SHIRIN ART GALLERY TEHRAN - NEW YORK
About Shirin Art Gallery Shirin Art Gallery is one of the leading international exhibitors of Iranian modern and contemporary art in the world With galleries in Tehran and New York, Shirin Art Gallery has been in a unique position to play a pivotal role in Iran’s art movement, while building a cultural exchange bridge between Iran and the international community. The Tehran-based gallery serves as center stage for the works of at least 20 contemporary artists every year, showcasing works by some of Iran’s most renowned artists, as well as leading emerging talents. While the Tehran gallery, founded in 2005, continues to cultivate the region’s artistic activities, the space in New York’s Chelsea gallery district – furthers Shirin Gallery’s commitment to exhibiting works that push the boundaries of contemporary art, as well as international perceptions of the Middle East. There are many dynamic programs that accompany each exhibition, including talks, screenings, fundraisers, workshops, and other educational and curatorial projects. In its mission to foster international cultural exchange, the gallery produces artists’ books and catalogs, and participates in major art fairs around the world each year.
Abbas Kiarostami (1940-2016). He was an Iranian film director, screenwriter, photographer and film producer. An active filmmaker since 1970, Kiarostami has been involved in over forty films, including shorts and documentaries. Kiarostami attained critical acclaim for directing the Koker trilogy (1987–94), Close-Up (1990), Taste of Cherry (1997) – which was awarded the Palme d›Orat the Cannes Film Festival that year – and The Wind Will Carry Us (1999). In his recent works, Certified Copy (2010) and Like Someone in Love (2012), he filmed for the first time outside Iran: in Italy and Japan, respectively. Kiarostami has worked extensively as a screenwriter, film editor, art director and producer and has designed credit titles and publicity material. He is also a poet, photographer, painter, illustrator, and graphic designer. He is part of a generation of filmmakers in the Iranian New Wave, a Persian cinema movement that started in the late 1960s and includes pioneering directors such as Masoud Kimiai, Sohrab Shahid Saless, Dariush Mehrjui,Bahram Beyzai, Nasser Taghvai and Parviz Kimiavi. These filmmakers share many common techniques including the use of poetic dialogue and allegorical storytelling dealing with political and philosophical issues. Kiarostami has a reputation for using child protagonists, for documentary-style narrative films,[6] for stories that take place in rural villages, and for conversations that unfold inside cars, using stationary mounted cameras. He is also known for his use of contemporary Iranian poetry in the dialogue, titles, and themes of his films.
Untitled Print on canvas 140 x 220 cm 2015
Untitled Print on canvas 140 x 220 cm 2015
Untitled Print on canvas 140 x 220 cm 2015
Ali Akbar Sadeghi born in Tehran (1937) a graduate of College of Art, University of Tehran, has been artistically active in the past 60 years. As a child, Sadeghi reminisces that he would be lost in the chants of narrators that gave account of Shahnameh stories and bravery of other heroes. The lyrical, heroic world of legends is an indispensable part of Sadeghi’s worldview, a world whose figurative representations sometimes appear in old miniature paintings or more popular forms of art. In his evocative paintings, Ali Akbar Sadeghi draws on the rich traditions of Persian art but adds to them a surreal edge that involves dizzying spatial manipulations and startling combinations of real and fantastical objects, producing kaleidoscopes of colour and form. A master story-teller, the varied Persian sources of Sadeghi›s tales range from historical Persian iconography swords, horses, gardens and warriors, to the compositions of archetypal Iranian miniatures and portraits, particularly those of the Qajar dynasty. Sadeghi›s inspiration from the cultural heritage of Iran is not just aesthetic; the presence of Persian sagas and legends, epic poems and philosophies, and even the teachings of Gnosticism loom large in his work. His productions have undeniable links to the automatic art of Dada & surrealism. Sadeghi rearranges subjects of his interest in a variety of media, including painting, graphic design, illustration and animation. From this perspective, he is considered a museum of Iran’s visual arts of the last five decades. He is among the first individuals involved in the Centre for the Intellectual Development of Children and the young adults, and was among the founders of the Film Animation department. In 1991, Sadeghi was honoured for his outstanding achievements in filmmaking and book illustration, and his participation in more than 50 festivals of films and books. Aside from painting, he has made seven films and won more than 30 awards at International Film Festivals such as C.I.D.A.L.C (Gandhi Peace Prize at 24th International Biennale) and animation “The Rook” was selected as an outstanding film of the year for presentation at the London Film festival in 1975. Sadeghi has participated in many individual and group exhibitions and his works have been acquired by TMOCA, Tate Modern and MIA. In 2009, Ali Akbar Sadeghi was recognized as an outstanding cultural figure and contributor to Iranian art and culture by the ministry of Culture in Iran.
Bridal Chamber, from the Lover & War series MIxed media on canvas 98 x 98 cm 1977
Boasting, from the Retell series Ink and silver leaf on canvas 150 x 150 cm 2015
Dinner, from the Unwritten series MIxed media on canvas Triptych, 150 x 300 cm, (each 150 x 100 cm) 2014
Azra Aghighi Bakhshayeshi
qom 1968 | Momtaz Degree from Calligraphy Association of iran, tehran 1984| BA in graphic design, 1994 Solo: Galaxy series, Homa gallery, tehran 2016 | munshaat series , homa gallery , tehran 2014 | homa gallery, tehran 2013 | homa gallery, tehran 2011 | Quran Works, Khorramabad Provincial Culture Directorate, Khorramabad, Iran 2007 Quran Works, National Islamic University, New Delhi, India 2005 | Noor va Ney, Aasar Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran2005 group: summer collection, homa art gallery, tehran 2015 | write me a poem, mottahedan projects, dubai 2015 | abu Dhabi Art fair, Abu Dhabi 2012 | alternative calligraphy 2, vienafair, vien 2012 | the next generation iranian calligraphy, kashya hildebrand, zurich2012 | Dubai art fair, kashyahildebrand 2012 | Lternative calligraphy, homa art gallery, tehran 2011 | Female Calligraphers, Cemal Resit Rey Cultural Center, Istanbul, Turkey2010 | Iranian Art Exhibition, Ehdeniyat International Festival, Al-Kobra, Ehden, Lebanon 2009 | IRAN Women Artist”, Kuwait 2004 | International Hand Craft Exhibition, Kish International Exhibition Center, Kish Island, Iran 2003 | collections: british museum, london 2015 | islamic museum, riyadh 2014 | Qatar Royal collection, Duha 2010 | Islamic Art Museum Malaysia, Kuala lumpur 2009 Prize & Award: “Fajr Conceptual Arts Exhibition”, Vahdat Hall, Tehran, Iran 2009 | Participating at competition of designing symbolic statue of Tajrish, Tehran, Iran 2006 | First round of Sa’adi Prize, New Delhi, India 2005 Book: NUN WA AL QALAM, Dr. Heba Barakat & Adlin Ghani, IAMM, Kuala Lumpur 2013 | Calligrapher Women, kalhor pub, Tehran2009 | Tafsire-Jamal, Imam Reza Institute.
Untitled Ink and acrylic on canvas 125 x 125 cm 2015
Untitled Ink and acrylic on canvas 180 x 180 cm 2015
Babak Rashvand 14.2.1980 | Tehran-Iran Awards, Festivals & Exhibitions: “Abstract Calligraphy Solo Exhibition” Shirin Art Gallery, Tehran-Iran, 2016 | “Abstract Calligraphy Solo Exhibition” 8 Gallery, London, 2015 | “Islamic Arts Museum of Malaysia” Collection, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, 2015 | “Fish & Coral”, Painting Group Exhibition, Niavaran Artistic Creations Foundation, Tehran-Iran, 2015 | “MAGIC OF PERSIA”,Nowrouz Auction Gala Benefit, Jumeirah Emirates Towers, Dubai, 2015. | “3RD WEEK”, Calligraphy Group Exhibition, Iranian Artists Forum, Tehran-Iran, 2014 | “Bonhams Auction London”, Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art, London, 2014 | “Abstract Calligraphy Solo Exhibition”, Seyhoun Art Gallery, Tehran-Iran, 2014 | “Visual Arts Group Exhibition”, Art Center, Tehran-Iran, 2014 | “ALTERNATIVE CALLIGRAPHY 3”, Calligraphy Group Exhibition, Homa Art Gallery, Tehran-Iran, 2014 | “Calligraphy Group Exhibition & Workshop”, Nicolas Flamel Art Gallery, Paris, 2013 | “Visual Arts Group Exhibition”, Mojdeh Art Gallery, Tehran-Iran, 2013 | “Visual Arts Group Exhibition”, Iranian Artists Forum, Tehran-Iran, 2013 | “Visual Arts Group Exhibition”, Art Center, Tehran-Iran, 2013 | “Painting Group Exhibition”, Shokouh Art Gallery, Tehran-Iran, 2013 | “This is my song ...”, Abstract Calligraphy Solo Exhibition, Shokouh Art Gallery, Tehran-Iran, 2013 | “The Beauty of Calligraphy”, the Calligraphy Group Exhibition, Pro Art Gallery, Dubai, 2012 | “4th International Calligraphy Exhibition & Workshop”, the Contemporary Museum of Calligraphy, Sokolniki Exhibition and Convention Center, Moscow, 2012 | The first International European and Middle Eastern Art Auction / Exhibition, Opera Gallery in collaboration with the Millon Auction House, Opera Gallery, Ritz-Carlton DIFC, Dubai, 2012 | VIENNAFAIR 2012 the New Contemporary (Art Fair), Present by Shirin Art Gallery, Messe Wien, Vienna, 2012 | “Calligraphy Group Exhibition”, Shirin Art Gallery, Tehran-Iran, 2012 | “Abstract Calligraphy Solo Exhibition”, Shokouh Art Gallery, Tehran-Iran, 2012 | Teaching; Graphics and Typography in Art College (University of Science and Culture), Tehran-Iran, 2011-2009 | International College Student Exhibition in the category of Calligraphy Painting, Tirana-Albania, 2007 | First award at the 22th National College Student Festival (The section of Typography), TehranIran, 2007 | Second award at National College Student Festival (The section of Calligraphy), Tehran-Iran, 200 | First award at “Falaq”, National College Student Festival (The section of Poster), Tehran-Iran, 2006 | Third award at the 21th National College Student Festival (The section of Poster), Tehran-Iran, 2006 | First award at the 13th International Festival and Exhibition of Quran (The section of Calligraphy), Tehran-Iran, 2005 | Calligraphy Group Exhibition of Iranian AVANT-GARDE Calligraphers, Saba Art Center, Tehran-Iran, 2004 | “Sarmashq Book” (Examples of Calligraphy), International Meeting of Calligraphy in the Islamic World (Catalog), Tehran-Iran, 2004 | International Meeting of Calligraphy in the Islamic World (Exhibition), Ministry of culture and Islamic guidance, Tehran-Iran, 2002 | Novel Illustration, Published in “Revayate Marde Pir”, Shabaviz Publisher, Tehran-Iran, 2002 | “Learning Calligraphy Book”, Edition 2012-2001 , Tehran-Iran, 2001 | Third award at National College Student a(Graphics Knowledge), Sari-Iran, 1999 | First award at the First National Festival of Graphics, Tehran-Iran, 1997.
Untitled Ink and acrylic on canvas 150 x 150 cm 2016
Farnaz Rabieijah
1981, Tehran-Iran Solo Exhibition 2015 “Cardiac Cycle”, Solo Sculpture Exhibition, Shir Ainrt Gallery, Tehran-Iran. 2012 Solo sculpture exhibition, Shirin Art Gallery, Tehran-Iran. Group Exhibition: 2015 Contemporary Istanbu2l 015, Istanbul-Turkey. 2015 Context Miam2i 015, Miami-USA. 2015 IBS Auction, Tehran-Iran. 2014 ContexAt rt Miami, Shirin Art Gallery, Miami-USA. 2014 Vienna Art Fair, Vienna-Austria. 2014 “Black Gold” Group Exhibition, Shirin Art Gallery, Tehran-Iran. 2014 “ART14” Art fair, London-England. 2013 “Scope” MiamAi rt Fair, Miami, Florida-USA. 2013 Calligraphy Group Exhibition, Nicholas Flamel Gearlly, Paris-France. 2013 OnlineA uction, London auction room, London-England. 2013 Group Sculpture Exhibition, Tehran, Homa Art Gallery, Tehran-Iran 2013 Vienna Art fair, Vienna-Austria. 2013 “My Name is Not Rouge” Exhibition, Shirin GalleNryY , New York-USA. 2013 “Unexposed” Group Exhibition, BrusselsA,t hens, Warsaw. 2013 “Popli Khalatbari” Charitable FoundatioAnu ction, 15th. 2013 A nnual Fundraising event, London-England. 2013 “Scope” Art Basel, Basel-Switzerland. 2013 “ART13” Art Fair, London-England. 2012 “Scope” MiamAi rt Fair, Miami, Florida-USA. 2012 Opera Gallery Auction, Dubai, Opera Gallery. 2012 Vienna Art Fair, Vienna-Austria. 2012 Group Medal Exhibition (BAMS medal society), Glasgow-England. 2012 Group Sculpture Exhibition by “Varagh” Group, Tehran, Etemad Gallery. 2011 “+me”, The First Annual Exhibition of Elahe Gallery, Tehran-Iran. 2011 The 6th Iranian Contemporary Sculpture Biennial, Tehran, Niavaran Art Gallery, Tehran-Iran. 2011 The 10th Iranian contemporary Ceramics Biennial, Imam Ali Museum, Tehran-Iran. 2011 The 2nd Sculpture Expo, Shirin Gallery, Tehran-Iran. 2011 Sculpture Group Exhibition (Till), Henna Gallery, Tehran-Iran. 2011 “The 3rd Generation & Parviz Tanavoli” Sculpture Group Exhibition, Fravahr Gallery, Tehran-Iran. 2011 Sculpture Group Exhibition, Tehran, Aria Art Gallery. 2010 “Haft NegahA” nnual Art Expo, Tehran, Iranian Artists’ Forum. 2010 Sculpture Exhibition by “Varagh” Group, Elaheh Gallery, Tehran-Iran. 2010 The 1st “Medal” Group Exhibition, Mahe Mehr Gallery, Tehran-Iran. 2009 Sculpture Exhibition by “aVragh” Group, Art Center Gallery, Tehran-Iran. 2008 The 1st Sculpture Expo, Iranian Artists’ Forum, Tehran-Iran. 2008 The 1st Outdoor Biennial, Barg Art Gallery, Tehran-Iran. 2008 “Daheshpour” CharitAy rt Exhibition, Niavaran Art Gallery, Tehran-Iran. 2007 The 5th Iranian Contemporary Sculpture Biennial, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tehran, Iran. 2007 “Daheshpour” CharitAy rt Exhibition, Niavaran Art Gallery, Tehran-Iran. 2006 The 8th Iranian Contemporary Ceramics and Vitreous Biennial, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art. 2003 Sculpture Group Exhibition, Saadabad Palace, Tehran-Iran.
Look at Me! Brass (Diameter: 120 cm) x 20 cm Single Edition 2015
Untitled Bronze (Diameter: 40 cm) x 7 cm Edition 1 of 3 2016
Hadi Hazavei
Hadi Hazavei is known for his highly active career as an artist, scientist, educator, and scholar, extending across many decades, countries, and cultural contexts. His artistic practice has engaged a number of different media and aesthetic traditions, from Persian calligraphy, carpet-weaving, and folk art to the neo-traditionalism of Iran’s Saqqakhaneh school and Euro-American Abstract Expressionism. Hazavei’s dexterous body of work is tied together by his unflaggingly youthful spirit of inquisitive experimentation and existential wanderlust, compelling him to move onwards from one body of work or practical occupation to the next as soon as it approaches sedimentation and stasis. Growing up in 1940s Iran in the midst of complex social and political transitions, Hazavei became accustomed to uncertainty and contradiction from his early life. From 1960–1968, Hazavei attended the University of Tehran’s College of Fine Arts while also high school science classes in the desert town of Aradan. His sense of the irreconcilable was heightened by this polarized experience, as he witnessed the realities of the class divide between his wealthy classmates in Tehran and his less fortunate students in Aradan. During this period, Hazavei’s creative influences drew from his close ties with leading figures of Iran’s burgeoning art scene, including Akbar Sadeghi, Ali Asghar Mohtaj, Ghobad Shiva, Syrus Malek, Nicky Nodjoumi, Abbas Kiarostami, Nahid Haghighat, Farshid Mesghali, and numerous others. While Hazavei was at home in a range of creative circles, none came to define his own willfully unconventional spirit nor constrain the fluidity with which he moved between them. What Kiarostami noted in a 1963 review of one of Hazavei’s first significant exhibitions holds true to the artist’s creative practice as much as his life: the forms weave together while external constraints fall away. Hazavei left Iran after nearly a decade of teaching to travel, spending time in Europe, South America, and the United States. He continued to make art throughout his travels, incorporating elements of diverse art historical conventions and cultural motifs into his innovative practice. A dedicated arts educator and scholar, he completed a PhD in Art Education at Columbia University in 1975, before serving as the Head of Art Education at Tehran’s Negarestan Museum between 1977–78. Hazavei has since settled in New York City, where he conducted post- doctoral research in Museum Studies at New York University until 1989. He has authored numerous books on art and education; exhibited work and organized dozens of exhibitions internationally; and produced murals for towns throughout the United States and in his early home in Aradan. in 2015 he had Solo Exhibition of paintngs and installations and he›s participating in Conteporary Istanbul 2015 and Context Mimai 2015.
Untitled, from the Brick on Brick with Bricks series Brick 54 x 54 x 220 cm 2015
Koorosh Shishegaran
1944 | Qazvin-Iran. He moved to Tehran with his family. After graduation from the Tehran Fine Art High School, he entered the Faculty of Decorative Arts where he did his BA in interior decoration in 1974. His more familiar style of painting is only one of the various artistic experiences of the Shishegaran’s artistic practices. These include a wide array of experiments on different media and a range of approaches. The works before 1981 could be classified into different series, including Mass Production Works (1973-74), Appropriation of Works of Great Artists (1974-76), Postal Art (1976), Art+Art (1976-77), and other two periods – with collaboration of his brothers, Behzad and Esmail – Art for Production (1977-78), and Political Social Posters (1978-81). Since 1983 he has concentrated more on painting and drawing with his familiar feature: line. This interest in whirling lines, however, was obvious in his first solo exhibition in 1973. Shishegaran exhibited these paintings first in 1989 and then 1992, 1997, and 2006 in solo shows. Throughout these years, aside from developing his painting style and participating in many group exhibitions, both inside and outside Iran, he has created other series of works, such as War Drawings (1990), Photographic Works (2006), and Self Portraits (2008). His last solo exhibition was in Opera Gallery, London (2012). Some of his group exhibitions outside Iran are: WashArt in Washington D.C. 1977; Basel, Switzerland, 1978; The Millennium Painting Exhibition in London 1999; exhibition of Iranian artists in Rome, 2000; Meridian Center exhibitions in United States, 2001-2003; Barbican Center, 2001; Beijing Biennial, 2003; Opera Gallery, London, 2013; … With the opening up of international auction houses to Iranian art in recent years, numerous works of the artist have been sold in these auctions.
Portrait Acrylic on cardboard 70 x 50 cm 1997
Vase Acrylic color and inkjet print on canvas 180 x 135 cm 1997
Untitled Acrylic on canvas Diptych, 140 x 320 cm, (each 140 x 160 cm) 1989
Table Oil on canvas Diameter: 70 cm 1997
Masoud Akhavan 1969-Tehran. He was sent to landschulheim steinmühle boarding school in Marburg, Germany, at the age of 14. in 1989 he moved to the united states to continue his studies. he attended the George Washington University, Washington, D.C., from where he received his bachelor’s degree in biology in 1995. Later, in 2005, he completed an executive MBA degree from the kempten university of applied sciences in Germany. From 1997–2011 Masoud was the director of the design department of a prominent company. He has participated in a number of solo and group exhibitions in Tehran and Dubai. He held his rst solo exhibition of bronze sculptures in 2013, entitled ‘the rise’, at Etemad Gallery in Tehran. It was conceived to demonstrate that in order to realize whatever she/he desires, an individual must bring together mind and will and simply–or perhaps not so simply–get started. His second solo exhibition was at the Niavaran Cultural Center in Tehran.
Captured Heart Stainless steel 105 x 45 x 38 cm
Edition 3 of 3 1989
Violin Stainless steel 227 x 116 x 70 cm
Edition 3 of 3 2015
Lovers Stainless steel 116 x 77 x 30 cm
Edition 1 of 3 2015
Sahar Khalkhalian
1976-Tehran Iran Education: 1994 Art Diploma, Germany. 1995-98 Specialized Courses-Atashkadeh Studio, Aydin Aghdashlou. Solo Exhibitions: 2015 “Turbulent”, Shirin Gallery,Tehran-Iran 2014 Aun Gallery, Tehran, Iran 2010 Aun Gallery, Tehran, Iran 2001 Seyhoun Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran 2001 Hoffmann Gallery, Lubeck, Germany 1998 Seyhoun Art Gallery, Tehran-Iran Group Shows: 2015 Context Art Miami, Shirin Gallery Booth, Miami, USA
Untitled Mixed media on canvas 100 x 150 cm 2016
Shirin Gallery Tehran No. 5, 13th Street, Sanaei Street Karimkhan Ave., Tehran-Iran +9821-8882 3742 Shirin Gallery NY 511 West 25th Street Suite 507 New York, NY 10001 +1(212) 242 4684 www.shiringallery.com Shirin@shiringallery.com
November 16-19, 2016