TEHRAN -- Iranian artists gathered in a major benefit workshop on Tuesday to create works and sell them, with proceeds from the sales going to the oppressed Lebanese and Palestinian people.

The works by 140 artists were put on display in an expo later on the same day.

The secretary of the workshop, Abdolmajid Hosseini-Rad, told ISNA on Wednesday that Iranian artists had made their best efforts to show their solidarity, but, unfortunately, there was no support from the ministries, banks, or ambassadors of Islamic countries.

Iran is not prepared to hold visual arts expos due to the decline in the field in the country, he stated.

He went on to say that several Iranian artists will be dispatched to Muslim countries with a selection of artworks in the near future to hold benefit workshops with regional artists in order to raise money for the Lebanese and Palestinian nations through sales of the artworks.

According to Hosseini-Rad, the organizers expected to sell all the works on Tuesday but this did not happen.

Each ministry could have purchased three or four works, he noted.

He announced that the expo will continue until August 14.

The cold reception was due to the fact that there was insufficient publicity, Hosseini-Rad said.

The Tehran Municipality, the Art Bureau, the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, the Visual Art Association, and the Iranian Academy of Arts all purchased artworks at the expo.

Mohammad Ehsaii, Kambiz Derambakhsh, Ali-Akbar Sadeqi, Davud Shahidi, Morteza Asadi, Reza Borji, Hossein Khosrojerdi, Mojtaba Aqaii, and Ali Vazirian are some of the artists who participated in the workshop.