In contemporary popular culture, Ian Kelly is best known for his role as Hermoine Granger’s father in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. In the context of late modern history, Kelly is considered one of Giacomo Casanova’s most authoritative biographers. However, even before Harry and Giacomo came along, Kelly had penned the lives of the arbiter […]
Category: Conversations
Homa Taj In Conversation with American artist Robert Walden
Robert Walden (b. 1968)Lives in: Brooklyn, NY, USAWebsite: Robert J Walden Please also see my Conversation with Robert Walden, Cartographic Utopias… Artist’s statement –Ontology is a central theme throughout my work because it deals with the nature of existence or being by analyzing concepts about essence, substance, time, location, space, and identity. My work addresses these […]
In Homa Taj In Conversation with Liza Johnson & her “Return” @ MoMA
I met American performance and video artist turned filmmaker Liza Johhnson at the Mayfair Hotel during the 55th BFI London Film Festival. Her film Return premiered at the Cannes Film Festival 2011, and is included in the Museum of Modern Art’s annual The Contenders series. Homa Taj – You have been working as a professional […]
Homa Taj In Conversation with Dutch Art Dealer: Robbert van Ham of Jaski Art Gallery
I first met Robbert van Ham at TEFAF Maastricht, late in March 2011. One of the leading international dealers of CoBrA art movement, the 36 year-old gallerist has been an active participant in the Amsterdam art scene, for the past two decades. My next meeting with van Ham was in his Jaski Art Gallery on Nieuwe Spiegelstraat, one […]
Homa Taj In Conversation with Berlin Art Dealer: Christian Ehrentraut
Despite his relatively young age, Christian Ehrentraut has been a part of Berlin’s art scene for years. He began his career at EIGEN+ART, the gallery that launched the careers of Neo Rauch and Martin Eder. By 2002, Ehrentraut had co-founded the short-lived but critically acclaimed artist-run project LIGA Gallery which was responsible for establishing the […]
Homa Taj In Conversation with Jan De Clercq of Meessen De Clercq Gallery
Meessen De Clercq was founded at the heart of Brussels, in 2009, by Belgian dealers Olivier Meessen and Jan de Clercq. When I visited MSSNDCLRCQ’s exhibition at Art Cologne, what struck me most about their installation was its quiet, poetic and graceful aesthetics. Meessen De Clercq’s roster of international artists includes: Ignasi Aballi, Jordi Colomer, Hreinn Fridfinnsson, […]
Homa Taj In Conversation with Dutch Artist Rik Meijers
Rik Meijers’ paintings are unforgettable. Love them or hate them, it is not possible to mistake his spirited compositions and untamed style with any other painter’s work. I first met the Dutch artist, early last month, at the opening of his joint exhibition with Jeroen van Bergen at the Bonnefanten Museum, in Maastricht… Meijers is represented […]
Homa Taj In Conversation with Palazzo Strozzi’s James Bradburne on BRONZINO
Agnolo di Cosimo, also known as Bronzino (1503-1572), was one of the greatest painters of the Italian Renaissance. Court artist to Cosimo I de’ Medici (1519-1574), his work embodied the sophistication of the Mannerist style. Despite his iconic portrayals of some of the most famous figures in the early modern period, there are elements of […]
Homa Taj In Conversation with De Nieuwe Kerk’s Marlies Kleiterp on the Khalili Collection
Marlies Kleiterp is Director of Exhibitions at De Nieuwe Kerk and the Hermitage Amsterdam. After graduating from Leiden University as a classical archaeologist in 1988, she worked at the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden for 15 years, eventually as Director of Exhibitions. She joined the management team of the Nieuwe Kerk/ Hermitage Amsterdam in […]
Homa Taj In Conversation with The PRADO’s Javier Barón on Passion for Renoir
The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute has been a favourite museum, since the late 1990’s, when I began research on my first (undergraduate honour’s) thesis. The paper’s subject? Pierre Auguste Renoir’s Journeys to Algeria, in 1882 and 1883. Naturally, the Clark’s Mademoiselle Fleury in Algerian Costume (1882) was what initially drew me to visit the delightful Williamstown. Set on […]
Homa Taj In Conversation with MoMA’s Roxana Marcoci on New Photography
Homa Taj – This year marks the 25th Anniversary of MoMA’s New Photography series. How did this project originally come about? And, what does the new show say about what photography may look like for the next quarter of a century? Roxana Marcoci – Indeed, this year marks twenty-five years since the New Photography series was launched. […]
Homa Taj In Conversation with Gabriel Bauret on Contemporary Photography
Parisian-born curator, critic and photography historian, Gabriel Bauret (1951), began his studies in semiotics at the University of Paris, where he earned a Ph.D. under the direction of Roland Barthes. In 1980, Bauret became an editor for ZOOM magazine, and in 1984 he founded the photography magazine Camera International with the French publisher Contrejour. Since 1994, Bauret has worked as a […]