 The cheater
Interview with Mohsen Khalili, painter, sculptor
By Tandees Tanavoli &
Mitra Sadrameli
January 14,
2003
iranian.com
"Sometimes I wish
I was a potato farmer." Mohsen Khalili, 37, utters these
words with a far away, dreamy look in his eyes. "I mean,
what good is what
I do? How does it help anyone? At least potatoes feed people."
See >>> Selected
prints
See >>> Selected
sculptures  A
self-trained yet accomplished artist, Khalili recalls his first
brush with
art. "When I was in grade 5, my aunt gave me two small books
on new art for
my birthday. I didn't like the presents much; that year, I really
wanted a
bicycle. So the books were thrown to one corner, unopened. When
I was 17,
one day out of boredom, I picked up one of the books and cracked
it open. The page opened to a work by Van Gogh. The picture
was as small as a stamp,
but that was all I needed. I was mesmerized, I knew immediately
that this
was what I wanted to do till the day I die."
So he started
painting,
copying great masterpieces at first, and eventually finding the
courage to
bring his own ideas on canvas. His mother, a physicist, was not
very
impressed with his choice of career, but accepted it graciously. At first, he was not satisfied with his techniques.
He tried various schools, but found them confining. "The
problem with schools is that they
show you a road and say this the right way to do things. Eventually,
everyone is merging unto the same highway, doing the same old thing.
Schools should create cul-de-sacs and barriers so that the artistic
mind can
find its own path, carve its own way and speak its own language."
He is uncomfortable talking about why he became
an artist. "I
would rather
talk to you about what I saw and did to get here from Abbotsford.
The path
I had to take, the journey I made. I prefer to talk about what
I felt when I
bumped into a friend I hadn't seen in six months, a beautiful
woman I
flirted with, and the annoyance I felt at not being able to find
this
address right away. I don't believe in souls and spirits.
I think everything
is a result of an action or reaction. I became a painter because
that was
what was in me, I had no other choice."
Mohsen suffers from acute arthritis. He also has
a mechanical valve problem
with his heart. However, instead of holding him back, his ailments
provide
him with more material to work with. "My work is quite dark,
many people
look at my work and call it abstract, call it fun and colourful,
but it's
not. My work is like a cut, it bleeds, you can feel it. You have
to live
with your life, your victories and pains. You have to live with
the reality
of yourself.
"I went to Salmon Arm [British Columbia, Canada],
met this girl there. Absolute genius. 15-years
old. When she draws, I have never seen anything like it. I
drew some
sketches of my hands and feet, and I sat her down, and asked
her to sketch
my hands from my point of view. I wanted someone else to see
me. To see if
others see me the way I do. My hand and feet. She made them,
and now I am
printing them on old plates. So when you eat, instead of a
colourful cute
picture you see arthritic hands and feet. "Friends
say everyone knows of the dark, of the pain, why should we be
forced to look at it in your art? So I say that when I draw these,
my work
is not nearly as important and real as the reality. You cannot
survive a
second of that reality. Painters are cheaters. When you draw a
glass, you
cannot drink water in it. Your mind believes that you can. Blood
trickling
down a face, it is beautiful, it is colour in the chaos. Your mind
starts
creating within chaos. You become depressed or sad to see it, but
you don't
get that reality, you are not in that reality. My job as an artist
is to
make you look at this ugliness. You go home and say 'this
bastard, he
depressed me with his artwork, but this is important to me, you
remembered
it. If you go home and do not think about the work, then I have
failed'."
In response to how he comes up with
the end product, he says: "I
have a
starting point, but it does not necessarily stay at the vision
I have. The
initial concept always changes, the final work is an amalgamation
of the
initial concept and the changes. I want to enjoy my work more than
any one else does. The discovery of what the piece is going to
be is very much enjoyable. It is like going out with a beautiful
woman. One's heart is thumping, there is an anticipation,
day
dreaming." So far, Mohsen Khalili has three main series of
work: Autoportrait, is
about what he has been through. More about his experiences and
feelings,
rather than his physical self. A short film was made based on
this series,
entitled He and His Birds which was screened at five International
Film
Festivals.
Funeral
for Toys, another main body of work, is
quite another story. "It
is
about how we have all become toys. I started this series on September
1st 2001
and when September 11 happened, everyone -- my friends even --
looked at things
differently. And so it made me feel like we have become toys, tools,
can't
do anything for ourselves. And thinking I am just a witness, I
can cry for
myself, and see people die so easily -- on both sides -- those
who die in
attacks as victims and those who bring it on. We have this prescription
for
the world, saying that out of 5 people in this planet 4 suffer
and one
benefits, and it's such brutality. I am not political, but
politics has
become such a part of us, we cannot get away from it. The world
is not what
we see, we live in a fantasy, a toyland. We don't want to
know what is
going on, because it keeps us up all night. I cannot allow myself
to joke
about it, there is nothing funny about all this." The result
was the said
Funeral
for Toys, a series of mono-prints, oil-based
work on
steel which has been pressed on paper.
There are also another untitled set of prints, as
well as a ceramic sculpture
series. These are more upbeat, quite
colourful and based
in
various other experiences Mohsen has lived through: love, rejection,
pride,
friendship.
And what does the future hold for Mohsen Khalili? "My arthritis
will
prevent me from working in a few years. My hands will become useless.
So I
am working on a series of sculptures. These are shaped liked tools,
when
you look at them that's the first thing you see. But when
you try them, they
are somehow not working properly. Dysfunctional Tools, is what
I want to
call that series, like my hands." Recently, after the devastating earthquake that
destroyed the ancient city of Bam in Iran, Mohsen donated one of
his paintings to be
sold at a fundraising auction, all proceeds to be donated to the
earthquake relief fund.
See >>> Selected
prints
See >>> Selected
sculptures To
view more of Mohsen's artwork visit moshenkhalili.com.
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