I am a resident of Tehran.Tthe largest and most populous city in Iran, Tehran, like most developing old cities is a combination of its past and present.

While I was living in Tehran I lived in the old area. My everyday sceneries were magnificent buildings and ancient architecture with their own form and charm.
These elements slowly drew my attention, and after a while I began painting the space around me. I have tried to portray the lived experience within those parameters. 

It is my belief that mankind’s primary life experience is inherent in architectural elements which are a part of our collective memory and tied to our identity. In fact, Tehran is shaped by these forgotten and separated fragments isolated in every corner of the city. These old parts contain life that is far more energetic than the rest even if they sometimes feel desolate.

Taher Pourheidari, August 2014

My high school major was math & physics and even during those days I remember liking geometry and perspective. To practice I used to sketch the views of alleyways and buildings. Perhaps it is from that time that this interest in the soul of a place was formed to the point that in the continuation of my bachelor’s project, more professionally, I worked on many of the ruined buildings in my mother’s hometown of Rafsanjan. During my masters program I worked on the theory of “Urban Components in Contemporary Iranian Painting” and on the paintings of “Tehran Today” which became the “Nezamabadi” series of paintings.

In addition to the aged buildings, rising skeletons of the new modern buildings have visual attraction for me since they are part of the new urban portraiture. The superimposition of city’s past and present is one of the essential qualities of all the rapidly growing and expanding cities. To show soulless new buildings against the soulfulness of the old buildings have been important and attractive to me.

Any view of the totality of the city can hold my attention. Slowly it seems that the everyday life is entering the paintings and is starting to inhabit the architectural space. It is the visual essence of the urban space that attracts me. It is not the soul of every place that interests me, I ponder a lot, search, take many photos at different times of the day to capture the light, and return to the site to re examine different angles before starting the work. This love for the urban spaces is the influence of my environment and has been intertwined with my life. I try to follow it and discover its other dimensions.

Taher Pourheidari 2013