Copies of famous artworks replace ads on Tehran billboards

In an unusual move by Tehran's mayor, hundreds of copies of famous artworks both of world masters and Iranian artists have been plastered on some 1,500 billboards across the city, transforming the Iranian capital into a gigantic, open-air exhibition.
The 10-day project, which ends Friday, has stirred both appreciation and criticism. But whether people like it or not, the message is simple, according to Ehsun Fathipour.
"It says Iranians are art lovers, too," says the 57-year-old Tehran businessman.
There is plenty to look at from Claude Monet's iconic Rouen Cathedral, Rembrandt's Landscape with a Stone Bridge and Mark Tansey's 1981 work, The Innocent Eye Test, to the 18th century Flowering Plants in Autumn, attributed to Japanese painter Ogata Korin.

In a city of 9 million people, 200 copies of works by world masters vie for attention along with 500 works of Iranian artists, such as Still Life by Iranian painter Bahman Mohasses, which is in Tehran's Arjantin Square.
In Jomhouri Street, just a few blocks from the office of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, known for his love of the arts, stands a copy of the 19th century Indian Fisherman by German Albert Bierstadt.

The copies beam down from the city-owned billboards along key throughways, from overpasses and from main intersections and squares.
The project was the brainchild of Mayor Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf a former Revolutionary Guard commander who twice lost his bid to become Iran's president, first in 2005 and then in the 2013 presidential election, when he came second-place to Hassan Rouhani.

Qalibaf has built his reputation on a host of quality-of-life projects around Iran's capital, including parks, expanded subways lines and highways. But he also has faced accusations that he took part in past crackdowns against student protesters before becoming mayor in 2005.
Tehran municipality sponsored the exhibit, entitled "An Art Gallery the Size of the City," saying it wanted to bring art closer to the city's residents.
It has had other usual projects in the past including converting a prison, a garrison and a slaughter house into a museum and galleries.
Jamal Kamyab, who runs the Tehran Beautification Agency, affiliated with the municipality, said the aim was to "improve the artistic literacy of the citizens" and decorate public areas.

Tehran-based analyst Saeed Leilaz said the project is likely Qalibaf's attempt to re-vamp his hard-line image while also courting the middle class' support possibly for the next election.