- Galerie Nicolas Flamel

Jeudi 6 février 2014
Exposition du 6 au 28 février
Galerie Nicolas Flamel
NIMA BEHNOUD
216 rue Saint Martin, 75003 Paris, France
STUDIO ART
contact@galerienicolasflamel.fr
Jeudi 6 février 2014
+33(0) 1 42 71 87 83
Galerie Nicolas Flamel
216 rue Saint Martin, 75003 Paris, France
“Warhol’s populist glamour in an entirely different language”
“The first fashion designer who implemented the Persian
calligraphy in a form of clothing”
“Eastern Influence to successfully fit the pan-western audience”
“Persian Calligraphy worn by the New York Fashion elitists”
“NIMANY has become a household name for the
Middle Eastern community”
“I have kept a secret during these years when NIMANY Clothing line was growing.
A personal secret that allow me to think without the boundaries of business world created
by the expansion of NIMANY. The Secret was an art studio in the industrial section of
Brooklyn. A secluded location where I could express myself freely and recreate that very
first organic artistic experience over and over again.
I worked there on weekends and nights and created art pieces on canvas and paper,
using acrylic paints, silk screens and other painting methods. I rescued my sanity and
mind by building my own refuge. My very personal safe-house”.
Nima Behnoud, Winter of 2011
REVOLT II - Unique Piece
96 cm x 130 cm
/
Acrylic, Fabric Pigment & Silk Screen on Museum Paper
DESERT REVOLT III - Unique Piece
96 cm x 130 cm
/
Acrylic, Fabric Pigment & Silk Screen on Museum Paper
BLOOD REVOLT - Unique Piece
96 cm x 130 cm
/
Acrylic, Fabric Pigment & Silk Screen on Museum Paper
GRASS & BLOOD I - Unique Piece
66 cm x 100 cm
/
Acrylic, Fabric Pigment & Silk Screen on Museum Paper
LOVE & TREASURE II - Unique Piece
66 cm x 100 cm
/
Acrylic, Fabric Pigment & Silk Screen on Museum Paper
THE NOON II - Unique Piece
66 cm x 100 cm
/
Acrylic, Fabric Pigment & Silk Screen on Museum Paper
LOVE & TREASURE - Unique Piece
66 cm x 100 cm
/
Acrylic, Fabric Pigment & Silk Screen on Museum Paper
ALLURE COUPLE II - Unique Piece
100 cm x 66 cm
/
Acrylic, Fabric Pigment & Silk Screen on Museum Paper
BLACK & BLOOD REVOLT - Unique Piece
56 cm x 76 cm
/
Acrylic, Fabric Pigment & Silk Screen on Museum Paper
SILVER & BLOOD REVOLT - Unique Piece
56 cm x 76 cm
/
Acrylic, Fabric Pigment & Silk Screen on Museum Paper
PETROLEUM ALLURE II - Unique Piece
56 cm x 76 cm
/
Acrylic, Fabric Pigment & Silk Screen on Museum Paper
SUN ALLURE - Unique Piece
56 cm x 76 cm
/
Acrylic, Fabric Pigment & Silk Screen on Museum Paper
ROYAL FANTASY S II - Unique Piece
56 cm x 76 cm
/
Acrylic, Fabric Pigment & Silk Screen on Museum Paper
TREASURE RED III - Unique Piece
56 cm x 76 cm
/
Acrylic, Fabric Pigment & Silk Screen on Museum Paper
TREASURE RED II - Unique Piece
56 cm x 76 cm
/
Acrylic, Fabric Pigment & Silk Screen on Museum Paper
BLOOD & GRASS LUNA - Unique Piece
100 cm x 66 cm
/
Acrylic, Fabric Pigment & Silk Screen on Museum Paper
ROYAL FANTASY I - Unique Piece
56 cm x 76 cm
/
Acrylic, Fabric Pigment & Silk Screen on Museum Paper
REVOLT IN DUSK ON CANVAS - Unique Piece
96 cm x 130 cm
/
Acrylic, Fabric Pigment & Silk Screen on Canvas
THE ONE AT SUNSET ON CANVAS - Unique Piece
90 cm x 120 cm
/
Acrylic, Fabric Pigment & Silk Screen on Canvas
THE ONE AT MIDNIGHT ON CANVAS - Unique Piece
90 cm x 120 cm
/
Acrylic, Fabric Pigment & Silk Screen on Canvas
REVOLT IN DUSK ON CANVAS - Unique Piece
90 cm x 120 cm
/
Acrylic, Fabric Pigment & Silk Screen on Canvas
MIXED LUNA 1 ON CANVAS - Unique Piece
80 cm x 96 cm
/
Acrylic, Fabric Pigment & Silk Screen on Canvas
NIMA BEHNOUD’S STUDIO ART
Beautiful hues of bright ceries red, sky blue and orange hit you in Nima’s works, with streaming
colors into calligraphic abstract forms. Nima is an amazing colorist, bringing motifs of his
Persian culture and calligraphy into a new livelihood, imbuing them with the emotional weight
of Persian poetry that they illustrate.
As the son of Iran’s most influential journalist Masoud Behnoud, Nima grew up in an intellectual
circle in post revolution Iran, an oppressed society that left few outlets for youthful energy
and expression. Yet the repression conversely functioned as the strongest form of stimulus
for creativity among the youth. Nima practiced painting, drawing and silk screening in his
teenage years: a practice that later on became the basis for creation of his clothing line
NIMANY that he established in 2004 in NY. Today Nima is the creative director of NIMANY,
which is being sold in over 25 countries and has gained critical acclaim by being worn by
celebrities such as Heidi Klum, Nicky Hilton, Jim Carrey and Kevin Spacey and has appeared
in publications like Vogue, Rollingstone, Maxims and Washington Times.
The idea behind the clothing line was bringing Nima’s studio paintings, sketches and drawings
inspired by calligraphy and forms reminiscent of Persian arabesques onto clothing: making
wearable art.
Both in his wearable art, the dimension of his practice oscillating between fashion and art
and in his studio art, the colors are bright and sharp. Despite the melancholic meaning of the
poetry that may be legible or poignant story of the newspaper print, the sensation evoked is
pure pleasure.
continues on next page
His work is inspired by Warhol’s aspiration to be Matisse, creating dreamy palettes of a
master colorist and adopting his machine like production. He recreated Warhol’s populist
glamour in an entirely different language, he made pop art that is entirely Iranian and of his
own. His art puts a sheen on the heavy meaning that underlies the writings of the calligraphic
forms or other prints that he uses, instead he makes it a representation of the glamour and
éclat that runs through the environment of Iran’s youth that has been created despite all the
suppression, imposition of blackness, forbidding colors and celebrating death as a center
point of the revolutionary culture.
“The concept of hand-modified clothing started when I was 15 with a group of friends. We
made hand-distressed denim and held shows in the underground parties in northern Tehran.
We sold them to the hipster crowd not to make money but to be cool.
Today same hunger and fascination has turned into an organized clothing line -- NIMANY
-- and now my dream is to show the world the magical teenage years that we had in Tehran.
My focus is the lifestyle that developed in the alternative scene of Tehran and how modernity
was born within the unexpected: the underground life of a country like Iran.
Maneli Keykavoussi - Art Collector
“Most of what we are presented today, through the context of Iranian culture and image in the art
scene is a melodramatic depiction referring to a tragic former existence that is no more. That detached
and melancholic presentation of the Iranian psyche bothers me; not because it does not exist, but
because it ignores an entirely different face of life, which drives and energizes the youth of Iran.”
Nima Behnoud.
“The writing, the forms, the shapes makes Nima’s art very genuine. I feel it and I connect to it”
-- Pras Micheal (Fugees, Music Band)
“Now this is creativity in an area we have never seen”
-- Phillip Bloch (Celebrity Stylist)
“It doesn’t matter where I put it still gets attention, Nima used the ancient
calligraphy and language with a pop-art form, I think it’s really dope!”
-- Tony Johnson (Owner, Fred Segal)
“I feel very special to have them, It’s heart felt and emotional”
-- Alexandra Richards (Model, Keith Richard’s daughter)
“In the late 90s, traditional Persian art whether writings, paintings, or even music was never
considered cool. To be regarded as chic, all things had to be western, and any hint of Iranian
culture in your clothing, branded You as ‘uncool’. Nima changed that forever, by making it
stylish and cool. Today instead of concealing it, the Iranian youth are comfortable sporting a
garment that celebrates their ancient culture.”
-- ZedBazi (Music Band)
“It is my honor to sport Nima’s designs. It comes from the depth of
Persian culture and I will always support it”
-- Bahram Radan (Actor)
1996. Art Director. Worked on “Think Different” Campaign
for Apple Computers.
1999. AADG award for Fashion Galleria campaign in San Francisco.
2002. Art Director at L’Oréal Paris.
2004. Bachelor of Arts in Design, Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT).
2004. Launch of NIMANY clothing line in New York City.
2004. Chosen as “Creative Achievement” profile of the year at
Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT).
2005. Maxim Magazine Calls NIMANY, Essential Brand of the year.
2006. NIMANY Studio signs exclusive contract with Fred Segal.
2006. Second Place in Tokyo Graniph Award for Typography Design.
2006. Opening of NIMANY Showroom in Soho, New York City.
2006. NIMANY Fashion Show in London, sponsored by BBC & IHF.
2007. NIMANY starts distribution in London, Paris, New York, Los
Angeles & San Francisco and Washington DC.
2007. Washington Times, Teen Vogue, Gloss Magazine and City
Magazines featured Nima Behnoud.
2008. NIMANY starts distribution in Beirut, Saudi Arabia, Jordan,
Untied Arab Emirates & Japan.
2008. NIMANY Art Show in Dubai’s Shelter.
2010. Masters degree in Global Fashion Management from Fashion
Institute of Technology (FIT).
2011. Solo Art Exhibition at Tehran’s Mah Art Gallery.
2012. Headline Story on Nima Behnoud Studio Art Featured in
RollingStone Magazine.
2012. Official Sponsor of Magic of Persia Auction Gala.
2013. Solo Art Exhibition at Courtyard Gallery in Dubai, UAE.
2013. Nima Behnoud paintings are showcased at Asia Society Museum
in New York.
THE HOUSE
NIMA
BEHNOUD
ART
STUDIO