Ali Ghasemi, director of the documentary “Ajdar Takub,” in a conversation with Mehr about getting to know Hossein Mahmoudi, the subject of the subject of the documentary, said: “As a researcher and person who is concerned about social work and field research in the field of art I heard about Hussein Mahmoudi and I was introduced to his tattoos and carvings in the market. My closer acquaintance with him took place at a film criticism at the Young Cinema Association, where I met the artist through a shared friend. This goes back almost two to three years ago.
“Our friend had previously worked with Mr. Mahmoudi and we have been introduced to implement a plan,” he said. Mr. Mahmoudi lived in the city at the time and failed to continue the project with our friend because of health problems. The project had a fantasy project and was made using a green curtain. Later, I maintained my relationship with them, and with the permission of that friend, I decided to make a portrait documentary from this artist.
Qassemi said about the nickname “Torpedo Takub” for the artist: Hossein Mahmoudi was tattooing for a period of his life and had a good income. He was doing tattoos almost nightly for different people, even drivers. Because of his background in painting, he was able to tattoo designs and shapes in a traditional way. The quality of his work was so high that he became known as the Torpedo Kobe.
“Unfortunately, there are very few sources about café painting in Iran,” he said. Perhaps the first person to pay attention to this art as an art form in Iran was Marco Gregoryan, who purchased and collected these works. The oldest café painters reached four or five, the most famous of which included Ghler Aghasi, Hassan Ismailzadeh and several others. Mr. Mahmoudi worked with Mr. Ismailzadeh, who was also their compatriots, but they themselves say that they have learned the painting in a self -taught way.
The documentary continued: “Unfortunately, no one left the older generation of café painters and all have died. Today there are young people who continue this field, but they do not work in ancient manner and in past colors. For example, Mr. Ghler Aghasi used unique colors and made the colors in a specific formula.
He emphasized: Mr. Mahmoudi himself in their interviews and conversations claimed to be the last coffee painter.
Qasemi said about the remnants of the late Hossein Mahmoudi: Traditional paintings and cafés were usually sold on the canvas. As a result, Mr. Mahmoudi did not have an archive of his work and was only ordered by painting. In his house I saw only a few works, one of which was a big curtain and unfortunately not kept in good condition.
The documentary on the broadcast and supply of the documentary “Torpedo Takub” stated: “This documentary was developed with the support of the Documentary, Experimental and Animation Cinema Development Center, and the center is responsible for distributing and supplying the film. We do not have a specific plan to broadcast this documentary and are currently subject to the decisions of the Center for Expansion. But I believe this subject is an unstoppable legacy. We have no one like a torpedo tattoo and people have to see this documentary and get to know this artist.
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