The solo exhibition Mantra by Hamideh Momenzadeh—an Iranian visual artist and art researcher—is currently on view at Seyhoun Gallery in Tehran. The show opened on May 23, 2025, and will conclude with a closing ceremony on Friday, June 13, 2025.
As the oldest contemporary art gallery in Iran, Seyhoun Gallery has played an irreplaceable role in shaping and sustaining modern artistic movements in the country. Established in 1966 by the pioneering painter and art director Masoumeh Seyhoun, in collaboration with her husband Hooshang Seyhoun (a renowned architect and artist), the gallery quickly became a vital platform for introducing contemporary Iranian artists. In the 1960s and ’70s, Seyhoun Gallery hosted exhibitions by the trailblazers of Iran’s modern art scene. To this day, it continues to serve as an open space for experimentation, dialogue, and the presentation of thought-provoking art.Remaining dynamic and forward-looking over the decades, Seyhoun Gallery is still home to works that explore the edges of innovation and introspection—artworks created not merely to be seen, but to be felt and understood.
In this spirit, Mantra exemplifies a deeply inward-looking approach. Rather than displaying outward appearances, Hamideh Momenzadeh turns toward the inner architecture of emotion and consciousness. Her work has evolved from urban representation to meditative spatial construction, resulting in a personal and contemplative visual language.
From The Turquoise City to Mantra
Momenzadeh’s artistic journey began with a profound exploration of the connections between architecture, memory, and introspection. Her earlier bodies of work—My City’s Walls and The Turquoise City (2008–2014)—focused on the urban fabric of Isfahan, where traditional brick and blue-glazed tiles were used not only as visual motifs but also as symbolic carriers of memory, identity, and historical beauty. She later created a small-format series of paintings depicting the ceilings of the Jameh Mosque of Isfahan. While these works still drew from architectural references, they marked a shift toward a more inward, intuitive perception of space and form. These meditative investigations have now culminated in her most recent collection: Mantra.
About the Mantra Series
In this new series, Momenzadeh returns to the ceilings of the Jameh Mosque—not to replicate their external design, but to explore the rhythmic, repeating patterns of the mind and psyche. She writes:“For me, a mantra is the power of repetition. In each rhythmic beat, it creates a deep and transcendent space... Bricks are no longer building materials—they stand like sacred syllables, arranged in musical order to extract meaning from within.” Color plays a significant emotional and symbolic role in this series.
Dark tones evoke a sense of heaviness and ambiguity—a subtle boundary between contemplation and anxiety—while luminous, vibrant hues express motion and the artist’s inner vitality. These paintings are studies in harmony between stillness and movement, between internal restlessness and external calm. Although the works draw visual inspiration from the mosque’s ceilings, the forms are not straightforward representations. Rather, they serve as reinterpretations—psychological, emotional, and spiritual responses to architectural space, repetition, and introspection.
Hamideh Momenzadeh is an artist, educator, and art researcher based in Isfahan, Iran. She holds an MA in Art Research from the University of Art in Tehran and a BA in Painting. Since 2015, she has served as the director of Termeh School of Visual Arts, where she plays an active role in educating the next generation of Iranian artists. Since 2021, she has also been a board member of the Haft Honar Niyakan Parsi cultural and artistic institute, contributing to its various creative initiatives. She is the founder of the Baladestan Vocational Art Academy, which focuses on equipping artists with professional skills. Momenzadeh is the author of Write to Sell (for Artists), a practical guide aimed at empowering artists through creativity and communication. She is also a member of the Institute for Development of Contemporary Visual Arts in Iran. Her artistic achievements include receiving the top prize at the inaugural National Painting Biennale of Isfahan, the Imam Reza Painting Festival award, and having works acquired by the Isfahan Municipality. Her paintings have been exhibited nationally and are held in both public and private collections.
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This article is based on an exclusive interview with Hamideh Momenzadeh.
Submitted by Mr. Akbar Karimi, international correspondent for Arirang Culture Connect and member of ICCN and UNESCO.
Photo by: Mr. Vahid Momenzadeh