Manifesto
● Mani was the first artist who widely used painting as a medium for spiritual purposes, mainly to illustrate his cosmogony.
● A good painting whether conceptual, landscape or portrait should be a reflection of the painter’s belief system. If a painter doesn’t have an authentic belief system, his/her paintings are of no importance.
● A canvas painted for money or fame isn’t worth more than a tablecloth.
● What makes a painting everlasting? The answer is nothing; the universe with all its little and big paintings will inevitably collapse one day. One should not occupy his/her mind with such a naive question too often.
● Painting is intrinsically a two-dimensional medium. When a three-dimensional object is added to canvas, it’s not painting anymore; unless it’s just a thick layer of paint.
● Objectively، everything is colorless. Color is an illusion made by the visual system, therefore a good painter should be a good illusionist.
● Color-wise and texture-wise, traditional painting is incomparable to digital art.
● Animals shouldn’t be killed for painting supplies.
● A history of art that mentions Jackson Pollock as one of the great artists of history, but doesn’t include Siah Qalam is deceptive.
● Ambiguity can be good, but not to the point that makes every meaning possible and therefore becomes meaningless; a blank canvas is more valuable than that.
● If the intention of Pop “art” was to become popular, it has done a great stupid job.
● But what’s even more stupid than Pop “art”? Kitsch “art”. Knowingly appreciating poor taste is on another level.
● Used palettes look more beautiful than most of the abstract paintings, and lots of them have been chucked out.
● A camera can do a better job than hyperrealism or photorealism.
● Still Marcel Duchamp’s urinal is the best conceptual “art”. It prophesized what is it all about before it all began.
● And this AI “art” is the latest nail in the coffin, on which they are dedicatedly busy banging. An “art” that is made by Artificial Intelligence is artificial, obviously.
● Meanwhile, Eastern art has mostly become a rumination on the corpse of a mystical beast, or merely a frozen plant-based burger.
● If you suffer from a lack of content, changing the book cover will help to keep you in the market.
● One can judge art.
● This manifesto is not fixed; it changes and evolves with time.
● What makes Vincent van Gogh different from most of the great artists, is not merely his colors and technique; but also, his humble and spiritual vision.
Last edit: 30 May 2025