● Birthplace: Hamedan
● Website: www.shivadesign.com
Biography
His father was an employee who was familiar with poetry and mysticism and in playing the strings, and he had a good voice. The mother who raised him was, in fact, a kind and intelligent stepmother who loved Ghobad and his brothers like her own children. His older brother also worked at the American Hospital in Hamadan. He brought the Christmas cards that the Americans gave him to Ghobad, and those cards revived the tendency to paint in Ghobad. During high school, he made handicrafts and cardboard. On one of those days, when all the students had to hand in their handicrafts, Ghobad did nothing. When Master Saifollah Golparian asked Ghobad to show his work, fear spread throughout Ghobad; But he suddenly remembered that he had drawn the design of one of the greeting cards on the powder-colored fiber and put it in his pocket. Inevitably, he showed it to the master and waited for his reprimand. But the master looked at the painting with interest, and after realizing that Ghobad had drawn it, he praised him and his paintings in front of his classmates. The event further increased Ghobad’s penchant for painting. He soon found out that Saifullah Golparian had a painting class. But her class was for girls and they didn’t let boys in. However, he asked his father to ask his old friend to admit his son to painting class. Golparian, who was familiar with Ghobad Shiva’s ability to paint, agreed to help him enter his class as an assistant. He helped the master make paints and taught him how to paint and paint. It didn’t take long for him to get tired of staying in that class, because their main job was to copy foreign printed paintings, especially Russian ones. Hence, he took refuge in nature and painted nature until the end of high school. When he decided to go to college, he prepared his fine arts; He was opposed by his family. Due to his emotional attachment to Ghobad, his father opposed his going to Tehran, and others believed that painting could not afford to live. These objections caused Ghobad psychological distress and eventually led him to the hospital. Doctors ordered his family to release him from work, otherwise he would be worse off. Thus, Ghobad was allowed to go to university, and after not being accepted to the university entrance exam once, he finally achieved his dream and took a course with great figures such as Abbas Kiarostami, Farshid Mesghali, Aydin Aghdashloo and Ebrahim Jafari. He started at the University of Tehran.
Life in Tehran had its difficulties, and the Shiva family could not afford Shiva’s living expenses and education. This financial dilemma led him to engage in graphic painting. Although Shiva considered those first things to be nonsense, the same things made her look at her and the beauty pageant gave her a place. Shiva’s work was similar to that of foreign examples, and although it was boring for him, he had to give it up to make a living.
He graduated from the University of Tehran in 1966 with a degree in painting and received his master’s degree in graphics from Pratt University in New York in 1980. During his decades of artistic activity, Ghobad Shiva was able to create a kind of graphic with Iranian features by introducing novel works and introducing it to the world. Due to this feature, his works have been placed in various museums around the world and international collectors, and have been exhibited in domestic and international exhibitions and published in various magazines and books. He is a member of the International Graphics Association and works at his personal institute in management, education, art counseling, as well as in various fields, environmental design and exhibition.
Shiva, has been working hard since her youth to present native graphics and originated from Iranian culture, and is considered by the world as a graphic designer with a style. In its 2007 edition, the Encyclop .dia Britannica introduced him to the Asian continent in the graphics section of developing countries and published a poster commemorating Saadi. He is the first contemporary graphic designer in Iran to use Nastaliq’s broken line not as a sub-factor and news, but as a graphic element in his works. The International Association of Graphic Designers (AGI) has also named him one of the top 12 graphic designers in the world.
Everything changed when they came to Shiva from Tamasha Magazine, the weekly radio and television newsletter. The magazine provided an opportunity for innovation and introduced the writers who introduced him to Sada-e Sima’s recruitment, and Shiva, as an employee of Sada-e Sima’s decor department, designed decor, information posters, including posters for the Shiraz Art Festival, and covers of Soroush Publications Books. With his outstanding work, he persuaded TV executives to set up a radio and television graphics unit. Shiva then decided to launch Soroush’s Graphics Publishing Unit to travel to several European countries. To see how publishing units in the world work and to get acquainted with the work cycle.
What Ghobad Shiva did in those years; Not only did he make her famous as one of the great Iranian graphic designers, but she also won him world awards. Graphic magazines published his work and it was known to some extent in the world. However, he felt that he needed to learn graphic science. Therefore, he applied for Pratt University in New York and was accepted. When he went to the university to enroll, he was told he had to interview a faculty member. Shiva thought the interview was part of the university’s student admissions process. But when he went to the interview session, he realized that they thought Shiva had applied to teach. When they found out that he had come to study, they were surprised, because it was clear from his work background that he had won well-known awards. They left the choice of units to Shiva himself, and he chose only the basic subjects of graphics, and this time he surprised everyone.
It wasn’t long before Shiva left for the United States that the Islamic Revolution of Iran won, and everything became uncertain until it became clear that no money would be sent to him. So, in order to make a living for himself and his family and to pay for his materials and tools, he went to work and was eventually accepted into the Glazer Workshop by well-known American graphic designers. With the help of Glaser, he was able to enter the New York School of Visual Arts. Finally, after providing valuable reserves of graphic knowledge, he returned to Iran in 1981.
After returning to Iran, he worked until his retirement in radio and television and taught at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Tehran University and Al-Zahra University and Azad University. After retiring, he set up his own workshop and pursued his teaching career in a different way. This time, instead of going to college, he asked students to come to his workshop and put graphic knowledge into practice. Ghobad Shiva is currently the director of the Shiva Cultural and Artistic School in Tehran, teaching Iranian graphics to young students so that those who follow his path can advance Iranian graphics.
Graphic Ideas
In his decades of artistic activity, Ghobad Shiva has tried to create new graphic works with the Iranian spirit and culture, and he believes that we should be present in the global graphic dialogue with our own culture. In interviews with various media outlets, he lamented the lack of attention paid to contemporary Iranian culture by local artists, saying: “We are unaware that we live in a country where what is relevant to us, our art, is richer than oil resources.” . Unfortunately, throughout modern history, artists have no interest in this dear country, and this is unfortunate. He instructs young artists to think about their culture and create works that are rooted in indigenous culture, and sees the solution to this goal as free from the shackles of foreign schools, and even believes that: we must achieve To a cultural identity card, be so graphic as to create our own graphics.
Of course, he does not consider the use of elements of Iranian art such as Shamseh and Toranj in a work of art to be sufficient, but it must be a reflection of the Iranian spirit. In his opinion, when a work has the spirit of Iran, it is called Iranian graphics. As when it has a Polish or German spirit, it belongs there. He considers Iranian culture to be indirect and mysterious, and believes that if there is a mystery in the artist’s work without any Iranian motifs, it is an oriental and naturally Iranian work. On the other hand, it may have been used in an Iranian motif poster or an Iranian script, but it is not an Iranian work. As he himself exemplifies: I have a poster of a Japanese graphic artist who has worked with inscriptions in Iranian calligraphy, but it is still very Japanese.
Master Shiva, does not consider the division of graphics into commercial and artistic, and reminds us that there are millions of people around the world who know the methods and tools of graphics well and try to meet the graphic needs of people in social, cultural or economic fields. They don’t hold exhibitions for their work, but they do their job well. But in every country there are few who, while doing what they do, want to express their thoughts, views, and presence in their work. These are the author’s graphic designers, and the result is the work of these artists, who represent their society, culture and geography. Shiva has tried to be in this category and fortunately it is.
According to Master Shiva, someone who doesn’t know how to design can’t be a good graphic designer. He instructs students to design a lot and not focus on computer graphics from the beginning, but use it to design. Shiva predicts that Westerners will gradually abandon computers in graphics work, saying that they themselves do not accept computer design and that people who sit at the computer and design it are called: Puppets. Interestingly, the images that come out with this system are also called: Video Prostitution. The West, while itself a computer maker, is now trying to distance itself from it.
Master Shiva’s view of Islamic art is also very new and instructive. He attributes the closeness of Islamic art to mathematics and geometry to the realism of Muslim artists. “Your image is not yours, your image is a lie,” he said. The more skillful the image, the more skillful the lie. A flower is the same as a flower, but its image is not. But a square is always a square, and so are other geometric shapes. For this reason, Islamic artists turned to visual elements that are true, and this made Islamic art geometric, and now in the West we see that after the onslaught of figures over the centuries, visual arts have finally been abstracted, that is, whether we like them or not. They came to abstraction, while Islamic art was like that from the beginning. Michelangelo, for example, portrays God as a bearded old man on the roof of the Church of the Assumption in creating the work of the Day of Judgment, but in Islamic art God is a point that is closer to our modern mentality and therefore more pure art.
He criticizes the Westerners’ misunderstanding of Islamic art, saying that because Westerners do not understand this art, they have called it decoration, while these are expressions and not decorations, an expression in the form of pure tools, which is geometry. What art do they call decorative art? Scientifically, art that does not change architecture is decorative. But if you remove the tiles on the dome of the Sheikh Lotfallah Mosque, it will no longer look the same. Therefore, Islamic art expresses art. In this art, all shapes have meaning and are not just a decorative thing. Islamic art is one of the purest arts that human beings have achieved.
Master Ghobad Shiva, believes that Islamic art is very new and that it is only due to our ignorance and lack of attention. “It’s true that Islamic art has evolved over the centuries, but it’s very modern,” he says. I am not a researcher or historian, and if I became interested in this art, it is because of their words; After two hundred years, this is still the case today, and that is modernity. We have had modernity for a long time. In my opinion, the masterpiece of art is the signature that I saw in Yazd Grand Mosque, and that was the shape and manner of the signature of a tile master who was installed in one of the arches, and when I see it with today’s literacy, I think it is very modern. Is. If I do that myself, I will be told that you are a modern conceptualist. My main point is that we have had an artistic manifestation for a thousand years, but why isn’t it seen? Maybe it should be Nicholas Schiffer who sees them with a sense of curiosity and presents them again so that we can understand it?
His definition of modernity is also different from others. In his opinion, modernity is the last brick that should be laid on the lower clay and relying on it. However, this last clay has its own shape, material and size. How will your vase stand if it is not a niche and a platform? Suspended pots are also doomed to fall and fragment. Tradition and heritage, like the phenomenon of DNA, characterize our physical and mental presence. He regrets that in our society the past is considered synonymous with antiquity and says: this way of looking must be erased from the mind. Mother is not old, Rumi is not old, miniature is not old, calligraphy is not old, Mr. Lotfali Soratgar Shiraziis not old, The carpet of our thousand roles is not old either. Samovar, Hafez, Abar and Bad are not old either. These and many other things are our flesh and blood and our veins and our feet. Going back to ourselves is not going back to antiquity.
He has good examples of the recent culture of Iran, including Georges Braque, when he accompanied the letters and writings as a form with an image and laid the foundations of the school of Cubism. At the same time, he said, the interaction of images and letters has long been found in Iranian miniatures, and we know that there is at least a 300-year gap between Georges Braque’s discovery in the school of Cubism and our miniature legacies. So we need to be smart and appreciate our heritage.
Thanks To The World
When Ghobad Shiva started graphic work, Iranian graphics were subject to Polish graphics. But he always asked himself why they say Polish graphics, Japanese graphics and not Iranian graphics. Therefore, he decided to work in Iranian graphics and for the first time he used Nastaliq’s transliteration and broken line as a graphic element in the poster of the 5th Shiraz Art Festival. Surprisingly, this innovation was very popular, spreading his fame in the world and sending that poster to museums in the United States and Europe. Although his style of work in his own country was met with the dismay of some artists, when he was in the United States he tried to introduce Iranian graphics to the world by holding an exhibition, and it is still surprising that non-Iranians are valued much earlier than Iranians. His Iranian graphics followed.
While Shiva was studying graphic design at Perth University, the university itself held a large exhibition of his work. Because visitors weren’t familiar with Iran and its art, Shiva exhibited slideshow photos of Ralph Bani’s book Iran Bridge, a slide show, and explained to visitors wherever they needed a bricklayer poster. He has used the engraving of the building they see on the slides. The exhibition was so exciting that it became famous in New York until one day a group of people came to the exhibition with strange instruments and recorded the voice of Ghobad as a prominent artist to be sent to space with missiles and special devices, if on other planets. Have a smart life, receive the message of the elites of the earth.
The International Association of Graphic Designers (AGI), which has published 12 books by 12 of the world’s top graphic designers as part of the International Masters of Graphic Design, has dedicated a volume to Ghobad Shiva. Surprisingly, even for Shiva himself, this prompted Shiva to contact the association’s office and ask why he was selected as one of the world’s top 12 masters of contemporary graphics. You have heard the following answer: Your work has an independent and special identity and is an indicator of Iran’s graphics. Yes, Shiva achieved the goal she had been pursuing since she was young, because she wanted to talk about German graphics as well as German graphics, Polish graphics, and Japanese graphics.
Finally, Shiva’s name appeared in the 2007 edition of the British Encyclopedia as one of the three leading graphic designers in developing countries, along with the name of an African graphic designer and an Argentine graphic designer. According to British writers, the works of these three artists are a message of their tradition and territorial culture. They have analyzed works by Shiva and published a poster commemorating Saadi Shiva as a prime example of Iranian graphics. In part, the article reads:
Designers in developing countries often create their designs with approaches taken from industrialized countries, but combine them with local and national traditions to establish a more efficient visual connection. In the twentieth century, Ghobad Shiva, an Iranian graphic designer, introduced color-coded painting, calligraphy and calligraphy to his manuscripts. His work ranges from packaging to advertisements and magazines and newspapers to posters for celebrations and conferences. For example, his poster for the 800th birthday of the famous Iranian poet Saadi shows his skill in capturing color and his ability to create a refreshing image. These stylized illustrations are a continuation of the traditions of ancient Iranian manuscripts, but in a context of contemporary design taste.
In The Eyes of Artists
Ali Asghar Mohtaj, Painter and graphic designer: He considers one of the posters of the Iranian Radio and Television Chamber Orchestra, in which a cell violin rests, to be displayed on a chair with intricate and very subtle colors. Monna Lisa of Ghobad Shiva.
Lily Golestan, Author and director of Golestan Gallery: She also considers this poster to be very beautiful, intelligent and lovable, and has stated that Shiva’s works are traditional and modern: her works are as traditional as modern. It uses traditional elements such as cypress trees, roses, calligraphy, flowers and chickens, and more. So I, an Iranian, feel a lot of closeness to the work, and the non-Iranian Oi understands the color and smell of this place well.
Parviz Kalantari, Painter: He described the influence of Ghobad Shiva on Iranian culture as follows: I saw him with my own eyes when he flew over a carpet that was not Solomon’s rug over the city and flew to England, France and the United States. And started publishing international graphics. The same well-crafted rug that he has been sleeping on since he was a child, and he tells us about the role of his dreams on posters. ”
Ali Khosravi, Graphic designer: He has said the following about the role of Ghobad Shiva in introducing Persian script and traditional motifs in modern Iranian graphic design: In those years, graphic artists abandoned traditional image elements by imagining modernity and modernity. Shiva used these visual elements with a new and modern look. He made the best use of the Nasta’liq script to make several posters, which many artists later imitated.
Keyvan Sepehr, Author and publisher: He describes Shiva’s innovation as follows: Shiva, after first initiating the use of the broken Nastaliq Persian script in 1971, not as a sub-factor and only informants, but because of the use of power. Graphic and visual in a practical work of art, he continued to take this view and use the energy and youth woven into the remains of ancient and ancient Iranian art, which seems to be old and outdated.
Mohsen Ehteshami, Graphic designer: The most characteristic part of Ghobad Shiva’s professional activity is designing posters and he has said in this regard: Despite different orders and various topics over the years, the continuation of a consistent and tangible movement is evident in his works. Color is an unforgettable part of his work. Although Ghobad Shiva is the subject of many posters in the 1970s, the use of free designs and the use of some Iranian symbols, such as working with colored running inks, has gradually made the posters of this period more indigenous and lyrical.
Aydin Aghdashloo, Painter and graphic designer: He describes Shiva’s work in a special way: His work is so clear that you can easily understand that it is his work and his view of traditional Iranian calligraphy, especially Nastaliq’s broken calligraphy. Among the founders of contemporary Iranian graphics, he made a significant and special one.
Leonardo Desonoli, Italian designer and graphic designer: I recently discovered Iranian graphic design. There is a beautiful, energizing surprise and a sudden breath in it. In the defeated world of Western notions, we need a counterpart that is rooted in tradition. Shiva’s work is deeply rooted in Persian taste. ”
Interview
Ghobad Shiva, during an interview that was published in ISNA news agency on May 27, 2016; He said: I haven’t ordered a poster design for two years. He said that he has been sleeping in the field of graphics these days due to economic problems, adding: “He has not ordered a poster design for two years.”
The graphic artist talks about his activities these days: I wake up in the morning at 6 o’clock, I’m at my office at 9 o’clock to hold a class in the evening. He continues: “Now, due to economic problems, graphic works are asleep. I used to design at least 10 posters a year, and I haven’t had a custom in this field for two years.” My love is poster design. I do a lot of other graphic work as well. “I’m coming to myself,” Shiva said, adding: “I took this opportunity to compile a book that has reached 900 pages so far. This book is a collection of interviews and my point of view in the field of graphics, which has been done since before the revolution, but this book also has a photo section.
The graphic designer states: “This book is in its final days and is scheduled to be published by the Lajevardi Foundation.” My works are not in this book; But a book from my poster collection is also going to be published.
Education And Titles
1966 – Graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Tehran
1971 – Management course in the Industrial Management Organization of Iran
1980 – Graduate of MS Communication Design Sciences from Pratt University – New York – USA
2010 – Received first class art certificate from the Center for Visual Arts
Jobs And Positions
1961 – Ziba Advertising Center Designer
1962 – Designer of Goya Advertising Organization
1964 – Pars Americana Designer
1964 – Member of the founders of Iran Gallery – Kandriz
1966 – Designer and graphic designer of Talash Magazine
1966 – Designer and graphic designer of the Chamber of Industries and Mines
1967 – Founder of the Graphic Unit at the National Iranian Radio and Television
1967 – 1993 – Stage and Graphic Designer at the National Television of Iran
1981 – Head of the Graphic Unit of the National Radio and Television of Iran
1974 – Designer at Design Magazine and Pentagram Graphic Design Institute – London
1975 – Designer at Parimach Magazine Paris Match – Paris
1979 – 1980 – Designer in Atelier Milton Glazer – New York
1980 – Collaboration with the late Herb Lubalin, Alen Snapiro and Wucis Wong
1981 – until now; Teaching design at the School of Art and Literature for Children and Adolescents
1982 – So far; Teaching graphics at the Faculty of Radio and Television, Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Tehran, University of Arts, Faculty of Arts, Al-Zahra University, and Faculty of Art and Architecture, Islamic Azad University
1985 – 1993 – Artistic Director of Sales Publications – Radio and Television Organization
1997 – Member of the Board of Directors of the Iranian Graphic Designers Guild – Member of the Arbitration Board and Selection of Iranian Graphic Design Biennials
– Management of Ghobad Shiva Cultural and Artistic Center
Works
– Designing more than 300 posters in the field of culture and trade in the country and abroad
– Designing more than 100 addresses for various domestic and international institutions
– Design and artistic management of various magazines such as Talash, Tamasha, Soroush Angeli, Iran Zamin, Iran, Hands and Roles, Iranian Handmade Carpet, Circulation, Homa and Iranian Clothing
– Illustration for different texts
– Book design and book covers
– Designing brochures and commercial and cultural bulletins
– Environmental design and urban beautification
– Designing exhibition booths
– Scene design for TV shows and theaters
– Preparing educational booklets in the field of graphic arts
– Press interviews and live and television speeches
Current Activity
– Management of Ghobad Shiva Cultural and Artistic Institute
– Free educational classes in the field of visual arts
Awards
1969 – Winner of the poster designer competition – for the third Shiraz Art Festival
1974 – Winner of various competitions in poster design – for art festivals in Iran
1974 – Winner of the logo design competition – for the Tehran Graphic Designers Syndicate
1978 – Medal and Diploma for Designing Posters – from the International Biennial of Brno Graphics in Czechoslovakia
1979 – First Prize – In Environmental Design Competition – New York
1980 – Winner of the logo design competition – for the Winter Sports Olympics in New York
1997 – Selected logo design – for the Iranian Graphic Designers Guild
2001 – Selected poster for holding the seventh biennial of Iranian graphics
2001 – Diploma of Honor for the Palestinian Poster – in the first biennial International Poster of the Islamic World
2005 – Diploma and Statue of Honor of the Educators of Hamedan
Works Published Internationally
1974 – Novoum Magazine, Germany
1975 – Annual Book of Modern Germany Poblicity 1975 – Pages 46 and 89
1976 – Swiss Graphic Poster, 1976 – Page 126
1977 – Japan Design Magazine 1977, Fourth Issue – Pages 35, 30, 29, 28
1978 – Project Poland Magazine 1978 – Fourth Issue Page 11
1978 – Annual Specialized Graphics Book of Modern Publicity London 1978 – Pages 26, 37
2004 – The book from many years ago still – A selection of posters of Ghobad Shiva – 40s to 80s – Nazar Publishing
2004 – Ghobad Shiva’s book – Graphic Designer – Nazar Publishing
2005-2006 – Exclusive book from the collection of books entitled: International Masters of Graphic Design – published abroad
– Collection of articles and lectures (in progress)
Exhibitions
1962 – Painting Exhibition – Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Tehran
1962 – Participates in the third painting festival in Tehran
1964 – Painting exhibition in Iran Gallery
1965 – Street Painting Exhibition – Saba Gallery
1965 – Painting Exhibition – Iran Gallery
1966 – Photo Exhibition – Kandriz Gallery
1962 – Illustration Poster and Illustration Exhibition – Kandriz Gallery
1963 – Participates in the Graphic Exhibition – Nice – France
1974 – The first international art exhibition – Tehran
1974 – Exhibition of Graphic Works – Gallery of Printing School – London
1974 – Exhibition of Graphic Works – Paper Point Gallery – London
1976 – Participate in the painting exhibition of the group of free artists as a guest
1976 – Exhibition of 50 Years of Iranian Graphics – Mehrshah Gallery
1977 – Participate in the 7th International Graphic Biennial of Warsaw – Poland
1977 – Participate in the 8th Biennial International Graphic Biennial – Check
1977 – Poster Exhibition – Museum of Contemporary Art, Tehran – Iran Poster Art Exhibition
1978 – Exhibition of Graphic Works – Pratt Gallery – New York
2001 – Display of Potter’s Works with Three International Artists: Mimo Costellano, Owe Lush and Alan Lucernek, Special Guests of the Seventh Biennial of Graphic Designers, Niavaran Palace Blue Hall, Tehran
2002 – Participation in the Exhibition of Iranian Graphic Designers – Iranian Scream 1- Ash-Rowal – France
2003 – Participation in the Exhibition of Iranian Graphic Designers – Iranian Scream 2 – Shomoun – France
2004 – Presence in the first biennial poster of the Islamic world
2004 – Display of Works – Faculty of Fine Arts, Beijing – China
2004 – Participates in the Incheon International Design Fair – Korea
2004 – Participate in the exhibition of works by Iranian graphic designers – Moscow – Russia
2004 – Participation in the Exhibition of Iranian Graphic Designers – Iranian Scream 3 – Lalovier – France
2005 – Exhibition of works in the Oakaki Poster Museum – Japan
2014 – Presence of works in the Museum of Modern Art – Paris
2014 – Presence of works in Max Museum – Rome – Italy
Museums
1974 – Collection of poster collections, London Design Center – London
1976 – Selection of works in the collection of the Georges Pompidou Museum – Georg Pompidou – France
1979 – Presence of works in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art – New York
2005 – Poster Museum – Netherlands
