. I've started with Reza Pahlavi but hopefully I will be doing Khamenei, Rafsanjani etc. I don't expect people warming up to it, but who cares it is my Art and I enjoy doing it!

Doing a Tate modern type explanation of this work ( don't read if you rather keep your own reading of the work)! -

The book "Shah of Shah" represents the legacy of his father which he carries, yet, he is leaning towards Republican ideas and leaving machiavellian on the side but his father's legacy still casts a small shadow on the book The Prince.

There are many debates about him and there is a lot of effort to seperate him from his father's percieved mistakes. What matters to me as a non-monachist ( which I am on the basis of non-elitist principles where we should try to avoid institutionalizing class even though inevitably it is inherent in human or even non human socities) is that he represents a section of the society and if we are going to have any meaningful opposition then we need an alliance of secularist non-violent groups working together. As an individual he appears as a likable fellow Iranian, a dedicated family man, a good orator and intelligent. He has not been given a platform to test his leadership but I don't think that matters because the way I see it, he comes across as a concerned modern thinking citizen rather than a prince and if we do not get the future pillars of our democracy right then it does not matter who does what and who has power, it could still fail, so that is what we have to get right! These days I am spending less time in iranian.com because I am still doing work for our Human rights group: www.iicfocus.com which is very active on Facebook, and also along the day job I'm busy making Art, and painting in my garage/studio. I hope that we can also make Iranian Art more democratic and make Art more about Art than as a tool to provide you with status. If you think anyone can do this the answer is, yes you are absolutely right and if you enjoy Art go and do it. People a lot of times do Art without even realizing that it is Art and western conceptual Art is very broad. Outside this I'm working on a pop Art series as well as a new school Art which is a derivative of Da Da. Anyway I hope you enjoy it and to those of you I have'nt said Happy New year, well Happy New year.
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ramintork

Monda Aziz

by ramintork on

Plato's Republic was more in the name than content, as his concept of Republic does not resemble the modern version

Machiavelli's Prince is about staying in power at any price and is something RP seem to have distanced himself from. By the way, I have heard many say that RP is his father's son, but so far no one has ever said that he is his mother's son

Even as a Republican (not to be confused with US republicans!) I can say that from his mother we have seen nothing but good things 

 She fought for women's rights, was an advocate of literacy, and a great patron of Iranian Arts and culture  She was/is a great Ambassador for our country I hope we all come to our senses and form the unity that we need to form

My final word before scattered we watch our country being destroyed is this

اگر خورده شیشه ها ی درونی رادر خدمت به جامعه ذوب کرده بودیم بجای لرزان راه رفتن هزاران شهر و آسمان خراش ساخته بودیم


ramintork

DK Jaan

by ramintork on

Yes I enjoyed your Shahbanou meets the Prince of Darkness.

I might publish my own pop Art series that I showed you on Facebook.

 


Monda

Cool art work and choice of medium

by Monda on

i wonder though about your decision process in selecting Plato or Machiavelli's Republic next to the Shah?  btw it's not clear which household your art is focused on, I get it must be yours :o)

I too have come up with the same conclusions about RP. The man presents civil in his concerns and genuine in his love for Iran.  Effective is a different measure though (and I do read every single piece DK offers here, bekhoda).


Darius Kadivar

Cool Ramin Jaan ;0)

by Darius Kadivar on

Very Interesting and I like and appreciate your openmindedness.

Regarding Machiavelli's Prince ( A MUST READ For Anyone interested in Politics ) he was more of a Republican Prince than a Royal one ( although still an Aristocrat as were most people involved in Power circles in those days) since Machiavelli was himself a civil servant of the Florentine Republic. However Machiavelli's insights on Politics prevails in all Political situations and can be rightly applied to all systems of government.

HISTORY FORUM: Machiavelli's "The Prince" and the "Art" of Governing

Look forward to your other conceptual works.

Here was my Ironic Take on Pop Art:

LARGER THAN LIFE: Shahbanou Meets The Prince of Darkness (Bochum-Germany)

Keep Up the good work on  www.iicfocus.com

Warm Regards,

DK 


ramintork

iran_zameen

by ramintork on

LOL! I could do with reading it more, as it would come in handy in the offices I work, but more so in learning from the book to put aside my innocence when in the Blog section of iranian.com!

machiavelli's Prince 

It isn't the most entertaining of books, but a vital book if you want to understand political power. It used to be and perhaps still is the standard text book in Europe for European statesmen.

The part that relates to us Iranian are two sections. One section on how Alexander learning from Persian Kings adopted the same strategy of making the elite of a defeated society feel secure and he uses the analogy of replacing your head with the head of the old prince in socities where power is centralized.

The second section that relates to us is the Theocratic dictatorship where you maintain unquestionable power because God said so!

BTW, The republic is not so much about a republic either i.e. it's concepts are very far from our modern democracy principles, it becomes very elitist but I didn't use it within that context here. Besides, it is a foundation book that has shaped many minds.


iran_zameen

ramin, funny

by iran_zameen on

looks like you haven't cared to read "The Prince"/ still in crisp condition