Thursday, May 1, 2003 | 8:44 a.m.
Mohammad Darehbaghi is an award-winning Iranian painter and Persian rug designer who grew up in Iran studying his country's traditional art. His tazhib (an intricately detailed design art), Persian miniatures and Persian rug design paintings have been exhibited in galleries throughout the world.
But in Las Vegas, it's rural American landscapes that define his work. From art show to art show, the soft-spoken artist has learned buyers and collectors seek that which is familiar; his miniatures and ornate rug designs do not resonate Americana as his pastoral landscapes do.
With his hand to his heart and in broken English, Darehbaghi explains with a smile, "My feeling is my culture, but my business is landscape."
With a soft laugh, he adds, "It's my mortgage."
The landscapes are not lacking passion, however. Using texturized brush strokes and hints of impressionism, the idyllic renditions of Midwestern plains, California beach scenes and sedate farm communities capture the quiet beauty of American countrysides.
Darehbaghi sells the landscapes at art shows throughout the West and at Markman Gallery at The Rio. Some are featured on his website artandart.com. But as a featured artist at the International Food and Folklife Festival held Saturday at Clark County Government Center, Darehbaghi will have an opportunity to present and demonstrate his Persian artwork.
The annual event sponsored by Clark County is designed to feature the artists, craftsmanship, food and music of nearly 30 cultural groups living in Las Vegas, from German to Irish, Mexican and Russian.
Darehbaghi, who moved to Las Vegas in 1997 (one year after leaving Iran), has been featured at the festival for the past few years.
His work also caught the attention of the Nevada Arts Council, which in 1999 (and again in 2002) granted him funds as a master teacher in its Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program. The program provides materials for master artists to teach their work to apprentices from within their own culture.
"The idea is to preserve the tradition by continuing it," said Jeanne Harrah Johnson, coordinator of Nevada Arts Council's Folk Life Program. "Our ultimate hope is that the apprentice will pass it on -- even if informally, such as a presentation.
"All of these different people make up our neighborhood. I don't think a lot of people know they are among us ... And we have so many different kinds of art."
Persian work
Often referred to as visual poetry, Persian miniature blends intricate fantasylike shapes, colors and figures -- mythical and real -- and incorporates Chinese and Persian influences.
Tazhib originally was used to decorate and border books, then later applied to Persian rugs. Darehbaghi has used tazhib to accent several styles of Persian art, along with ancient poems.
"Now, not too many artists are working tazhib and miniature," Darehbaghi said. "It's too much work. Too hard on the eyes, too many details."
The same applies to Persian rug paintings, which Darehbaghi said is practiced little today. Because of the work involved, traditional Persian rug paintings are often expensive. Darehbaghi's sell for an average of $4,000.
"This is three months, eight hours, every day," Darehbaghi said, pointing to a deep-red, finely detailed Persian rug painting.
Darehbaghi started painting at age 19. In 1985 he earned a bachelor's degree in painting from the University of Tehran. In the late 1980s, around the time the country's artists began moving away from traditional art and into more contemporary work, Darehbaghi began to paint landscapes.
Because of his status as an accomplished artist, Darehbaghi said he was granted a national interest visa after visiting a U.S. Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden.
He is reluctant to talk about life in Iran and says he chose to move to the United States for a better lifestyle and to gain experience. He lived in Indiana, then Cleveland, before settling in Las Vegas with his wife, Azar, and teenage son Siamak.
Their home is filled with hundreds of paintings created by himself and by his two younger brothers who are contemporary painters. One lives in Atlanta, the other in Iran.
Sharing space in Darehbaghi's studio are images of his past and present. Framed Persian rug designs represent different Iranian cities and regions, from the deep reds, blues and greens of an intricately designed rug common, he said, to the city of Esfahan, to larger, less-detailed floral patterns found in northern Iran.
"Persian Folk Dancer," a painting combining miniature and tazhib styles in acrylic and gouache, hangs above his work desk. He was commissioned to design the painting for a rug manufacturer. It features women dressed for a formal dance in 1800s Iran.
The rest of the studio is filled with American landscapes.
"For my culture, if someplace wants Persian art, I paint miniature," Darehbaghi said. "But this is important for now."
In fact, it's only through the apprenticeship program that Darehbaghi devotes to painting Persian art. He would like to teach it in community classes but says he needs to improve his English.
He works part time for local graphics companies and travels often to art exhibits "sometimes every 15 days, sometimes every weekend," he said.
But like most artists selling work in Las Vegas, buyers of original works are rare. In fact, with a slight smile, Darehbaghi utters a familiar phrase: "They love posters."
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