Nicky Nodjoumi

He was born in 1320 in Kermanshah. He entered the Faculty of Fine Arts in Tehran in 1341 and graduated with honors in painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts of Tehran University in 1346. In the late 1940s, he traveled to the United States and first studied animation at the New York School of Visual Arts in 1998, and then received his master’s degree in fine arts from the City College of New York in 1999, and taught at the university. He lives in Brooklyn and is also a supporter of Iranica encyclopedia. Nikzad was considered one of the most prolific illustrators of books for children and teenagers before traveling to America at the center for children’s intellectual development in the 50s.

Najomi says that because there were no prominent painters or good classes in Kermanshah at that time, he copied the paintings of the Russian painter “Ilya Repin” and redrew his works.

He says the reason for naming his name is as follows: “My father was in the army and when I was going to be born, my mother was alone and she gave birth to me in the basement of the house and in difficult conditions. When my father returned and when he found out about the circumstances of my mother’s pregnancy, he named me Nikzad and called me Niki.”

Astronomical experience in drawing and engraving books during his collaboration with the Center for the Intellectual Development of Children and Teenagers is tangible in the organs of his paintings, his compositions and organs are often cut horizontally and in this way its surfaces are broken to create two distinct realities that are related and side by side, which are distinguished by a slight disparity or the use of different colors or patterns. In this way, he recreates the process of collage to subtly record his compositions and displacement and difference. He also uses this technique to dismember the body, producing severed limbs and disintegrating bodies that are playfully painted with dots of color to show violence without actually representing it. On the other hand, these severed legs, which are placed asymmetrically on top of each other, evoke the change of fortune in the unstable social order and represent rebirth and rebirth.

Two years after graduating from the Astronomical College of Fine Arts, he went to New York. After a short period of time, he joined the confederation of Iranian students in America. Despite the dominance of abstract art and minimalism in the art space of that time in New York, he painted his paintings mostly in the figurative space.

In 1351, he decided to return to Iran. A few days after his return, he was informed that he did not have the right to teach anywhere and could only hold an exhibition. After that, he returned to America and traveled to Iran once a year to hold an exhibition of his works.

A report of the revolution was a collection of ten charcoal drawings by Nikzad Nojomi that were exhibited 9 months after the Islamic Revolution and after the reopening of the Museum of Contemporary Arts. In this collection, he depicted popular demonstrations. He had previously designed several posters to support the people’s struggles against the former regime.

The newly established gallery of Timur Grahane in “Tribeka” could not dream of a more attractive dream than the opening of his new gallery with an exhibition of the latest paintings and designs of the famous Niki Najomi, and in the year of Shahrivar 1392 (September 2013), he had an exhibition in the gallery of Timur Grahane, in New York. Within two hours of the opening of the exhibition, there was a flood of people filling and emptying the exhibition, and as the Iranians say No, most of the visitors were Americans.

What attracted the audience to these works at first glance was the criticism of the hidden power in astronomical paintings. The complexity of the astronomical works in the game fluctuates between reality and fantasy. The three elements of historical factors, social criticism and abstract surrealism are the constituent elements of astronomical works.

Storytelling was one of the other features of this exhibition, the very wide elements in the composition of the astronomical landscape were constantly challenged and interpreted by the audience. But astronomical works, unlike the works of Neo Rauch, the German realist, are not only a narrative, but a story with an open ending.

Today, the language of astronomical painting has gained transnational dimensions, he has achieved a new language that has elements of both, but it is a timeless language that can be understood with any historical background, by integrating what he brought with him from his motherland and what he has brought with him in the host country for more than three decades.

But what distinguishes his social criticism and criticism of power from other works of his contemporaries is his work form. His canvas is not only multi-layered, but there is always a reflection at the bottom, which occupies about a quarter of the work in terms of scale, and in terms of content, it is either a reflection of what is happening above, or it explores a new reality. This type of work can be considered a special signature of astrological goodness. Astronomical works are abstract and partly surrealistic, but the human element is always at its center.

According to art critics, Nikzad Nejomi is a thematic, figurative and bitter painter who portrays his human themes in bitter and dark perspectives.

In other words, astronomical paintings can be described as absurd allegories of power, or absurd allegories of power. The source and source of inspiration for his style goes back to the time when he sat down to study the Iranian Prophet painter Mani at the suggestion of Firoz Shirvanlou, the then director of the Center for Intellectual Development of Children and Adolescents. The result of this study is 270 paintings, which, according to him, will change the path of his artistic work. Years later, a selection of these paintings of Mani, which were made in the traditional style of Iranian painting, were exhibited in Aria Gallery in 1372, which was his only exhibition in Iran after the revolution, after the short exhibition of the report of the revolution.

Nikzad Nejomi’s recent paintings are more influenced by newspaper photos, after the initial design, he takes photos from different newspapers and then puts them together and combines the images. It positions the combined images on a grid and finally draws the final design on the canvas.

He says that he got most of his influence from Western paintings and the only Iranian painter who was influenced by his works was “Ardeshir Mohassas”.

His works can be seen in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the British Museum in London, the Salasali Private Museum in Dubai, and the National Museum of Cuba.

Nicky Nodjoumi has won an award at the Bologna Festival in Italy for illustrating the book “Crystal Flower of the Sun”. Holding several solo exhibitions in Iran and America (New York and California), including a solo exhibition at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art and receiving the French National Award, Kanissomer in 1349, are among his astronomical artistic activities.

In general, the important point in the works of Nikzad Nojomi is the combination and internal connection between the abysses of a restless soul in the bodies of damaged and unidentified figures. The New York Times has mentioned Mr. Najomi as an artistic treasure.

Individual exhibitions

• Tehran University Hall, 1347
• Lito Gallery, Tehran, 1354
• Sihun Gallery, Tehran, 1355
• Pictogrand Gallery, New York
• Queens Museum
• Exhibition of manuscripts series in Homa gallery, Tehran, 2005
• Prishka Jishka Gallery, New York
• Timur Grahane Gallery, New York 2013

Group exhibitions

• Najomi also exhibited his works in the Exhibition of Revolutionary Posters in December 1357 in the hall of the Faculty of Fine Arts of Tehran University along with artists such as Amir Taftani, Akbar Ahripour, Arapik Baghdasarian and Morteza Mamiz.
• In October 2006, along with other great artists of Iran, Nojomi participated in the group painting exhibition of the quarterly “Artist’s Profession” at the Mamiz and Mirmiran Gallery of Iran’s Artists House.
• In June 2009, Najomi exhibited his works in the field of Shahnameh illustration, along with the works of other masters, at the exhibition and convention of Shahnameh writing at the Saba Cultural and Art Institute.
• In February 1390, Nojomi participated in the “Winter Collection 90” exhibition and store at Mahehr Gallery.
• In November 1391, Najomi participated in a group exhibition for the benefit of NMS patients at Mehr Gallery.
• In December 2013, in a group exhibition titled “One Man”, Najomi placed his works alongside the works of other prominent figures in the field of visual arts.
• In July 2013, in an exhibition titled “From Past to Tomorrow” in D Gallery, Nojomi exhibited his works alongside the works of young Iranian painters.