Mousavi is painting what?

Cartoonist believes that Mousavi has cut a beautiful "tanoumand" tree of Iranian revolution and now tries to paint those dead leaves green to pretend that the tree is still alive???  So then Mousavi is a bad guy since he cut the Revolution tree???  Even if we consider that he really cut the Iran tree that easily with only few days of complaining about election, then we should not forget that the remaining of the tree has the same section that will look like Iran map and will grow brand new and young and fresh branches with clean green leaves and for sure they will smell GOOD too!!!  So the cartoonist forgot about the secondry meaning to his anti-Mousavi cartoon...

مخلص شما، جواد ویرچووال

Iraj is not a good cartoonist.

He's a great cartoonist.

He's brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

Whatever it is, I think we all agree Iraj is a good Cartoonist

I'm sure we can all learn a thing or two from his style, and whatever his message, I guess we need all colours of political view to make the World more interesting, I just hope his subject matter comes more towards the people, and Human rights in Iran so that we benefit more from his good cartoons.

And one more thing.....

No more any body of water....

No more Caspian sea and it's resources (good bye oily stinky caviar)

No more Persian Gulf and "Twin Tombaans"!

KHALAAS................:-( 

Majid,

Laughing and rolling!  You're being hilarious!  I didn't know there was so many symbols in this cartoon.  Maybe Ari can use some of them in his next cartoon.

:O) 

DECODING A CARTOON.......

The paint can has 5 orange bars painted on it!

That symbolizes 5 men from former soviet state of Ukraine are trying to start an "orange revolution" next month (5th month on Iranian calender).

 Mousavi's right sleeve is rolled up but not the left one! means no help from the bankrupt LEFT is needed! thank you very much.

The Axe handle is painted like a hokey stick, which means people with sport background (Team melli? may be?) would have a major role in toppling IRI! 

And finally (for now) the tree's cross cut (Iran's map) has no sharp corners, Artist is  trying to say that we're gonna be soft with all minorities in future Iran! 

PS. DAMN.......still he's not wearing a tie! means same old same old!

Omid Hast

I'm finally laughing.

P.S. No! I take it back!

The color blue on the paint can represents Caspian Sea.  Mousavi is using the Caspian Sea resources to revitalize the dead Iran, and Iranians.

There, I feel better now!

New conspiracy theories are developing

It just occurred to me that the tree is not cut by an ax at all because the cut is so straight, so clean.  There are no jagged edges on the tree trunk where it's been cut, and also one side of the trunk that looks like Iran does not match with the other side!  One more thing, the Iran side is brown and the other side is white.  So, my conclusion is that the Iran tree was cut somewhere else with a chainsaw, because it has a straight cut, then the tree was brought into this frame, but somewhere along the way it was painted brown, because Iranians have a brownish color to their skin, although the US government considers us white people.

So then, some of the leaves on Iran tree during the time it was moved turned into brown.  Meanwhile Mousavi comes along and finds out that there has been an attempt to un-naturally join Iran tree trunk with another chainsawed tree stump, which I'm sure it represents Russia.  So he goes out and gets his green ax and hacks the Russian tree stump, as it is evident by people in the streets of Iran shouting “Death to Russia“.  And then, he attempts to revive the Iran tree by painting it green, i.e. giving it a new life.

P.S.  The paint can’s blue color is incidental.  It's just a color the artist picked, it could have been any color and someone would‘ve questioned it regardless.

PS No, Omid, I changed my mind.

The green around the tree is the party's festive ribbons to decorate the dead tree. Moussavi's brain is just alive enough to know he's supposed to be painting the leaves.

And no it's NOT a vibrant green paint. It's an ominous dark one that gets darker and darker as it approaches the leaves.

And no it's not a sickly pale idea, it's a pleasant soothing mint green idea. But beware..it is torn asunder.

you see what I mean...

why debate about it?

The Islamic Republic of Iran (tree) ...Omid

is dead. It contained the seeds of its own death within its very conception, because its life-giving force (green) was based on Islamic (green) theocracy.

It is dead. The formerly green tree has been felled by itself. It does not matter who held the axe, the green wooden axe, it felled itself. The wooden green brush even parallels the axe and this we can see visually. The more you paint it, the more it paints itself, the deader it gets. 

Yet its fathers who sowed its seed try desperately and insidiously to paint it green. Obviously this is a fool's errand and deceitful, probably first and foremost to themselves. As such it is in essence and in every way a fraud.

Moussavi is a fraud.

The vibrant green paint with which he so fraudulently attempts to paint it that he does not even remember that bark is supposed to be brown, stands in stark contrast to the sickly pale green which now permeates his brain, and the "great idea' behind him,which is own brain gave birth to-- likewise sickly pale and rent asunder. The idea is sick and dying, the minds of the architects the fathers, sick and dying,

the Islamic Republic dead.

Perhaps when the fathers who sowed its seed die it shall rest in peace.

___________________

That is my interpretation. For the moment.  

Just for you, Omid. Iraj..you're brilliant.

________________

PS I do not know why the paint can is blue. Perhaps it is indicative of some kind of foreign influence. Maybe Sweden.

اگه من جای ایرج بودم.......

هیچ جوابی به کامنت های شما نمیدادم، اینهم خودش یه جور هنره که همه رو سر کار بگذاره .....(-:

When you look at a portfolio the political line becomes clear

When you look at a portfolio the political line becomes clear.

It is not a single work that is our reference:-

Here are some messages from the past:-

Don't fight amongst each other over human rights condition in Iran when there is a danger of Bush attack:-

//iranian.com/main/cartoons/2007/iraj-human-rights

The US University condeming Ahmadinejad for human rights violations is like a dog for Israel and taking Ahmadinejad's freedom of speech:- 

//iranian.com/main/cartoons/2007/freedom-speech

If George Bush was invited to Tehran under similar circumstances he would not have to bring the above mentioned dog:-

//iranian.com/main/cartoons/2007/freedom-speech

yet another cartoon with the similar theme:-

//iranian.com/main/cartoons/2007/iraj-bush-invited-ferdowsi-u-2

No cartoons that I came across relating to lack of human right's for the Iranian political prisoners or those being tortured or killed, but three cartoons defending Ahmadinejad's freedom of speech!

I see green everywhere

The ax is NOT painted by Mousavi.  Look at the perfect bands of white on the handle and look at his paint brush, so he didn't paint it, it came that way.  And, since he is the only person in this drawing, i.e. there are no people from Ahmadinejad's camp, etc., then it is safe to assume that the artist is saying Mousavi, or his green ax movement, is the one who chopped down the tree, i.e. Iran.  That is for sure, from my understanding of what the artist is trying to say.

In this drawing Mousavi is not the one who painted the leaves green, as suggested, because the colors of the leaves don't match with the color of the paint on his brush, i.e. they are two different shades of green, which by itself raises another interested point since the background of the painting also has a different color of green.  I don't know why!  Perhaps more emphasis on green movement.

So, I think the artist is trying to say Mousavi, who is by the way a building painting contractor, with his green ax felled the tree, Iran, killing it in reality, and then he is trying to paint it green to conceal the reality of his action.

It is a very interesting communistic idea, really!  Take the masses then sum them up into one person, Mousavi, and then blame the demise of the country on the action of that person, and ignore the millions of people, excuse me make that millions of masses, who have marched in the streets demanding change.   

Gruesomely defeatist

JJ I believe

That the artist is saying that they (the entire system, Mousavi included) are the cause for Iran to be cut and dried, now coming as an opposition to "save" the country, while they are the problem. They are just the name.

I think the ax

I think the ax is Islam which has killed Iran the tree, i.e. Iran died with the revolution of 1979.  Mousavi is painting the ax, the dead tree's leaves and body to show the living "what" killed the tree. 

Bottom line Iran the tree is dead, finished, finito, gone, khalas, "wiped off the map". Nothing sprouts out of a dead tree trunk, maybe mushrooms but not a new tree. 

Everything is sacred.

Rotten from the inside

My interpretation:

The tree represents the IRI theocracy, its "leaders" and its policies.  Look at the interior of the tree.  It appears to be rotten, so Iran is rotting from the inside and has been felled by an ax wielded by the self-destructive theocracy itself, through its brutal response to the demonstrations.

Moussavi's populist campaign has been unsuccessful at hiding the rot, despite the colourful and pretty adornments of green paint that he is adding to the stinking, rotten corpse.  Some pieces (leaves) are still alive, but eventually the IRI will be completely dead, and something new, young and better will sprout from the stump.

When good artistic service is used against people's movement!

When good artistic service is used against people, "Meekham Sag Bereeneh Behesh!". Forgive my lack of netiquette but these testing times of seeing blood on our streets has robbed me of my calm.

Now I know a work of Art can be read in many ways, but sometimes the message is clear:-

Here is Iran a thriving tree and Musavi has come along cut it down, has given it a green coat to fool everyone that this cut down tree is green, blossoming and well.

For one thing the green movement belongs to the people (the no longer silent majority I should add) and not Musavi, he is more of a symbol or excuse for it, for another Iran in hands of that dinosaur dictator and his little monkey is not exactly a living tree!, and if anyone is cutting it down it is the conservative totalitarian regime by rubbing it off its resources, sending it to Chavez and alike, killing its young buds and putting it in danger. 

Your work has always been Artistically very good but Just like that pathetic poet praising Khamenei it has coincidentally been in line with the doctrine of IRI.

I don't see Musavi as a saint either, he was the prime minister when they were killing people in prison in their thousands and he is the child of this system but I respect that people have chosen this accidental leader as their choice for a movement (even as an excuse or a symbol!) and anyone who is standing against the people is taking part in their rape, torture and murder, be it with a little cartoon, by doing business with IRI, paying them lip service, eating their free food in their sponsored mosques it does not matter, it is the same act! Be they George Galloway, Khamenei, Ahmadinejad, a lip service poet, a cartoonist may they all be damned for what they do for they have collectively the blood of the innocent youth on their hands!

So, good luck understanding this one

I couldn't even understand it when I put my communistic ideological hat on!  The tree is Iran, that's for sure.  It's half dieing, half of the leaves are green and half of them are brown.  The man is definitely Mousavi, and he is defiantly painting the tree, that is now for sure is dead, green.  But behold, the ax also has a green handle!  Did he paint the handle green?  I don't think so.  There is no green paint dripping from it, and its factory green.  So I think the wooden handle was green already, and green represents his movement.  So, is he the one that cut down the half dead tree?  Or, someone else chopped it down and now he is trying to keep it green?  It's like the poem, someone please post it here if you remember the exact wording of it, it goes something like this, the tree was chopped down and it look at the ax's handle and it realized it was made of similar wood of its own, meaning it's us that are cutting ourselves down.

But anyway this caricature is like a puzzle wrapped in an enigma.  And, good luck getting a reply from Iraj.  Even though he is a great artist he has never posted a reply to any comments, as far as I know. 

Not sure

I can't decide what you are trying to say. My first reaction was that you believe Mousavi and the Green Movement are cutting down the entire country. But then I thought maybe the tree represents the Islamic Republic -- a dying tree (brown leaves) -- and the green ax has...