In Shideh Tami's Studio

For the last four years, Shideh Tami has been living and working in her studio located in the center of Tehran. She uses her studio's biggest room with its calm, bright space, as a place for painterly experiences and creating artworks. Her tools and materials are accessible to anyone in her studio. The way she has organizes her studio clearly shows her creative spirit to any visitor.

Painting tools, such as brushes and paints, which are scattered on the ground are easily noticeable, but a huge portrait painted on linen attached to the wall attracts the most attention; a woman with an oblong face, sunken black eyes, and tousled blue hair, who gazes at the viewer. However, it is not unexpected to see such a spectacular painting in this studio.

To introduce Tami's artistic character in a few words, one could say she has always tried to picture the "human being". The qualities of her work are apparent in her paintings, sculptures, and her drawings; human being is her main subject, and she paints the visage and organs regardless of sexual, racial,  and social class features. For Tami, processing a human being's visage is some sort of self-analysis, through which she decodes the psyche in order to know more about herself.

Tami's handwritten notes and her drawings on various pieces of paper are visible throughout the studio. Some papers are attached to the wall, some are stacked in a corner or in an open old wooden suitcase. Some of her drawings are illustrated with more precision and include more details; the woman's figure, wearing an unbuttoned shirt, sitting on the ground, and leaning back against her arm. Tami's way of dealing with drawings may vary from one to another; under the paper clamp which is holding the woman's drawing, Tami has put a bright yellow flower. The flower's color accords beautifully with the blue color on the woman's shirt and the dark background.

A handwritten note on a small piece of partially torn paper, installed on top of a power outlet is another attractive detail in the studio's space. It seems that the note contains the basic idea of a body that she wants to sculpt. She has drawn a simple picture of her idea at the bottom of the note. While looking at the notes and sentences she wrote in the corner of some of her paintings, one can remember that since she was a child, Tami has been interested in literature; a field with which she experimented before entering the realm of visual arts. She published her first poetry book entitled "The Dark Blue Curtain of the Night" in 1987. There are some books on her shelves, and other books about painting and drawing scattered on the ground.

Everything in this studio is indicative of Tami's vivacity and the green plants in this studio breathe even more life into its atmosphere and make it a lot more attractive. Tami says she used to work during the night when she was younger, but now she has a stronger tendency to work during the day. At the studio's exit, one enters the calm, welcoming atmosphere of Tami's house which is very different from her busy studio. This is a space for relaxing, forming new ideas, and maybe reading. The reading glasses next to the candlelight, and Tami's orange cat have altogether given a sense of coziness to her house.