Parviz Tanavoli (Iranian, b. 1937)

'I was fed up with artists misusing calligraphy in painting. Other artists were proud of following western art. So I decided to make something of nothing..Poets, such as [the 13th-century Iranian mystic] Rumi, draw attention to 'nothing' centuries before me. There are things and 'no things,' they balance each other.'

'They wanted people to think about that - don't underestimate the nothingness. As important as existence and thing are, no thing or nothing is important too.'

'It's a simple shape, it's abstract, and it's very meaningful. It has a sculptural body different than any other known sculptural figures. I think there are many reasons why it became popular.'

(The artist quoted in A. Smith, "Iran's most celebrated artist, Parviz Tanavoli, speaks to MEMO about his work," in The Middle East Monitor, 3 February 2015, accessed online.