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Abu Dhabi Art 2024: Group Presentation

Past viewing_room
14 - 24 November 2024
  • Abu Dhabi Art 2024

  • Dastan is pleased to announce its participation at Abu Dhabi Art 2024 with a group presentation of works by Mohsen Vaziri Moghaddam (1924 – 2018), Behjat Sadr (1924 – 2009), Massoud Arabshahi (1935 – 2019), Leyly Matine Daftary (1936 – 2007), Parviz Tanavoli (b. 1937), Ali Akbar Sadeghi (b. 1937), Parvaneh Etemadi (b. 1945), Fereydoun Ave (b. 1945), Farah Ossouli (b. 1953), Bita Fayyazi (b. 1962), Y.Z. Kami (b. 1956), Mehrdad Mohebali (b. 1960), Reza Aramesh (b. 1970), Farrokh Mahdavi (b. 1970), Pooya Aryanpour (b. 1971),  Andisheh Avini (b. 1974), and Taher Assad–Bakhtiari (b. 1982), marking the gallery's third time returning to the fair. The 16th edition of the Abu Dhabi Art will occur from 20 to 24 November 2024 at Manarat Al Saadiyat.
    Dastan’s presentation focuses on exploring the dialog between matter, material, and abstraction. The presentation brings together these works of the abovementioned artists to present a reading of how they, in their study as well as practice, transcend into abstraction and how their physical materials influence, allow and address such explorations. 
  • Installation view of Dastan's Presentation at Abu Dahbi Art 2024 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Dastan's Presentation at Abu Dahbi Art 2024 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Dastan's Presentation at Abu Dahbi Art 2024 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Dastan's Presentation at Abu Dahbi Art 2024 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Dastan's Presentation at Abu Dahbi Art 2024 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Dastan's Presentation at Abu Dahbi Art 2024 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Dastan's Presentation at Abu Dahbi Art 2024 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Dastan's Presentation at Abu Dahbi Art 2024 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Dastan's Presentation at Abu Dahbi Art 2024 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Dastan's Presentation at Abu Dahbi Art 2024 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Dastan's Presentation at Abu Dahbi Art 2024 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Dastan's Presentation at Abu Dahbi Art 2024 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Dastan's Presentation at Abu Dahbi Art 2024 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Dastan's Presentation at Abu Dahbi Art 2024 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Dastan's Presentation at Abu Dahbi Art 2024 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Dastan's Presentation at Abu Dahbi Art 2024 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Dastan's Presentation at Abu Dahbi Art 2024 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Dastan's Presentation at Abu Dahbi Art 2024 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Dastan's Presentation at Abu Dahbi Art 2024 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Dastan's Presentation at Abu Dahbi Art 2024 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Dastan's Presentation at Abu Dahbi Art 2024 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Dastan's Presentation at Abu Dahbi Art 2024 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).

    Installation view of Dastan's Presentation at Abu Dahbi Art 2024

  • Pooya Aryanpour (b. 1971, Tehran, Iran) is an artist, art instructor, and university lecturer based in Tehran. He studied Painting...

    Pooya Aryanpour (b. 1971, Tehran, Iran) is an artist, art instructor, and university lecturer based in Tehran. He studied Painting at Azad University of Tehran, where he obtained his M.A. in 1999. He has been an active artist, instructor, and curator over the past three decades.

     

    Since the 2000s, Pooya Aryanpour has made use of mirrors in his sculptures, a practice made popular by artist Monir Farmanfarmaian in the early 1970s. Aryanpour's studies of Qajar's (19th-20th centuries) mirror works have given his work a reflective character. His works can also be considered interactive and conceptual as they fleetingly reflect the image of their viewers. Large size sculptures are covered with tiny mirrors that change color with a shift in lighting, multiplying what they reflect. The plurality of images thus reflected has a spiritual dimension – mirror works are used in places of worship throughout Iran. The multiplicity of images shatters the individual's ego to arrive at a devotional unity. Aryanpour has been created from many materials and in abstract form in widely different sizes.

     

    His work has been extensively exhibited, both in Iran and at international biennials, gallery shows, art fairs, and institutional exhibitions, namely the sculpture biennial in Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (2017), Sophia Contemporary Gallery (London, 2016), and "Gone with the Wind" (Kahrizad Sugar Factory, Tehran, 2022).

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  • Installation Viewof “Gone with the Wind” Pooya Aryanpour’s solo exhibition at the Defunct Kahrizak Sugar Factory, 2022 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation View of “Gone with the Wind” Pooya Aryanpour’s solo exhibition at the Defunct Kahrizak Sugar Factory, 2022 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation View of “Gone with the Wind” Pooya Aryanpour’s solo exhibition at the Defunct Kahrizak Sugar Factory, 2022 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation View of “Gone with the Wind” Pooya Aryanpour’s solo exhibition at the Defunct Kahrizak Sugar Factory, 2022 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation View of “Gone with the Wind” Pooya Aryanpour’s solo exhibition at the Defunct Kahrizak Sugar Factory, 2022 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation View of “Gone with the Wind” Pooya Aryanpour’s solo exhibition at the Defunct Kahrizak Sugar Factory, 2022 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation View of “Gone with the Wind” Pooya Aryanpour’s solo exhibition at the Defunct Kahrizak Sugar Factory, 2022 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation View of “Gone with the Wind” Pooya Aryanpour’s solo exhibition at the Defunct Kahrizak Sugar Factory, 2022 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation View of “Gone with the Wind” Pooya Aryanpour’s solo exhibition at the Defunct Kahrizak Sugar Factory, 2022 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation View of “Gone with the Wind” Pooya Aryanpour’s solo exhibition at the Defunct Kahrizak Sugar Factory, 2022 (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).

    Installation Viewof “Gone with the Wind” Pooya Aryanpour’s solo exhibition at the Defunct Kahrizak Sugar Factory, 2022 

  • Fereydoun Ave (b. 1945, Tehran, Iran) is an influential figure in Iranian contemporary art. He received his BA in Applied...

    Fereydoun Ave (b. 1945, Tehran, Iran) is an influential figure in Iranian contemporary art. He received his BA in Applied Arts for Theatre from Arizona State University (1964), studied Film at New York University (1969), and attended the University of Seven Seas (aka Semester at Sea, 1964). Over the past five decades, he has taken on many roles as an artist, designer, art director, collector, curator, gallerist, and art patron.

    The art of Fereydoun Ave is a freehanded engagement with a personal ethos informed by more prominent cultural influences. He ceaselessly reflects on his relationship with age, myths, plants, elements, seasons, moods, and heredity. He takes inspiration from the art of Iran, which tends to use the entire canvas surface, and the Western penchant for minimalism, which leaves large swaths unattended. Fereydoun Ave's joint projects with artists, galleries (including Dastan), and institutions are an integral part of his practice, reflecting his role as a curator, gallerist, and collector.

    • Fereydoun Ave, Fire
      Fereydoun Ave, Fire
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  • Mohsen Vaziri Moghaddam (1924 – 2018) is acknowledged as a pioneer of Iranian abstractionism and a leading figure in developing...

    Mohsen Vaziri Moghaddam (1924 – 2018) is acknowledged as a pioneer of Iranian abstractionism and a leading figure in developing contemporary Iranian art. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome. He was also an educator, opening the way for many to-be artists to go beyond the limits of established ways. His "Drawing Method and Painting Guide" (1981) is a standard academic text today.

    He is widely recognized for works spanning five decades, from the painterly abstracts of the 1960s to the hard-edged geometry of the sculpted and painted aluminum wall reliefs of his later years. Vaziri's work is characterized by a restless experimentation of form through materials -- deployed in his drawings, sand paintings, opto-kinetic sculptures, and painted aluminum wall reliefs.

    During his lifetime, Vaziri was the subject of numerous exhibitions internationally, exhibited extensively at the Venice Biennial, and was collected by MoMA (NY).

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  • Andisheh Avini (b. 1974, New York) is an artist who uses painting, drawing, printmaking, and sculpture, often incorporating the traditional...

    Andisheh Avini (b. 1974, New York) is an artist who uses painting, drawing, printmaking, and sculpture, often incorporating the traditional craft of marquetry in his artistic practice.

    Andisheh Avini explores the duality of his own identity by combining iconic images like Persian calligraphy, decorative motifs, and portraiture with occidental concepts of minimalism and abstraction. Avini's approach speaks to a larger globalized society of nomads, the displaced, and the wayfarer, reflecting a contemporary multicultural experience to which many can relate

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    • 241021R 5007 Web
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  • Installation view of Red,White and Blue a solo exhibition of works by Andisheh Avini at +2 Gallery (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Red,White and Blue a solo exhibition of works by Andisheh Avini at +2 Gallery (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Red,White and Blue a solo exhibition of works by Andisheh Avini at +2 Gallery (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Red,White and Blue a solo exhibition of works by Andisheh Avini at +2 Gallery (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Red,White and Blue a solo exhibition of works by Andisheh Avini at +2 Gallery (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Red,White and Blue a solo exhibition of works by Andisheh Avini at +2 Gallery (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Red,White and Blue a solo exhibition of works by Andisheh Avini at +2 Gallery (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Andisheh Avini and Iman Raad at The Armory Show 2022  New York, USA  Photo By Ghaaflan Abadi (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Andisheh Avini and Iman Raad at The Armory Show 2022  New York, USA  Photo By Ghaaflan Abadi (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Andisheh Avini and Iman Raad at The Armory Show 2022  New York, USA  Photo By Ghaaflan Abadi (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Andisheh Avini and Iman Raad at The Armory Show 2022  New York, USA  Photo By Ghaaflan Abadi (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Andisheh Avini and Iman Raad at The Armory Show 2022  New York, USA  Photo By Ghaaflan Abadi (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of Andisheh Avini and Iman Raad at The Armory Show 2022  New York, USA  Photo By Ghaaflan Abadi (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).

    Installation view of Red,White and Blue a solo exhibition of works by Andisheh Avini at +2 Gallery

  • Parviz Tanavoli (b. 1937, Tehran, Iran) is a well-known Iranian contemporary artist whose work has gained attention beyond Sculpture –...

    Parviz Tanavoli (b. 1937, Tehran, Iran) is a well-known Iranian contemporary artist whose work has gained attention beyond Sculpture – his specialized medium – across a variety of disciplines. His collection of various Iranian artifacts has influenced many of his works and those of his students and researchers. He graduated from the Brera Academy of Milan (1959). He taught sculpting at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (1960) and the Tehran College of Decorative Arts (1961-1963). He was the head of the sculpting department at the University of Tehran, a position he held for 18 years until 1979 when he retired from his teaching duties. Since 1989, he has lived and worked both in Tehran and Vancouver, Canada. His latest solo exhibition, "Oh Nightingale" (2019), was held at the West Vancouver Art Museum.

    Parviz Tanavoli is considered a leading figure in "Saqakhaneh," an artistic movement to which many Iranian contemporary artists of the 1970s adhered, using artifacts, designs, and motifs of popular art forms in Iran to speak to contemporary issues. Sculptures of Tanavoli are rife with objects and forms detached from their original context and given a new sense, most famous among these his iconic "Heech" sculptures. Meaning "nothingness" in Persian, "heech" has a cosmological history whose calligraphic form takes its viewers into a meandering world of contemplation. Heech was also a commentary on the evolution of contemporary art in Iran, a response to the growing tendency of visual artists of the 70s to follow trends in Western art by borrowing from their traditions of image-making. Tanavoli's collection of Iranian artifacts is part of his artistic discourse. Through the collection, which has spanned over five decades, he has studied the ways artisans in the Iranian plateau interacted with their environment. He published many books detailing his collections and held a major exhibition at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art ("Parviz Tanavoli and the Lions of Iran," 2017) in which he placed his paintings and sculptures next to rugs, jewelry, locks, water fountains, and designs bearing the mark of a lion. As such, Tanavoli has a central place in the visual history of Iran, to which he has devoted his life and creative input.

    • Parviz Tanavoli, Head of Poet, 2011
      Parviz Tanavoli, Head of Poet, 2011
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    • Parviz Tanavoli, Wall II, 2008
      Parviz Tanavoli, Wall II, 2008
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  • About the Film
    Parviz Tanavoli is Iran's greatest living sculptor. As a guardian of ancient traditions and innovator of new forms of artistic expression, Tanavoli's contribution to the modern art movement of the Middle East is without equal. He is also the most important internationally recognized modern sculptor to ever call Canada home. "Parviz Tanavoli: Poetry in Bronze" tells the remarkable story of this esteemed artist's fascinating journey of creation that has spanned three continents and more than half a century.
    The documentry features exclusive interviews with Tanavoli and leading figures in the international art world. Together they illuminate the emergence and rise of this extraordinary artist who continues creating artistic masterpieces to this day.
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  • Reza Aramesh, Overview

    Reza Aramesh

    Overview

    Reza Aramesh was born in Iran and is based in London and New York. He holds a Masters degree in Fine Arts from Goldsmiths University, London. His work has been exhibited in both solo and group exhibitions such as in the occasion of the 60th Venice Biennale 2024, Italy 14 and 15 Bienal de la Habana, Asia Society Museum, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Breuer, New York, Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Maine, SCAD Museum, Atlanta, Georgia, Akademie der Kunste, Berlin, the 56th Venice Biennale, Art Basel Parcours, Frieze Sculpture Park, London, Sculpture in the City, London, Armory Show Off-Site at Collect Pond Park, New York and at Maxxi Museum, Rome among others. Aramesh has orchestrated a number of performances and situations in such spaces as The Barbican Centre, Tate Britain and ICA, London. His works have entered public and private collections worldwide including Argentina, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, USA, Belgium, Israel, France, Iran, Lebanon, Italy and the U.K.Working in sculpture, drawing, embroidery, ceramics, video and performance in a succession of ‘actions’, Reza Aramesh draws inspiration from media coverage of international conflicts dating from the mid-20th century until present day. This coverage is then transformed into sculptural volumes in collaboration with non-professional models, who help him reenact his chosen source materials. No direct signs of war remain in the physical end results and the characters seem driven out of their initial contexts. Opposition between beauty and brutality allows the artist to unveil the absurdity and the futility of these actions. Aramesh de-contextualises these scenes of violence from their origins, exploring the narratives of representation and iconography of the subjected male body in the context of race, class and sexuality in order to create a critical conversation with the western art historical canon.

    Reza Aramesh CV
    • Reza Aramesh, Action 305 Diyarbakir Prison 4 October 1995 Progression #58, 2024
      Reza Aramesh, Action 305 Diyarbakir Prison 4 October 1995 Progression #58, 2024
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    • Reza Aramesh, Action 435 Adala Prison 13 March 2016 Progression #188, 2024
      Reza Aramesh, Action 435 Adala Prison 13 March 2016 Progression #188, 2024
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  • Reza Aramesh | NUMBER 207. Curated by Serubiri Moses. Chiesa di San Fantin. MUNTREF ICA Miami - Installation Views (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Reza Aramesh | NUMBER 207. Curated by Serubiri Moses. Chiesa di San Fantin. MUNTREF ICA Miami - Installation Views (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Reza Aramesh | NUMBER 207. Curated by Serubiri Moses. Chiesa di San Fantin. MUNTREF ICA Miami - Installation Views (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Reza Aramesh | NUMBER 207. Curated by Serubiri Moses. Chiesa di San Fantin. MUNTREF ICA Miami - Installation Views (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Reza Aramesh | NUMBER 207. Curated by Serubiri Moses. Chiesa di San Fantin. MUNTREF ICA Miami - Installation Views (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Reza Aramesh | NUMBER 207. Curated by Serubiri Moses. Chiesa di San Fantin. MUNTREF ICA Miami - Installation Views (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Reza Aramesh | NUMBER 207. Curated by Serubiri Moses. Chiesa di San Fantin. MUNTREF ICA Miami - Installation Views (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).

    Reza Aramesh | NUMBER 207. Curated by Serubiri Moses. Chiesa di San Fantin. MUNTREF ICA Miami - Installation Views

  • Behjat Sadr (1924, Arak, Iran – 2009, Corsica, France) is among the first female artists and university lecturers of Iran....

    Behjat Sadr (1924, Arak, Iran – 2009, Corsica, France) is among the first female artists and university lecturers of Iran. She graduated in Painting from the University of Tehran (1954). She was an active presence in the international visual art scene beginning in the 1960s. Having studied in Italy, she became interested in abstraction and created her first series of works between 1961 and 1966.

     

    Sadr is known for using a palette knife on canvases that create impressionistic visual rhythm, movement and geometric shapes. Black dominates a major part of her work. She uses blotches to create dynamic patterns. By placing paint directly on the surface of the work and removing paint with a knife countless times, she arrives at the familiar visual structure of her paintings. Sadr was also a photographer and known for her collages.

    Artist's CV
    • Behjat Sadr, Untitled, 1977
      Behjat Sadr, Untitled, 1977
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  • Leyly Matine - Daftary

    Leyly Matine-Daftary was a pivotal Iranian artist of the modern era. Part of a first generation of students who went...

    Leyly Matine-Daftary was a pivotal Iranian artist of the modern era. Part of a first generation of students who went abroad to pursue their education, she studied painting and sculpture under Lucian Freud at the Slade School of Fine Arts. She returned to Iran in 1959 and lectured at the Fine Arts Faculty of Tehran University until 1965. She also began to make the work that she would come to be known for—flat brightly rendered canvases marked by a taut and deceptive simplicity. In their conjuring the inner lives of everyday objects, they occasionally evoke Japanese Shijo painting. Matine-Daftary tended toward people and still lives in her art, and yet to characterize her as a mere figurative painter would be misleading; traditional ideas about pictorial space were jettisoned as she used blocks of color in both foreground and background to create new dimensionalities. Her works were exhibited in the second, third, and fifth Tehran biennials, taking an award at the fifth. Her first solo exhibition was at Tehran’s Borges Gallery in 1966. Matine-Daftary's works have been showcased in solo and group exhibitions both inside and outside of Iran.

    • Leyly Matine-Daftary, Vase, 1965
      Leyly Matine-Daftary, Vase, 1965
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  • Y. Z. Kami (b. 1956, Tehran, Iran) is a renowned Iranian painter and sculptor based in New York, USA. Having received his diploma from Tehran School of Fine Arts (1955), he studied philosophy at the University of California at Berkeley (1976) and went on to a BA (1980) and MA (1982) from Sorbonne University in Paris. He started painting at an early age in the studio of his mother, who was also a portrait painter. His subsequent proclivity to philosophical explorations and mystical experiences has influenced his practice. 

    Y. Z. Kami is known for his large-scale paintings, depicting individuals, dispositions, and gestures in a soft light. He uses oil paint, dry pigments, and dust in his numerous portraits to arrive at a dry, matte surface, akin to frescoes and wall paintings in Byzantine and early Renaissance art. Other works draw on mystic and philosophical traditions, East or West, to imbue them with a spiritual dimension well grounded in their materiality (bricks, domes, hands, faces), and focus on a particular feature of a face or scene, capturing the moment of the artist's "encounter" with the subject. His installations, inspired by Islamic architecture, at times incorporating photography, are marked by the repetition of an element that leads to a unifying, circular, whirling form ("Dome", "Endless Prayers") and recreate the giddying, mystifying, and labyrinthine structure of sacred sites in Iran. 

    • Y.Z. Kami, Blue Dome VII, 2014
      Y.Z. Kami, Blue Dome VII, 2014
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  • Mehrdad Mohebali (b. 1960, Tehran, Iran) is a Tehran-based artist. He graduated in Painting from the University of Tehran. In...

    Mehrdad Mohebali (b. 1960, Tehran, Iran) is a Tehran-based artist. He graduated in Painting from the University of Tehran.

     

    In the works of Mehrdad Mohebali, usually done in large formats, people are executed in a manneristic fashion. His early surreal scenes gave way to portraits of familiar political figures and scenes from art history next to those of the painter and ordinary people. His use of intense colors, lighting, and the poses of his subjects imbues his works with affectations and distortions.

     

    His work has been exhibited in solo and GROUP EXHIBITIONS in Iran and internationally; including at the Lajevardi Foundation in Tehran (2016), the 2015 Venice Biennale, the Salsali Private Museum in Dubai (2012), the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (2004 and 2001), and the Tokyo Museum of Contemporary Art (2002).

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  • Massoud Arabshahi (1935–2019) is a prominent Iranian painter and sculptor. A leading figure in contemporary art within Iran, Arabshahi's artistic...

    Massoud Arabshahi (1935–2019) is a prominent Iranian painter and sculptor. A leading figure in contemporary art within Iran, Arabshahi's artistic journey commenced during his youth under the guidance of Mahmoud Olya and continued at the School of Fine Arts with mentorship from Shokouh Rezaei. His deep-seated fascination with ancient Iranian art fueled his commitment to designing, researching, and studying objects, myths, and ancient patterns displayed in museums. Throughout the 1940s, Arabshahi actively participated in biennials in Paris and Tehran, as well as numerous group exhibitions, showcasing his artistic prowess. Following a period of concentrated study with professors such as Karim Emami and Hossein Kazemi at the School of Decorative Arts in Tehran, he earned his MA in Architecture in 1968.

    Renowned for skillfully blending elements of modern abstract art with the geometric designs in traditional Iranian architecture, Arabshahi's works incorporate abstract lines, textures, and colors. These paintings and sculptures re-imagine well-established patterns, myths, and cultural elements in architectural layouts. Drawing inspiration from Achaemenid and Assyrian art as well as Babylonian inscriptions, Arabshahi's fusion of two-dimensional and three-dimensional patterns places him within the Saqakhaneh School. In 1982, Arabshahi emigrated to France and later to the United States, where he played a role in constructing the Hollywood Hall in Los Angeles. He returned to Iran in 1992 to be involved in several public art projects, including the Mirdamad Expressway, the Soil Mechanics Laboratory, the Islamic Summit Building, and the Bar Association Building.

     

    • Massoud Arabshahi, Untitled, 1978
      Massoud Arabshahi, Untitled, 1978
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  • Taher Asad-Bakhtiari (b. 1982, Tehran, Iran) is a self-taught artist whose practice focuses on but is not limited to objects,...

    Taher Asad-Bakhtiari (b. 1982, Tehran, Iran) is a self-taught artist whose practice focuses on but is not limited to objects, textiles, and experiences. After studying multimedia and management in Canada and Switzerland, Taher opened a creative agency in Tehran and later New York City. He has developed several bodies of work, including “The Tribal Weave Project”.

    He is known for his contemporary reinterpretation of traditional hand-woven tribal weaves. 

    Drawing from his Bakhtiari tribal heritage, he reimagines traditional weaving techniques through his “The Tribal Weave Project.”

     

    In his 'Recovered Barrels' project, he employs sustainable and environmental art by repurposing and upcycling waste. The artist transforms deformative industrial oil barrels by glamorizing each into a highly polished, resin-coated object. In a different context, what once served as a tool in a construction site artistically acquires a chair's functionality.

     

    Asad-Bakhtiari’s work has been exhibited at major cultural events such as the London Design Festival. His designs have been featured in prominent auctions, such as Christie’s Modern & Contemporary Middle Eastern Art sale in London. He has also been recognized with awards like the 2021 Product Design Award for his collaboration with cc-tapis in Architectural Digest Middle East.

    • Taher Asad-Bakhtiari, Untitled, 2022
      Taher Asad-Bakhtiari, Untitled, 2022
    • Taher Asad-Bakhtiari, Untitled, 2022
      Taher Asad-Bakhtiari, Untitled, 2022
  • Installation view of The Tribal Weave Project a solo exhibition of works by Taher Assad-Bakhtiari at Parallel Circuit. (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of The Tribal Weave Project a solo exhibition of works by Taher Assad-Bakhtiari at Parallel Circuit. (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of The Tribal Weave Project a solo exhibition of works by Taher Assad-Bakhtiari at Parallel Circuit. (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation view of The Tribal Weave Project a solo exhibition of works by Taher Assad-Bakhtiari at Parallel Circuit. (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).

    Installation view of The Tribal Weave Project a solo exhibition of works by Taher Assad-Bakhtiari at Parallel Circuit.

  • Farrokh Mahdavi, Overview

    Farrokh Mahdavi

    Overview

    Farrokh Mahdavi (b. 1970, Tehran, Iran) taught himself painting before studying with master painters and cultivating his passion for the medium. He lives and works in Tehran.

    Canvases of Farrokh Mahdavi can be distinguished through unique pinkish hues. His technique aims to defamiliarize the well-known facial elements in a face. The fleshy-pink color of the artist's figures allows the rendering of "a more general depiction of human beings devoid of stereotypes of gender and race."  The faces in Mahdavi’s work are reduced to features like the eyes or the lips, and the rest are covered by thick layers of pink paint, hinting at the emotional world of his characters. He tries to specify forms and conditions without directly depicting anything additional, as he believes it deviates from the main point.

    • Farrokh Mahdavi, Untitled, 2024
      Farrokh Mahdavi, Untitled, 2024
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  • Ali-Akbar Sadeghi (b. 1937, Tehran) is a renowned visual artist who started painting at an early age. He graduated with...

    Ali-Akbar Sadeghi (b. 1937, Tehran) is a renowned visual artist who started painting at an early age. He graduated with a BA from the College of Fine Arts of the University of Tehran in 1969. He worked as a graphic designer (posters, book covers, packaging) for many years before joining the Center for the Intellectual Development of Children and Adolescents (CIDCA) in 1971. CIDCA was a thriving center for creative work, and Sadeghi directed his attention to making animations and illustrating books.

    Inspired by the folk culture of Iran, his lively, spirited canvases and illustrations are where modern and ancient aesthetics coincide.

    In 1991, at the 25th anniversary of CIDCA, Sadeghi was honored for his outstanding book illustration and filmmaking achievements. In 2009, the Iranian Ministry of Culture (Ershad) recognized Sadeghi as "an outstanding cultural figure and contributor to Iranian art and culture.” Ali-Akbar Sadeghi has held 12 solo exhibitions in Iran and worldwide, including "A Retrospective" in the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art in 2018. His works have appeared in numerous group exhibitions since 1984. He participated in the Singapore Biennale (2019). Dastan Gallery showed two works of the artist in "Soft Edge of the Blade" at Frieze's No. 9 Cork Street in February 2022 and at all the three exhibitions of “Mosavarnameh” between 2015 and 2018. Drawings and paintings of Sadeghi are held by many art institutions, including the British Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art.

    • Ali Akbar Sadeghi, Coalition X, 2001
      Ali Akbar Sadeghi, Coalition X, 2001
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    • Ali Akbar Sadeghi, Coalition XII, 2001
      Ali Akbar Sadeghi, Coalition XII, 2001
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    • Ali Akbar Sadeghi, Coalition XVI, 2001
      Ali Akbar Sadeghi, Coalition XVI, 2001
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    • Ali Akbar Sadeghi, Coalition XVII, 2001
      Ali Akbar Sadeghi, Coalition XVII, 2001
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  • A solo exhibition of works by Ali Akbar Sadeghi at Dastan's Basement. (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    A solo exhibition of works by Ali Akbar Sadeghi at Dastan's Basement. (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
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    A solo exhibition of works by Ali Akbar Sadeghi at Parallel Circuit. (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    A solo exhibition of works by Ali Akbar Sadeghi at Parallel Circuit. (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    A solo exhibition of works by Ali Akbar Sadeghi at Parallel Circuit. (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    A solo exhibition of works by Ali Akbar Sadeghi at Parallel Circuit. (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    A solo exhibition of works by Ali Akbar Sadeghi at Parallel Circuit. (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    A solo exhibition of works by Ali Akbar Sadeghi at Parallel Circuit. (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    A solo exhibition of works by Ali Akbar Sadeghi at Parallel Circuit. (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    A solo exhibition of works by Ali Akbar Sadeghi at Parallel Circuit. (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    A solo exhibition of works by Ali Akbar Sadeghi at Parallel Circuit. (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    A solo exhibition of works by Ali Akbar Sadeghi at Parallel Circuit. (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    A solo exhibition of works by Ali Akbar Sadeghi at Parallel Circuit. (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).

    A solo exhibition of works by Ali Akbar Sadeghi at Dastan's Basement.

  • Farah Ossouli
    Artists

    Farah Ossouli

    Farah Ossouli (b. 1953, Zanjan, Iran) is a painter working and living in Tehran. She received her BA in Graphic Design from the University of Tehran, where she taught between 1972 and 1987. She founded DENA, a female art collective that has organized over 30 exhibitions since 2001. She is a member of the Society of Iranian Painters.
    Farah Ossouli achieved a unique fusion of techniques, materials, themes, and narrations during her forty-year career as an artist. She has been a pioneer in introducing contemporary themes and ideas into miniature painting. The latest collections of Farah Ossouli are based on classical European paintings (by Delacroix, Goya, David, Manet, Titan, Rembrandt, and Ingres, among others), chosen by the artist based on their historical and conceptual relevance vis-à-vis the manifestation of violence in our world today. By transforming the medium (Persian painting) and figures (female holding the torch), Farah Ossouli is presenting the viewer with a new way of looking at the events taking place around us.
    Farah Ossouli. Portfolio
    • Farah Ossouli, Put Your Gun Down, 2010
      Farah Ossouli, Put Your Gun Down, 2010
  • Bita Fayyazi (b. 1962, Tehran) lives and works in Tehran. More than a sculptor, an installation artist, or a ceramicist...

    Bita Fayyazi (b. 1962, Tehran) lives and works in Tehran. More than a sculptor, an installation artist, or a ceramicist engaged in some mystic relationship with her material, Fayyazi is an artist who works within a more performative and markedly social practice.
    Fayyazi has been active in art for around 30 years. As her involvement in art developed, she became interested in teamwork and collaboration. She actively engages in collaborative and performative projects with artists and individuals with no artistic backgrounds. By embracing such interactions, she explores the power of shared creativity, fostering meaningful connections and broadening the boundaries of artistic expression. Throughout the years, working together with others has become an integral and cherished part of her practice. This approach has shown to be more valuable, often surpassing the outcome itself.


    Artist's CV
  • Bita Fayyazi, Beautiful Creatures, 2023
    Artworks

    Bita Fayyazi

    Beautiful Creatures, 2023
    Weaving Yarn, throw-away yarn (recycled), broken ceramics, metal wire
    308 x 44 x 30 cm
    121 1/2 x 17 1/2 x 12 in
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  • Parvaneh Etemadi, Overview

    Parvaneh Etemadi

    Overview

    Parvaneh Etemadi (b. 1945, Birjand, Iran) is a painter who has worked with various techniques for more than five decades. She is best known for paintings of lifeless nature. Born in Birjand she moved to Tehran with her family when she was six. When her high school teacher, the famous Iranian writer Jalal Al-e Ahmad, saw one of her sketches on the margin of a book, he introduced her to painter Bahman Mohassess. Etemadi is Mohassess's only direct student. She inherited her taste, she says, from Mohassess and her audacity from Al-e Ahmad.

    Parvaneh Etemadi has depicted domestic scenes and ordinary objects from everyday life with simple, concise, and sometimes poetic language. In her paintings, form supersedes narration and expression. Etemadi can discover beauty in things – bottles, wooden pestles, and vases – that may not appear beautiful at first glance. From simple colored pencils to hard cement, she makes use of a wide range of tools in her paintings. Her encounter with the canvas reflects her creative and daring spirit. In 1967, Etemadi enrolled in the School of Fine Arts but later withdrew. Less than two decades later, she joined the artists of the Qandriz Hall, where she was the only woman member. Her first exhibition at this venue took place in 1968. Transitioning toward formal experimentalism in the late forties, Etemadi created notable works — simple, abstract paintings of lifeless nature on a rough cement texture. "I turned to draw lifeless nature," she says of this period, "placing the painting in another layer under the figures and motifs, engaging the viewer with a familiar shape while adhering to my accepted principles." In the 1970s, she established "Studio Parvaneh," where she held painting classes. She has influenced many artists, like Avish Khebrezadeh and Sadeq Tirafkan, with her unique teaching style. In the 1980s, she experimented with colored pencils, forming her distinct identity by incorporating repetitive visual elements. In the first decade of the new millennium, she made use of collage techniques. This was her fourth artistic period. "Daughter of Shah Paryan" is one of her series from this period. She also experimented with ceramics in conjunction with calligraphy. In her latest artistic phase, starting with the exhibition "Once Upon a Time" (2004), she drew inspiration from Iranian myths, offering a critical perspective on contemporary society. She is an artist who actively shapes her narrative through every evolutionary phase of her artistic life. She was the subject of a documentary film, "Parvaneh" (2019), by Bahman Kiarostami.

    • Parvaneh Etemadi, Untitled, 2023
      Parvaneh Etemadi, Untitled, 2023
    • Parvaneh Etemadi, Untitled, 2023
      Parvaneh Etemadi, Untitled, 2023
  • Abu Dhabi 2023

  • Installation Views of Dastan's Booth at Abu Dhabi 2023. (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation Views of Dastan's Booth at Abu Dhabi 2023. (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation Views of Dastan's Booth at Abu Dhabi 2023. (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation Views of Dastan's Booth at Abu Dhabi 2023. (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation Views of Dastan's Booth at Abu Dhabi 2023. (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation Views of Dastan's Booth at Abu Dhabi 2023. (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    Installation Views of Dastan's Booth at Abu Dhabi 2023. (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).

    Installation Views of Dastan's Booth at Abu Dhabi 2023.

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