TEHRAN -- Iranian animator and cartoonist Hossein Safi maintains that most artists merely aim to portray a comic image of politicians and social figures or to criticize them.

“However, when a caricature of a political or social person is in question, ordinary people immediately conclude that the artist intended to ridicule that person,” he said on the sidelines of a group exhibition held from Dec. 11 to 14 at the Iran Cartoon House.

The show featured 28 works of Safi along with other 12 by his students, including Arash Farzi, Shahab Jafarnejad, Mahdieh Farhadkiaii, Shahruz Sahebi, and Neda Khodaverdi.

The works showed a caricature’s creating process starting from drawing the initial lines and curves to the appearance of the final image, Safi explained.

He noted that caricature is a branch of cartoon which has been drawn and issued less than the others. “The press nowadays focused more on political cartoons and comic strips than on caricature.”

He believes that a caricature will be more impressive if published in the press rather than displayed in exhibitions.

Born in 1976 in Mashhad, capital of Razavi Khorasan Province, Safi is a graduate of graphics from Tarbiat Modarres University.

He won the first and the third prizes of the 5th and the 6th editions of Tehran International Cartoon Biennial respectively.