A1one Calligraphy Art

Iranian street artist A1one stands as a pioneering figure in Middle Eastern urban art, courageously establishing graffiti culture in Tehran under extremely dangerous political and social conditions. Known also as Tanha, he represents the first generation of Iranian graffiti artists, using public space art to comment on Iranian society and political issues despite the serious personal risks involved. His distinctive artistic style seamlessly combines traditional Persian calligraphy with Western graffiti techniques, creating a unique visual language that speaks to both local and international audiences. During Iran’s 2009 protests, A1one demonstrated remarkable bravery by creating approximately 800 pencil-soldier figures throughout Tehran’s streets as a form of political expression. His journey began with simple works like “searching for friends” painted on walls beside the Tehran-Karaj expressway, evolving into sophisticated pieces that bridge cultural traditions with contemporary street art movements, making him an essential voice in global urban art discourse.

Urban Art Umbrellas

Do you remember those nice DIY Graffiti Umbrellas by the Dutch graffiti artists Sons and Romeo? Ema just wrote me about the young, German urban creation start-up Choke, which aim is to combine everyday products with artful designs from around the globe… They have a collection of quite nice umbrellas designed by famous urban artists like A1one from Tehran, Papermonster from New York and Cabaio from Buenos Aires! By the way, the inspiration which lead to those Choke Umbrellas came from the rainy streets of Glasgow, Scotland - the monotony of a modern metropolis on a rainy day is sometimes really depressing. ...

Urban Art Censorship

Political Street Art | Right, it’s not a new topic but today I want to write down some of my thoughts about censorship in the urban arts. The reason for that decision was first the fact that the dollar-coffin mural by Blu was painted over just a couple of hours after it was completed, because of objections by a museum’s director. Second, it’s because of the fact that we have the ARTAQ Urban Art Awards in town, which is somehow supported by the Reporters Without Borders. ...

A1one & Street Art in Tehran

Iranian Street Art | I already wrote about Iranian street art pioneer A1one and his interesting mixture of stencil art and proper calligraphy, but today I found a great documentary by the Webistan Photo Agency in which he talks about his backgrounds, street art in Tehran, his own art and why in Iran they know that the wall graffiti and street art are important not only in Iran. In Iran, both Hip Hop and graffiti have the same age. This culture is not established yet. It’s like an child - it’s just growing but right now it’s more fight and just doing websites… (A1one) ...

A1one - Street Art in Tehran

I think, everybody knows about the political problems in Iran - about the demonstrations, the violence, the vote rigging and so on… And I think, you can imagine how dangerous it is to comment these social and political issues over there. Then you also can imagine how extremely dangerous it is to make politically street art right there. Indeed the Islamic Republic of Iran has no laws, which prohibit graffiti or street art, but this means nothing. ...