Nader Mohazabnia iws magazine interview 2020

Nader Mohazabnia, Iranian watercolor artist and the head of IWS in Iran, was born into a life of craftsmanship and artistry. His earliest memories are from the age of 5, where he saw his calling to fulfill a higher purpose in the supremacy of the art world. This is thanks to his father, who is an architect. From then on, it seemed like a never-ending love affair with colors, passion and beauty to mold the everyday life into something immortal and exceptional. He has worked tirelessly to make his fairytale life come true. He studied at the Tehran University of Art where he experimented with a variety of different materials such as oil and acrylic, transitioned from one style to the next with ease and brilliance and finally, having achieved numerous accolades from as many as 24 different countries and festivals, he has started his own Art Academy, “Shoor-e-Parvaz”. Here, he has turned art into his full-time job where he instructs and educates art lovers on how to observe the world and open a portal into a higher plane of existence.

Being an optimist has served him well: he hasn’t let the harsh realities surrounding him hinder or halt his progress. In fact, his heart was set on watercolors and depicting figures from diverse cultures and walks of life. He believes in shaping one’s own style through trials and trusting one’s inner voice through inspiration from Mother Nature so much so that, through following the laws of academia and slowly removing the normalcy and adding a touch of his own imagination and explosion of color, he has achieved his impeccable style.

As a celebrated artist worldwide, he wishes to deepen our understanding of humanity, generosity and gracefulness.

For many years, he had been working on other techniques until 1995 when he developed a skin condition called contact eczema. He constantly had to use medications, Clotrimazole and Hydrocortisone ointments that had resulted in a severe dryness and brittle skin. Therefore, he had to stay away from all chemicals and pastels. Being in this condition didn’t take long, and nothing could satisfy his insatiable thirst for art after he was officially introduced to the watercolor world. And so the story began.

At that time he did not find a professional or technically-skilled teacher in Esfahan as most people working in this field were advanced in miniature rather than watercolors.

At first, he sometimes tried to test himself by repeating some of pioneering watercolor works. These include the watercolor styles of Masters Sumbat Der Kiureghian and Yervand Nahapetian. This was very difficult in those days due to a lack of access to the best resources.

Through trial and error, he found that “American Artist Magazine and Watercolor” was a good source for him, but the issues arrived late to Iran. In the meantime he tried to read, translate and use them as a bridge to both the future and the world outside of Iran.

Despite many obstacles and years of waiting, he got into art school. It was a great opportunity to gain experience and practice art. After graduation and upon finishing his first year of military service, he started working part-time as an artist. Shortly afterwards, art and teaching became his full-time job.

Generally speaking, Mohazabnia used to apply different techniques based on environmental conditions. However, he currently prefers live subjects as he is interested in figure painting. In fact, he chooses his subjects by considering how the contrast between shadows and lights plays on their bodies or faces and always try to challenge himself. It should be noted that he uses a lot of colors in his paintings but he primarily uses Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna. He used to utilize products from different companies but currently he is an Ambassador of Russia’s White Nights Nevskaya Palitra.

Nader Mohazabnia has been on many business trips to the other countries. And he is very pleased to be acquainted with the great watercolor world community and consider it one of the greatest honors of his life. He has become friends with many artists, and many of their lives have inspired him. Liu Yi (China), Alvaro Castagnet (Uruguay), Joseph Zbukvic (Australia) and Atanur Dogan (Turkey/Canada) are just a few examples.

Throughout the last two years, and with respect to his passion for the art of watercolor and his strong feelings towards the people of his country he has been trying to introduce and spread this medium to them. Due to this fact, Mohazabnia states that one of the most beautiful feelings and sweetest experiences in the world for him is the experience training that cannot be put into words. He describes it as planting a seed whose fruit is sweeter for its gardener rather than anyone else.

Having spent many hours to teach his students different techniques and materials, and caring about their success, well represented that he truly considers each of them as a member of his family, a family that, with many plans and great efforts, thinks of promoting watercolors domestically and is far from any jealousy and narrowmindedness. He also contends that the success of his students makes him more determined to continue this journey. This is especially so when they stand out among other novice artists, own an art gallery or are being considered for internal or external exhibitions. In addition, he stresses that seeing their success is even more valuable and rewarding than seeing his own.

Mohazabnia explains that “Every night, after finishing my classes, I go to my personal studio and carry out my deferred orders and tasks while experiencing the pleasure of daily tiredness.” He points out “Mainly, after midnight I use the mixture of my watercolors in the silence of the night and create different art works and without any exhaustion, I create art until late at night. Moreover, I try to play my role for my motherland by addressing national issues from Iranian history and identity.”

His life has been going on this way for many years until now and he is glad to be a source of inspiration for this family, only through art, and during this time he has created many works. He considers each one like his own child and his students’ works like his grandchildren.

He recommends all students, learners and those who are just getting started to write down their goals and work hard to achieve them with the utmost focus.

Mohazabnia suggests that every artist should not only feel responsible for himself in his professional work but also act as a role model for others in ethics, logic and human behavior. He also claims that people can be successful in the art of watercolor, by having a clear personality like limpid water and viewpoint and equanimity.

He hopes to have the honor of being able to share these experiences from his work, his trips, his studies, and his researches with the next generation so that they can combine them with their youthful potentials and achieve their desired results.