Hossein Valamanesh {{post-nominals| country=AUS|AM}} (2 March 1949 – 15 January 2022) was an Iranian-Australian contemporary artist who lived and worked in Adelaide, South Australia. He worked in mixed media, printmaking, installations, and sculpture. He often collaborated with his wife, Angela Valamanesh.

Early life and education

Hossein Valamanesh was born in Tehran, Iran on 2 March 1949.{{cite web|website=Design & Art Australia Online|url=http://www.daao.org.au/bio/hossein-valamanesh/| title=Hossein Valamanesh b. 2 March 1949|access-date=9 February 2022|date=17 January 2022}} He worked with theatre director Bijan Mofid from 1968 to 1971, and graduated from at the Tehran School of Art in Tehran in 1970.

He emigrated to Perth, Western Australia, in 1973, and while living there travelled to remote Aboriginal communities in WA, where he felt a connection between their ancient culture and his own Persian culture.{{cite web | last=Speck | first=Catherine | title=Australian art has lost two of its greats. Vale Ann Newmarch and Hossein Valamanesh | website=The Conversation | date=21 January 2022 | url=https://theconversation.com/australian-art-has-lost-two-of-its-greats-vale-ann-newmarch-and-hossein-valamanesh-175435 | access-date=9 February 2022}} He worked with the Round Earth Company and Aboriginal children.

He continued his art education at the South Australian School of Art after moving to Adelaide in 1974, graduating in 1977.

Art practice and works

File:Sydney Famine Memorial (plaque).JPG]]

His work, which includes sculpture, painting, installation, and video art explores "the paradoxes of selfhood, existence and being". It has been described as "known and loved for its spare aesthetic sensibility, parred back form and poetic visual imagery". He used natural materials, such as ochres, sand and stones, as well as leaves, branches, and twigs, and drew inspiration from Sufi philosophy and Persian poetry, in particular that of the poet Djalâl ad-Dîn Rûmî (aka Rumi). He also employedd human forms and shadows.

He completed a number of major public art commissions, many with his wife Angela Valamanesh, also an artist.

His 1997 combined performance, photographic, and sculptural work Longing, belonging, which involved burning a Persian rug in the outback to explore the migrant experience, is in the collection of the Art Gallery of NSW[https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/207.2002.a-b/ Longing belonging] Art Gallery of New South Wales. Retrieved 15 April 2019.

In 1998 he completed a large public artwork in Adelaide, Knocking from the inside, on the northern plaza of the Intercontinental Hotel on North Terrace.

Angela and he together created An Gorta Mor, the Australian Monument to the Great Irish Famine (1999), at Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney. The monument, one of many memorials to the catastrophe around the world, is incorporated into the wall surrounding the Barracks and "ironically, stands on the site of the original kitchens" there. The table, bowl, tools, and utensils are cast in bronze, and the names of 420 women who arrived as famine orphans are etched into the glass part of the memorial walls. Among the estimated 2,500 people attending the unveiling on 28 August 1999 were 800 famine orphan descendants.{{cite journal |title=Traces| last=McIntyre| first=Perry| journal=Inside History| date=May–June 2013|issue=16|pages=36–37|publisher=Ben Mercer|issn=1838-5044}}{{cite web | title=Australian Monument to the Great Irish Famine | website=Sydney Living Museums | date=18 December 2017 | url=https://sydneylivingmuseums.com.au/exhibitions/australian-monument-great-irish-famine | access-date=9 February 2022}}

In October 2005, a piece of public art by Angela and Hossein, incorporating water, 14 Pieces, situated on North Terrace in front of the South Australian Museum in Adelaide, was officially unveiled. Its form is based on the vertebrae of an extinct marine reptile, the ichthyosaur,{{cite web | title=14 Pieces | website=Adelaidia | date=7 January 2014|first=Jude| last=Elton | url=https://adelaidia.history.sa.gov.au/things/14-pieces | access-date=9 February 2022}} held by the museum. Hossein and Angela were commissioned by the City of Adelaide to create the sculpture to replace the Lavington Bonython fountain that had occupied the site from 1965.

In 2008 he became involved with "The Rug Project", in which he used one of his works on paper, Crazing, made from stems of maidenhair fern, as the basis for a rug design.{{Cite interview| first=Hossein| last= Valamanesh |interviewer-first =Klaus| interviewer-last= Kinski |url=http://www.designfederation.net/interviews/interview-with-hossein-valamanesh/ |title=Interview with Hossein Valamanesh |access-date=21 October 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150412163105/http://www.designfederation.net/interviews/interview-with-hossein-valamanesh/ |archive-date=12 April 2015| date=27 August 2008 |url-status=dead }}

Valamanesh worked closely over decades with the Art Gallery of South Australia in Adelaide.{{cite web | last=Noble | first=Kelly | title=Hossein Valamanesh remembered as a powerful and poetic international artist| website=Glam Adelaide | date=18 January 2022 | url=https://glamadelaide.com.au/hossein-valamanesh-remembered-as-a-powerful-and-poetic-international-artist/ | access-date=10 February 2022}}

Recognition and awards

Valamanesh was awarded a number of fellowships, commissions, grants, residencies, and other honours, including:{{cite web|website=Design & Art Australia Online|url=https://www.daao.org.au/bio/hossein-valamanesh/recognitions/| title=Hossein Valamanesh b. 2 March 1949: Recognitions|access-date=9 February 2022}}

1982: Visual Arts Board of the Australia Council for the Arts grant
1991: Visual Arts Board Fellowship Residency at Kunstlerhaus Bethanien
1997: Grand Prize at the 8th Asian Biennial
1998 Australia Council Fellowship in 1998.
2010: Member of the Order of Australia on the Queen's Birthday Honours List on 14 June 2010, "For service to the visual arts, particularly as a sculptor and through installation works and public art"{{cite web| url=https://honours.pmc.gov.au/honours/awards/1142747|title=Name Mr Hossein Valamanesh | website= Australian Honours Search Facility| publisher= Australian Government}}

In 2013, Valamanesh featured in the ABC / BBC joint production documentary series The Art Of Australia hosted by Edmund Capon, in the first episode entitled Strangers in a Strange Land.[https://iview.abc.net.au/show/art-of-australia The Art of Australia]''. ABC Arts. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 15 April 2019.

In November 2022, Valamanesh was posthumously awarded the South Australian Premier's Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Ruby Awards.{{cite web | title=The Ruby Awards | website=Department of the Premier and Cabinet (South Australia) | date=28 November 2022 | url=https://www.dpc.sa.gov.au/responsibilities/arts-and-culture/ruby-awards | access-date=15 December 2022}}

Major exhibitions

Valamanesh's work has featured in many group exhibitions as well as major and minor solo exhibitions.{{cite web|website=Design & Art Australia Online|url=https://www.daao.org.au/bio/hossein-valamanesh/events/| title=Hossein Valamanesh b. 2 March 1949: Events|access-date=9 February 2022}} His work has been shown in over 30 solo exhibitions around the world, and been on display in Canada, France, United Kingdom, Switzerland, India, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, Japan, and Iran.

2001: the first major survey of Valamanesh's work was held at the Art Gallery of South Australia.{{Cite web|url=https://www.artlink.com.au/articles/2154/hossein-valamanesh-a-survey/|title=Hossein Valamanesh: A Survey, Art Gallery of South Australia Adelaide 29 June - 26 August 2001|website=Artlink Magazine|language=en|access-date=2019-12-12}}
2002: Tracing the Shadow: Hossein Valamanesh Recent Works, Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney.
2003: Hossein Valamanesh: natural selection, featuring a large selection of installations and smaller sculptural works, at the Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT{{cite web|website=Design & Art Australia Online| url=https://www.daao.org.au/bio/event/hossein-valamanesh-natural-selection/| title=Hossein Valamanesh: natural selection|access-date=9 February 2022}}
23 September 2021 – 19 February 2022: Puisque tout passe ("This Will Also Pass"), first European solo exhibition, at the {{ill|Institut des cultures d'Islam|fr}} in Paris.{{cite web | last=Lai | first=Beau | title=Hossein Valamanesh: Puisque tout passe | website=Artist Profile | date=16 January 2022| quote=...originally published in Artist Profile, Issue 57, 2021.| url=https://artistprofile.com.au/hossein-valamanesh-puisque-tout-passe/ | access-date=9 February 2022}}
The art of both Angela and Hossein Valamanesh featured in the 2022 Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art: Free/State, from 4 March 2022.{{cite web |title=Angela and Hossein Valamanesh |website=AGSA - The Art Gallery of South Australia |date=25 February 2022 |url=https://www.agsa.sa.gov.au/education/resources-educators/resources-educators-australian-art/2022-adelaide-biennial-of-australian-art-freestate/angela-and-hossein-valamanesh/ |access-date=5 October 2024}}

Later life, family and death

On 15 January 2022, Valamanesh died of a heart attack in Adelaide, at the age of 72.{{cite web|url=https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/entertainment/arts/artist-hossein-valamanesh-72-dies-suddenly/news-story/6ccd39ceaca97a8261a6bbe72abd9b0e|work=The Advertiser|author=McDonald, Patrick|title=Artist Hossein Valamanesh, 72, dies suddenly|date=17 January 2022|access-date=18 January 2022|url-access=subscription}}{{cite web|url=https://indaily.com.au/inreview/2022/01/17/leading-local-artist-remembered-for-his-powerful-and-poetic-works/|work=InDaily|author=Keen, Suzie|title=Leading local artist remembered for his 'powerful and poetic' works|date=17 January 2022|accessdate=18 January 2022}}{{cite news |title=درگذشت نقاش ایرانی در خارج از کشور |url=https://www.isna.ir/news/00061868414/درگذشت-نقاش-ایرانی-در-خارج-از-کشور |access-date=16 January 2022 |publisher=ISNA}}{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/persian/arts-60015131|title=حسین والامنش، نقاش و مجسمه‌ساز ایرانی ساکن استرالیا درگذشت|work=BBC Persian|date=16 January 2022|access-date=16 January 2022|language=fa}} He was survived by his wife Angela {{post-nominals| country=AUS|AM}} and at least one child, Nassiem.

Angela Valamanesh was born in 1953 in Port Pirie, South Australia. She graduated from the South Australian School of Art in 1992, and subsequently earned an MA at the University of South Australia. She won the Anne & Gordon Samstag International Visual Arts Scholarship in 1996, using it to undertake postgraduate studies at the Glasgow School of Art in Scotland. She and Hossein undertook several public art projects together.

Nassiem Valmanesh, also an artist, studied filmmaking at the Victorian College of the Arts and {{as of|2021| lc=yes}} lives in Melbourne. His work was featured in an exhibition with his father's at the Buxton Contemporary at the University of Melbourne, in 2021.{{cite web | title=Hossein & Nassiem Valamanesh, What Goes Around 2021 | website=Buxton Contemporary | url=https://buxtoncontemporary.com/exhibitions/hossein-nassiem-valamanesh-what-goes-around-2021/ | access-date=9 February 2022}}

Public art collections

Valamanesh's work is included in major public art collections in Australia and abroad, including:

Alice Springs Art Centre, Alice Springs
Artbank, Australia
Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney{{Cite web|url=https://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/collection/works/207.2002.a-b/|title=Collection: Longing belonging, (1997) by Hossein Valamanesh|website=artgallery.nsw.gov.au|access-date=2019-12-12}}
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth
Gryphon Gallery, University of Melbourne
Kadist Art Foundation, Paris, France
Museum of Contemporary Art, Australia, Sydney, Australia{{Cite web|url=https://www.mca.com.au/artists-works/artists/hossein-valamanesh/|title=Hossein Valamanesh|website=MCA Australia|language=en|access-date=2019-12-12}}
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia{{Cite web|url=https://artsearch.nga.gov.au/detail.cfm?irn=37764|title=Falling|last=Valamanesh|first=Hossein|website=Item held by National Gallery of Australia|access-date=2019-12-12}}
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Newcastle Art Gallery, Newcastle, New South Wales
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
Sara Hildén Art Museum, Finland
University of South Australia, Adelaide
University of Western Australia, Perth
University of Queensland, Brisbane
Western Australian Institute of Technology, Perth

Hossein Valamanesh