Sadra Baniasadi | "From Cradle to Grave": Dastan's Basement

Dastan’s Basement is pleased to announce the opening of Sadra Baniasadi’s sixth solo exhibition, “From Cradle to Grave”, on view from August 21 through September 11, 2026. This exhibition has been realized with the collaboration of Parsa Farsha as Associate Curator and Sam Keshmiri as the artistic director of the Basement.

“From Cradle to Grave” brings together 25 paintings from Baniasadi’s “Loneliness” series, produced between 2024 and 2026, comprising 17 works on paper and eight works on canvas. In this body of work, Baniasadi brings his longstanding interest in narrati ve, mythology, and religious imagery into dialogue with personal experience, addressing themes of love, death, solitude, and the experience of living. Each painting is titled after an event or experience from the artist’s own life. This narrative structure extends into the exhibition space. Baniasadi has divided the gallery into seven sections through seven painted curtains on the walls, drawing on the structure of Dante’s Inferno as a framework for moving through the works. The title of each painting is handwritten by the artist in Nastaliq script, in black acrylic directly on the wall beneath the work. Together with the painted curtains, this gesture refers to the traditions of Persian narrative curtain painting (pardeh-khani/pardeh-negari) and coffeehouse painting. An audio piece composed by Baniasadi and inspired by Inferno accompanies the exhibition, forming another part of its narrative trajectory alongside painting and text.

Sadra Baniasadi (b. 1991, Tehran, Iran) is a painter who studied painting at Tehran University of Art. Alongside painting, he works with media including music and video, with storytelling occupying a central place in his practice. His work draws on the visual languages of cartoons, illustration, popular culture, and allegorical narratives. Baniasadi’s most recent solo exhibition, “Escaping Reality, Full Speed “(2024), was held at Dastan’s Basement. His previous solo exhibitions at Dastan’s Basement include “Sisters “(2019), “outdated” (2017), and “Dog Language” (2015). His work has also been included in numerous group exhibitions, including “Some Seasons: Fereydoun Ave and the Laal Collection” at Art Jameel, Dubai (2023), and “A Camp” at No Man’s Art Gallery, Amsterdam (2017), as well as art fairs including Asia NOW, Paris (2021), Untitled Art Fair, New York (2017), Untitled Art Fair, Miami Beach (2017), and Art Dubai (2017). In 2004, Baniasadi received a medal in the youth section of the Yomiuri International Cartoon Contest.