21 year old Sepehr Mesri lives in Tabriz and is a mean sketcher. The pencil and Sepehr are besties. He draws the faces of his friends, the people he admires and the folk he finds inspiring. By adding bursts of color, Sepehr energizes his subjects making complete but very current works of portraiture. His subjects are from all over Iran and are mostly young – very young, and thanks to Facebook I have Internet-stalked them all. Privacy is so yesterday!
Sepehr’s friends are photographers, actors, designers, musicians, band members, all-round coolness aficionados – living and working in different cities in Iran.
Portraiture has always been a mirror reflecting the faces that define a specific moment in time. Kings, queens, noblemen, peasants, conquerors. In the same way, Sepehr shows us the 2015 face of Iran.
Sepehr’s portraits have something important in common, they all have a determined “my way or the highway” look on their faces. These portraits tell us that this new generation (and remember, more than 60% of Iran’s population is under the age of 30) are not interested in waiting. They are here, they are true, and they are defining the future.
I am now 33 years old and for me the Iran of the past decade has been defined by “waiting” – waiting for a better president – waiting for a change in regulations – waiting for the lifting of sanctions. Looking at Sepehr’s works makes me feel that by living a new truth, their own truth, the new generation has unwittingly made the waiting game go away.
Yet this new generation is not the result of a rejection of the past or Iranian identity. Its protagonists seem simply to have a healthy attitude towards being Iranian. They play traditional instruments (Sepehr plays many Persian string instruments including Setar), they eat traditional food (regional produce are so “in” right now) and they understand the value of heritage. For whatever reason, they represent a generation that doesn’t carry the hangups of the past and are free simply to embrace the future.
Sepehr Mesri, his friends and his generation are surely the ones to watch.
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I’d love to see Iran someday. A friend of mine in college, who was originally from Iran, spoke incessantly about it’s beauty and culture. Good work!
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Ohhhh! These are lovely!
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Great blog 🙂
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The portraits are really good. I wonder how I would be sketched by an artist.
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Talent Man
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Your words were true when you said all his sketches have common of, ” my way or highway” look . You are a good observer and he sure is a superb sketcher.
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good
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yes, insightful.
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Totally genius work, your talent is undeniably beautiful. You have been given a true gift from the universe.
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Excellent sketches. The style is exceptionally good!!
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As the sketch potrays it’s life in it! Amazing work, keep it up 😊
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Nice !
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Brilliant art work. Faces are the mirrors of souls.
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awsome
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Excellante!
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Wow what a talented young man.
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A great talented young artist! Bravo! A well balanced dose of humor is essential! I love the way he perceives other people.
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Nice.
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This is amazing!!
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من دوست دارم هنر ایران
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simply great.
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Beautiful!
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Amazing art work
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the way you show your passion is magical.. lovely portraits
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Really nice drawings
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very nice
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This young man’s extraordinary talent is a synthesis of Persian and Iranian cultures. The brand-name Persian culture has been subordinated to the negative connotations of Iranian. Both should be able to say to each other and bring to life Omar Khayyam’s:
“A book of verses underneath the bough
A flask of wine, a loaf of bread and thou
Beside me singing in the wilderness
And wilderness is paradise now.”
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I don’t think we see enough sketching these days. It is a fundamental, basic skill that has been overlooked in recent years, yet here we find a young lad with such obvious talents and a keen eye putting his gift to great use. I applaud you. Keep it up.
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Very talented
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it’s so great to see iranian youth making such beautiful things!
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In love
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so beautiful
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Fantastic , keep it up…
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The eyes are earnest.
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Dope sketches, love how loose they are. Definitely looking forward to more and have been looking into Iranian artists for the past 3 years now. You guys definitely have crazy talent! I’ve been following Icy & Sot, Black Hand, and GhalamDAR and their work is just INSANE!
Definitely hoping for the best with how things turn out over there. With the past couple years and the new generation branching out and no longer patiently waiting for change, it’ll be a real treat to see what you guys/gals put out from over there.
I’m definitely watching…
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Amazing pencil sketches 🙂
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I have always like Persian miniatures. Good to see that the traditions of great drawing survive.
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We came back from Iran a week ago, spent 40 days there, and on of the things that amazed and impressed us was the love and respect for their historical and cultural heritage. Not only the wait is over, I think, but the change is already there.
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Amazing sketch and extraordinary colour combination.
regards,
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Really nice! 🙂
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The eyes get me.
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