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London Sophia Gallery seeks to allay Iranophobia in Europe: manager

London Sophia Gallery seeks to allay Iranophobia in Europe: manager

The manager of the Sophia Contemporary Gallery in London, Lili Jassemi, an Iranian who grew up in Munich, has said that the gallery wants to dispel Iranophobia in Europe through introducing Persian art.

She made the remarks in an interview with the Persian service of Honaronline, a Persian art news website, published on Saturday.

She also emphasized that the gallery plans to introduce the art of Iran to Europe in an international standard.

“We are three partners who run the gallery; French-Russian Vassili Tsarenkov and Georgian-Russian Lali Marganiya are both from families of famous collectors. We three speak six different languages and this helps us to better reach new markets. I believe we can also make a professional gallery where we can make Iranian art popular in Europe,” Jassemi said.

She added that the Sophia Gallery displays a variety of contemporary art from every part of the world, but the focus is on the art of Iran.

 Lili Jassemi

“We set the exhibits in a way to attract more collectors. We also try to hold different exhibits in other locations such as Germany or St. Petersburg if the artists can afford it.

“Our first exhibit belonged to works by Reza Derakhshani and it was a successful one, the second belonged to Mehrdad Khatai and the third to Puya Aryanpur,” she said.

She later emphasized that the market of Iran must first be strong to attract the world’s attention. “For example, the Tehran Auction has played a very effective role,” she added.

“Our artist must also be in contact with the international galleries. The artist must also become famous in the international arena, that is, good exhibits in different parts of the world can help,” she explained.

“Our evaluation shows that three things are very important in Europe for an artwork. A good artwork is actually a creative work, it is original and is offered at reasonable price,” she added.

In the heart of Mayfair, Sophia Contemporary Gallery held its summer show from July 27 to September 22 featuring eight different European and Iranian artists including Shahriar Ahmadi, Bahram Hanafi, Arash Lahiji, Ramin Shirdel, Mehrdad Shoghi and Mohammadreza Yazdi.

Photo: Works by Iranian artists on display at Sophia Contemporary Gallery’s Summer Show, which was held from July 27 to September 22, 2016. (SCG)

 

 

Sophia Gallery Lili Jassemi
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