Curator’s note
Joubeen Mireskandari is a versatile artist. It’s not about some excellent sculptures he has created, or about his being an amateur musician who appears in jam sessions. It’s neither about his graphic works and his achievements in that field nor is it about the series of exhibitions he has curated in collaboration with his wife (Sogol Kashani), a painter. It’s not even about “Eight to Ten Thirty”, a music documentary they have produced and directed together. It is only his work as a photographer that offers the versatility I am talking about. Supported by his study as a graphic designer, he is the photographer who creates the optimal images in the optimal frames. On the other hand, he is the hasty hunter who captures the most ephemeral instants that match his aesthetic view by his mobile phone camera, the photographer with a sharp look at the society and the world around him.
One side of Joubeen appreciates the neat and sleek images, while the messy, the sloppy and the awkward strongly attract another side of him. And as if all these do not satisfy him, in his atelier and by simple material or the curves of a body, he creates fake landscapes. Yet another side of him is a curious explorer who searches for the undetected aspects of everything. At the end of the day, he is the storyteller who stands before his camera to play different roles.
Look at his pictures on the walls of the exhibition or into the pages of the book; you will find a photographer who does not take pictures with his eyes but is led by his personality, studies, culture, vision, emotions, humor and gaiety. He is not the photographer of images.
He is the photographer of contents, concepts and the context of the images. And since they have not been chosen by the eye alone, viewing them demands more than just the eye. If you are expecting beautiful images, do not search here. If you are not ready to open up your mind and heart, do not look at Joubeen’s photos.
If you are expecting beauty in photos, you will find a lot here. You will see photos the meanings of which are the culture reflected in their artistic aesthetic.
Behzad Hatam