“The lack of communication between people and art aficionados impacting the art community following the outbreak of coronavirus has caused the artists to lose motivation and feel depressed” Behnush Forutan said.
“Artists can work in isolation for a while, however, they need to show their artworks and hear the responses and see the feedback, or else they will lose motivation,” she noted.
Forutan said that the galleries and the art centers need to continue their activities because if the art does not exist in society, people will lose their high spirits.
She added, “The artists who are well known can sell their artworks most anyway and do not need to hold exhibits, but new talents and young artists need to be introduced, and this has been very hard these days. Holding solo exhibits helps introduce these young talents where they can find opportunities to sell artworks. However, the artist themselves also show no interest because there is no guarantee there will be visitors at the gallery.”
“During this deep recession facing the country, only a few can be found to purchase artworks, and even some of the private collectors decided to sell their collections to make a living. As a result, young artists cannot count on selling their artworks these days,” she said.
The plan of Shokouh Gallery is almost clear and if we do not face public shutdowns we will hold mouse photography and painting fairs. 5 years ago we have held a fair about the symbol of the year in which the artworks of artists were presented. but this year we could not hold any fair due to the Covid-19 and this is even extended to July. Also, we will start holding individual fairs from September if everything goes well, she added.
The gallery is currently playing host to a group exhibition by the Sakoo Art School in Tehran. The program runs until 14 July.