11   THE ART OBSERVER REZVAN KANI was born in 1947 in Teheran, Iran and arrived in Andorra in the Spanish Pyrenees in 1979. With a master’s degree in architecture which she gained in 1970 at the University of Teheran, her artistic skills lay dormant on arrival in Spain. With two young children and a traumatic departure from Iran at a time of severe political unrest, Rezvan had plenty to occupy her thoughts at that time. It wasn’t until 1983, after being in Andorra for four years, that Rezvan discovered she was living amidst a strong artistic community. The first exhibition of her work in her new country was a year later in a Collective Exhibition of Artists organised by the Ministry of Culture. Though she only exhibited a few works, the exhibi- tion proved to be a milestone in her career, leading to a further exhibition entitled ‘Dandelions’ the following year where she exhibited 49 stunning works. With strong cultural influences from her Iranian heritage, much of her work has a fairy- tale, dreamlike quality “Since the beginning of my career I have always been very interested in portraying the emotions of human beings in my work. The figures in my paintings were never designed to be anatomically realistic and although they did show movement and motion they were mostly intended to express Exploring the World through art Dawn of Creation By Kelly Richards Dawn Rowland and the Wendy Levy Gallery staged a wonderful exhibition of Dawn’s sculpture and drawings in the beautiful setting of the artist’s home and garden during a glorious weekend in July. Dawn is renowned for her majes- tic, sympathetic and monumental sculptures, embracing life’s relationships and emotions in every piece. From themes such as ‘warriors’ to ‘mother and daughter’ and ‘sisters’, each piece has a palpable poignancy. So charged with emotion are these works of art that Nicola Horlick commissioned Dawn to produce a three tonne sculpture to commemorate the life of her late daughter, Georgia, who tragically died at the tender age of 10 years old. Although Dawn has exhibited her sculptures in eminent galleries throughout the world including London, America and Tokyo, they could not have looked better than in her own artistic setting. Carefully placed throughout her house, they created a focal point and extra dimension in each room. Together with her skilful and flowing life-study drawings which decorated the walls, they made a powerful impression. Spilling into the idyllic split-level garden the sculptures looked undoubtedly at home with the glorious sunshine caressing each magnificent piece. Everyone who visited the exhibition could not fail to be touched by the beauty of the work and its environment. Also open for viewing was the artist’s studio. It was quite thrilling to be able to see work in progress, a stage seldom seen by spectators. It was pleasing that so many people had accepted the invitation to view this extraordinary exhibi- tion and had taken advantage of this rare opportunity. Hopefully the success of this exhibition will result in an encore in the not too distant future. emotions. Over time the repre- sentation of emotions became increasingly important and little by little the anatomy and move- ment were eliminated to leave behind just the face as it is the most expressive part of the human body and can portray the most complex emotions such as fear and suffering. As this tech- nique developed I eventually even discarded the form of the face just keeping the most expressive human parts - the eyes, mouth and fingers. If any figures are ever used they are as a base over which the emotions are then expressed. Throughout this devel- opment I discovered that I could use touches of colour, stains, contrasts of light and shade and abstract forms to replace any concrete anatomy that once existed in my works. The result is the suggestion of a human presence through the emotions without any actual figures. I have therefore created a kind of abstraction in expressionism.” Rezvan’s output has been constant with international solo exhibitions during the past twenty years in England, Spain, France and the United States. Her styles are constantly evolving as she explores the many ways to depict her thoughts on mankind and the world around her. Having had the opportunity of meeting Rezvan recently, her dedication to her work shines through as does her sincerity and humility. She prefers not to title her pieces, feeling that the viewer must be allowed to place their own personal interpretation on the work, responding to it in their own individual way. As well as receiving much publicity in the local newspapers in Andorra, Rezvan Kani has several books dedicated to her and her work. With a view to introducing her work to the north west of England, she was given an exhibition at Firbob and Peacock in Knutsford. Following this exhibition she approached the Wendy Levy Gallery in Didsbury where her work was included in a mixed exhibition. Although she still lives in Andorra, no doubt the name of Rezvan Kani will become better known to the people of England as her work receives more exposure here. December 2005