TEHRAN – Surrealist artist Mehdi Ghadyanloo who is famous for creating over 100 murals in his native Tehran has completed a painting on the Rose Kennedy Greenway Wall at Dewey Square Park in Boston.

The painting titled “Spaces of Hope” is the fifth work to embellish the wall since 2012 when the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy decided to commission an artist every year to grace the 76'x70' wall, the conservancy has announced.

He worked as a farmer before moving to Tehran to study painting at the University of Tehran.  

“When you feel the plants and see the blossoms grow you will look for a way to express it, and for me art was the closest and the most rewarding answer,” Ghadyanloo explained in an e-mail sent to the Boston Globe. “Art is as free and humble as nature is, and is equally unexpected.”

Before Ghadyanloo began his work on the mural, Lucas Cowan, the Greenway Conservancy’s public art curator said, “Mehdi had always been on my radar as somebody who I thought would be really interesting to bring in.”

“I think he, in a lot of ways, is able to monumentalize and change environments that we basically move through on a daily basis, and take you from the mundane to the extraordinary,” he added.

Ghadyanloo, 35, painted “Spaces of Hope” from October 7 to November 1. During his stay in Boston, he also showcased a complementary painting at Boston City Hall. In addition, he held a retrospective exhibit of his work at Lesley University’s Lunder Art Center with a public lecture.

“In the field of public art, your audience is the world, and all who see your art share communal feelings such as love, hope and fear,” Ghadyanloo said. “Therefore art that originates from these sources will work in cities anywhere in the world, be it Boston, Tehran, London or anywhere else.”

Photo: This combination photo shows surrealist artist Mehdi Ghadyanloo and his mural on the Rose Kennedy Greenway Wall at Dewey Square Park in Boston.

MMS/YAW