.ART

Amir Soleymani, widely recognized by his moniker Mondoir, is a distinguished art collector, gallerist, and self-taught artist. His profound passion for art has driven significant contributions to both traditional and digital art scenes. Mondoir Art Gallery, located in the heart of Downtown Dubai, stands as a testament to his visionary approach, showcasing a diverse array of artworks and nurturing a vibrant artistic community. As a hybrid space, Mondoir Art Gallery uniquely integrates both digital and traditional art, serving as a premier destination for art enthusiasts and professionals in Dubai.

Beyond his gallery endeavours, Soleymani is a respected leader of thought in the Web3 space. His recent publication, “The Art of Connectivity,” delves into the transformative power of NFTs, underscoring his expertise and forward-thinking vision for the future of art and technology. He has founded pioneering platforms such as directory.art, which leverage technology to support and promote artists on a global scale. Directory.art, born from Soleymani’s vision, aspires to be the definitive landing page for the art world. Serving as a comprehensive directory for artists, collectors, and those offering and seeking artistic services, it addresses the fragmented experience prevalent in the art industry. Directory.art is not a marketplace but a starting point for engagement within the art community. The platform focuses on solving challenges in three key areas: Create, Discover, and Display, thereby streamlining the complexities of navigating the art industry.

.ART recently interviewed Amir about his journey as a collector, his methods of supporting artists, Mondoir Gallery and its programming, the mission of directory.art, and the power of collecting domain names.

DK: How have you started your journey in the art world? 

AS: I’ve been a collector for as long as I remember. One of the first things that sparked the love for collectibles in my life was my grandfather’s stamp collection. By the age of eight I was going to the local post office and was buying blocks of stamps or even single stamps. Sometimes I would steam off a stamp from the used envelopes. As I grew up, I started to collect artefacts: from coins to different notes. In university I was collecting books. I would spend a lot of time in underground illegal book shops in Iran because books were one of those things that you couldn’t easily find. When I left Iran and I think it was already in the UK,  I was browsing the internet, and I found a limited edition print by Yoshitomo Nara. I don’t remember how much I paid for it, but I immediately bought this limited edition print. 

It was around the same time when people would queue up to get Banksy prints. This is when I started to get more and more limited edition prints. Obviously I had a limited space at home to display those orders and then gradually the artworks started staying in their original packs.

Eventually I started to contact galleries, especially in Asia, in Hong Kong. And they would send me a list of their artists. This is when I ended up buying some original pieces. Later on I started going to Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Bonhams and Phillips in order to get different art. When I was collecting art, it wasn’t only paintings, I was collecting sculptures as well. I had a pretty strong connection with my art dealer, this is how I managed to get one of the unique works by Daniel Arsham. You rarely get a chance to get one of his unique pieces. Eventually, my collection rose up to 700 pieces. I had to build a professional art storage facility with humidity control, temperature control, and security. When I opened my gallery in the UK in Liverpool, I bought this building, which used to be a pub. I wanted to turn it into my own museum to showcase my collection. 

One day my art dealer contacted me and advised me to buy an NFT by Beeple. This whole thing was new to me. I was into technology, I was into cryptocurrencies. Two years prior to that, I was buying art on the blockchain. So I started buying NFTs on Gateway, Foundation and SuperRare and all these different platforms. It was COVID era, everyone was at home. We were all in the Clubhouse, buying NFTs and supporting artists. And to be honest, there was no better way to spend your cryptocurrency than to get a beautiful piece of art. Right now I’m not buying as much art as I used to. I’m trying to spend money more wisely on elevating artists in different ways.

DK: It was a very important introduction. You mentioned that you’re elevating artists in some other ways. How do you support them?

AS: What I’ve learned was that artists who are not considered to be blue-chip, struggle to not only sell but also to understand how the mechanics of the art world is. When I moved to Dubai and opened Mondoir gallery here, the mission was to educate, provide a platform for artists, and give them a platform to be globally known. One of the first things we’ve done was to start directory.art. The name is self explanatory. It’s a directory for everything art. The whole idea was to create the platform, where everyone around art – art galleries, artists, dealers, framers, shippers – would be there. We want to create more exposure for art. The grid is a byproduct of directory.art, which provides an opportunity for artists to exhibit their artworks on massive screens inside the space of Mondoir gallery. Given the architecture of the space and our location in downtown Dubai close to Burj Khalifa, people can actually see inside the gallery even when they are driving by. Through our connections in the art world, both traditional and digital, we’re trying to provide more exposure to the artists. 

DK: What is the concept behind Mondoir gallery? Do you have a pool of artists you are working with?

AS: The concept of Mondoir gallery is evolving. There is no strict definition. The whole thing that I was trying to create was devoted to the concept of the love of art, culture and community. Everything we do is evolving around these three spheres. 

DK: I believe previously you were showcasing digital artworks on screens and recently you’ve started showcasing physical artworks. Is this correct?

AS: I think it doesn’t matter which medium you use to create your art. Art is art. I don’t necessarily differentiate between digital and physical art. But in terms of the gallery – we call ourselves a hybrid gallery. Due to the fact that we have screens, we can display art which is natively digital, but also we can showcase art which is natively physical. 

DK: Could you tell us more about the programming at Mondoir? 

AS: Mondoir is very dynamic, we have new ideas almost every day. Archiving those ideas and prioritising which ideas should be developed and which ideas should be kept for later, is one of the hardest things for us. At this stage we prioritise categorising all these things we want to do and prioritise the things which would benefit a wider audience, our community and the team of Mondoir. Currently we are opening exhibitions at the gallery and hosting events. Our next move is really important for us because it signifies the next phase of growth of Mondoir. 

DK: Can you elaborate on the role of Web3 technology in the art world, and how your platform directory.art is contributing to this space? 

AS: Directory.art is not necessarily a Web3 platform – it’s just a platform for art. I do understand that many artists are minting their works and are using Web3 technology. But there are plenty of other platforms which are providing a Web3 aspect for creation of assets on the blockchain. We don’t want to enter that sphere, because they’re doing a good job. What we wanted to do was to create a central platform for everything related to art in one place. One of my struggles as a collector was not only to find great art and artists, but also to find service providers, like framing and shipping. The whole concept of the directory.art is to combine everything together. You can create, you can display and you can sell. But at the same time we are not going to be a marketplace, we are a platform, working together with diverse partners. One of them being .ART – the company on the frontiers of innovation. .ART started to generously offer discount codes for domain names to the users of directory.art. This is how a lot of artists launched their own portfolio websites. 

DK: Now that you’ve mentioned .ART, I would like to ask you what motivated your decision to use domain extension .ART? What significance does this domain hold for you?

AS: From my point of view, your presence in online space should be in line with whatever you do. For example, I remember when in the 90s and early 2000 having a .Com domain name was like having a property. Owning a .Com was meant for commercial companies, then you had .Net for networks, .Org for – organisations. All these different extensions started to come out, once ICANN decided to let other people use the extensions. The whole idea was that you should have a domain name that represents your business model or what you do. If you are an art gallery, an artist or anyone who is involved in the art world, you would want to have a .ART domain name. A .ART domain extension is purely for anything that is related to art. I have pretty good domain names within the .ART domain zone. One of my all time favourites is collect.art. And we have more .ART domain names: directory.art, mondoir.art, meme.art, submit.art, upload.art  – for all the businesses we would like to develop in the near future. 

DK: You are a true collector of .ART domain names.

AS: Yes, I was collecting domain names as well. At some point I had around 250 really nice domain names. Currently my portfolio is a bit smaller – I have about 50 domain names within different extensions. I do collect everything: from domain names to artworks, coins, books, watches, sneakers. 

DK: As an acclaimed art collector, what advice would you give to someone who is just starting their journey in art collection?

AS: I think the first rule of collecting is that you don’t collect in order to make money. One thing that people often forget is that we’re all collectors. If you look at your phone, you will see at least 1000 pictures. So technically you collected memories. You cannot find a single human being on this planet who hasn’t collected anything. Collecting is a part of our DNA. It is just a matter of becoming aware and collecting more consciously, curating your collection. Collecting is a passion. Whatever the reason for collecting is, it should be done without expectations of any monetary value.