Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 01/6/07
BY NICK PETRUNCIO
STAFF WRITER
Part of Marlboro artist Anet Abnous’ exhibition in New York City this weekend will recapture a childhood and adolescence lost to the restrictive Iranian society in which she grew up.
In Iran, women are not allowed to dance or go to the beach, and they must remain covered, even their faces. To accomplish this, they usually wrap a scarf around their head, she said.
In a rebuke of those values, one of Abnous’ pieces depicts a woman dancing, and another shows a nude woman lying in the sand.
“I wanted to show we have heart, we have beauty, we want to dance. Under the scarf, there is beauty, there is power, there are a lot of things women can’t show. They don’t have a voice,” she said.
Abnous, 32, was born in the capital city of Tehran. An Armenian by blood, her grandparents fled Armenia because of the genocide there in 1915, she said.
Another part of the exhibition will reflect Abnous’ Armenian heritage and culture.
One of her paintings is of an Armenian bride’s wedding dress. Drawing on what she remembers from childhood, she said, she used the vibrant colors of red and gold.
“It’s a lot about textures, and it’s a lot about warm colors. The colors talk to you,” she said.
Textures play an important role in Abnous’ works; her parents were dressmakers and fashion designers in Iran. She said she sometimes covers a canvas with fabric before she paints.
Abnous, who obtained a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Queens College in New York in 2006, came to the United States 10 years ago.
She said it was difficult to be a Christian in a Muslim country and although she exhibited her art in Iran, she could not be as free to express herself as she would have liked.
Angela Kazarian, a database manager at the cathedral, said she saw some of Abnous’ pieces on the Internet.
“From what I saw, I like it. Her technique. The colors. It’s very traditional. It shows the Armenian spirit,” she said.
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