[NoHo Arts District, CA] – Meet North Hollywood author/illustrator and man of multiple talents Kaveh Taherian. Our NoHo Artist Feature is a way to highlight the visual artists who call NoHo home.
The NoHo Arts District is just one-square mile but what we do in this one-square-mile makes us a vibrant and creative neighborhood. Although we are known for our performing arts, visual artists comprise a significant portion of our community. Our NoHo Artist Feature hopes to encourage local establishments to incorporate more art and murals on their walls and open their doors to more art events. So, we think more people should meet Kaveh Taherian, one of our neighborhood’s unique creators.
A little background on Kaveh Taherian.
I got my undergraduate degree from Laguna College of Art and Design where I focused on Illustration and some animation. Eventually, I became interested in Live Action filmmaking and after working in the industry a little bit, I went to USC for my MFA in Film where I focused on Directing and Producing.
How would you describe your art?
An inordinate amount of effort is spent making sure my illustrations are eye-catching and easy to read. Once you spend a little more time with them, hopefully, you start to notice funny details that really sell the story or gags.
Do you have a favorite piece (s) – artwork?
With this being a NoHo page, I wanted to shout out the North Hollywood NightCrawlers from my book Mothman’s Compendium of Southern California Cryptids! In it, the Mothman comes to Southern California to look for other cryptids and ends up writing a funny travel guide that pokes fun at all the neighborhoods across the southland.
I also always really loved how my Octopus vs Crow piece turned out. I was reading how each of them are known to hold grudges and start petty fights in nature, so I wanted to draw them battling each other.
What’s PermaFriends?
PermaFriends is my comedic graphic novel series that follows our titular heroes’ adventures in a future where humans have long been extinct. Esteban is a neurotic survivalist penguin, Harpot is an ad-bot who roamed the earth for a thousand years in search of a human to show ads to, and Byron is a snowperson born from the earth’s final nuclear war. It’s about not only laughing at what the existence of humans might be holding back for Earth, but also how not being able to explain the things we leave behind means they can be interpreted in unexpected ways.
Tell us everything about MusicalSplaining and 500 Open Tabs!
Besides art and movies, I’ve also been the host of a couple of podcasts (classic LA crazy person, I know). On my first show MusicalSplaining, I played the musical-hating heel to my musical-loving co-host Lindsay Ellis. Each episode we’d watch a classic musical (ideally in a theater but Covid forced us to watch a lot of pro-shots) and discuss their merits and shortcomings.
On my current show 500 Open Tabs, co-host Hannah Hillam and I choose one of our countless open browser tabs and finally commit to going down the requisite rabbit holes (or Tabbit Holes as we call them) and explain what we discovered to the other. Topics vary greatly from week to week, but the jokes keep building and it’s a lot of us making each other (and the audience) laugh. Great times, highly recommended.
What are you working on now?
As usual, I’m working on too many things at once, but primarily my next graphic novel which will be a comedy with no dialogue. Stay tuned for more details!
What would be your dream project(s)? (It always starts with an idea!)
Without giving too much away, I’m currently developing a feature comedy that combines my love of monsters/cryptids along with my Persian heritage. If I can pull this off, people are gonna love it.
What do you like about living in the NoHo Arts District?
First and foremost, I can walk everywhere! There are so many great coffee shops to work from and so many great restaurants and bars to meet up with friends. I also love the sense of community. I love that I can run into someone I know from the comic shop at a bar that’s filled with old-school arcade games. I even know my mailman here. It feels very small town even though it’s LA.
What would you like to see more of in the NoHo Arts District?
It’s a lot of fun when small businesses host artist markets (RIP TeaPop). I do love the summer screenings in the park too, would love to see more of those. And it was super exciting when we had Ciclavia on Lankershim! Bring it back!
Anything you’d like to add/highlight, Kaveh?
I feel I’ve already written too much. If you’re interested in purchasing any of my books, please go to blacksmithfilms.com. Follow @permafriends on IG for my art and @500opentabs for my podcast. If you see me sketching out and about with headphones on and scowling, I promise you I’m not mad, I’m just focusing on something really intently (unless you’re on speakerphone in which case I AM mad at you).
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If you are a visual artist living in the NoHo Arts District or North Hollywood, or if you know someone who we should feature, please fill out this quick form and we will take it from there.