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.
Street artist A1one aka Tanha from Tehran, is one of the pioneers of the urban art scene in Iran. With his public space art, he describes his view on the Iranian society and puts hisself regularly in danger. Even before the big protests.
“My first work was a very simple work titled “searching for friends” painted on a wall right next to the Tehran-Karaj expressway late at night. It was a really frightening night for me… The next morning I got three calls from friends who recognized my style of painting. They were shocked to see my work on a public wall.” (Via pingmag.jp)
A1ones artworks combine both, Persian calligraphy and Western graffiti. For the protest he scribbles about 800 pencil-soldiers in the streets of Tehran. You can take a look of his artworks by clicking trough his photostream!
For more info about him, visit his blog or check the interviews on pingmag.jp or underspray.com.
a1one tehran graffiti
Via blog.rebellen.info (ger)