Art Dubai 2025 | Contemporary Section : Group Presentation

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 today's standard academic text. 

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.

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.

Mohammad Hossein Maher (b. 1957, Abadan, Iran) is a contemporary Iranian painter and sculptor, with a degree in painting from Tehran's School of Fine Arts. He is a well-known figure and is considered one of the prominent painters in contemporary Iranian art, teaching art to students and aspiring artists for many years.

Throughout his years of activity, has consistently offered insightful perspectives on the cultural and historical experiences of society, as well as his inner world, to his audience. In his artistic journey, Mohammad Hossein Maher initially focused on southern Iran, holding exhibitions featuring local elements. Over time, his work evolved, delving into deeper cultural and mythological aspects, embracing the symbolism of myth and folkloric figures. Maher explored the themes of migration and displacement, particularly during his "Yademan" series. His "Peleh" series, on the other hand, is a more personal exploration of movement and progression, emphasizing the significance of texture and minimalism. Maher's work reflects his deep connection to cultural and historical elements, presenting a thought-provoking narrative through his art. He often places colors in small pieces on the surface, thus confronting the viewer with numerous frames in a primary composition. The predominant composition found in his works is the "cross composition." In what he has produced, both in terms of symbols and in terms of attention to qualities and concepts, the study of Manichaean and Zoroastrian art cannot be overlooked.

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).

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.

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).

Mamali Shafahi (B.1982, lives in Paris-Tehran) His immersive and mixed-media installations include sound and light and deliver a visual feast adorned with enigmatic chimeras that defy categorisation. His works serve as mirrors reflecting the complexities of cultural diversity and identity, shattering stereotypes and inviting viewers to embrace the richness that lies beneath the surface. They provide a getaway to the realms of fantasy while paying tribute to his Iranian heritage. Within a mesmerising environment of optical illusions, viewers are transported beyond their everyday experience into a state of equilibrium between the magical and the terrible, fantasy and horror.As part of “Daddy Sperm”, he worked on an experimental docu-fiction film, Nature Morte, involving his parents. This film was the backbone of an installation at City Princes/ses at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris in 2019. His VR project, nerd_funk, with Ali Eslami, have been featured at Het nieuwe instituut, Rotterdam, the Vancouver Biennale and IDFA film. It also won the Golden Calf award for Best interactive film at the Netherlands Film Festival.

Ghasemi Brothers – Morteza, Sina, and Mojtaba Ghasemi Sheelsar – have worked together since 2015. They pursue their painting individually but work together on a single piece when part of the collective. 

The trio works freely and without thematic or technique-related limits, giving them room to express themselves freely. Their approach has provided them with the ability to continue working together. Initially, they created a single discourse based on their shared themes and interests. Ghasemi Brothers gradually started to paint objects reminiscent of their native city, the coastal area of Bandar Anzali, and its ecology – the Caspian Sea, rain, and the color blue. 

Their collaborative work has been featured in “Red Room” (Dastan’s Basement, July 2016), “Red Room 2: Migratory Birds” curated by Roya Khadjavi (Elga Wimmer Gallery, New York, April 2017), and “Blue Room” (V-Gallery, a Dastan: Outside Project, 2018).

Yousha Bashir (b. 1989) is an Iranian post-digital artist currently active in his hometown of Tehran. He studied Visual Arts at Farhangian University (2011). Bashir works across media to create paintings, sculptures, and installation pieces.

Yousha Bashir is a dynamic artist whose work has undergone significant changes in style and output. His landscape series (Inner Landscapes, Outer Landscapes, Ultimate Landscapes, The Infinite Continuum) and his self-portraits are relational studies of form with the frame (the viewers' perception) and the space surrounding the frame. He thus challenges the painting’s solid framework by exploring the relationship between the digital realm and the physicality of painting. His vibrant and luminous imagery question the definition of the creative space and the creative loci in the digital age and computer graphics. The self and how it is separated from the real world is one of the central explorations throughout his works. With the loss of image clarity in the process of a digital translation, he arrives at frames that open to a new two-dimensional world defined by restrictions and opportunities each possesses.

Bashir has held six solo exhibitions, including his latest, "The Infinite Continuum" (Parallel Circuit, October-November 2021), and participated in more than 30 exhibitions, including at the Frieze Los Angeles (2022) as well as Art Dubai (2020 and 2021) with Dastan's Basement.