ART BRIEF II: IRANIAN CONTEMPORARY NORTH AMERICA
Opening Reception: Thursday, June 2, 2016, from 7:00-10:00pm
To RSVP to Opening Reception CLICK HERE
Art Talk/Closing Reception: Sunday, June 12, 2016, at 3:00pm
To RSVP to Art Talk/Closing Reception CLICK HERE
Exhibiting Artists: Samira Abbassy, Melika Abikenari,
Ala Ebtekar, Aida Izadpanah, Simin Keramati, Farzad Kohan,
Marjam Oskoui, Kambiz Sharif, Kamran Sharif, Dana Nehdaran, Dariush Nehdaran, Hadi Salehi, Shilla Shakoori, and Shadi Yousefian
Arena 1 Gallery
3024 Airport Ave.
Santa Monica, CA 90404
ADVOCARTSY presents the second installation of a multi-artist show entitled ART BRIEF II: IRANIAN
CONTEMPORARY NORTH AMERICA. This exhibition is co-curated by ADVOCARTYS
founder and principal, Roshi Rahnama and Dr. Talinn Grigor, author of Contemporary Art of
Iran: from the Street to the Studio and Professor of Art History at the University of California,
ART BRIEF II: IRANIAN CONTEMPORARY NORTH AMERICA seeks to explore the diverse ways in
which artists of Iranian background and based in North America have addressed the separation
from their homeland. The works exhibited speak to the various artistic reactions and reflections
to the realities of identity formation in diaspora, the pain and joy of exile, the call of nostalgia,
and the fragmentation of the self.
The ART BRIEF series provide a concentrated opportunity to introduce local artists of Iranian
heritage to the Iranian community of the region – the largest such community outside Iran itself
– and equally to the art community of Los Angeles, and beyond. It is designed to build
community and to build bridges between communities, but also to demonstrate the breadth of
expression and meaning characterizing the art of Iranian-American artists.
The artists featured in this group show include:
Samira Abbassy is an Iranian native who grew up in London. Her expressive self-portraits explore the many colorful facets of fractured identity. (New York City)
Melika Abikenari is an Iranian video and performance artist based in Los Angeles. Her work is beautiful and forceful, ethereal and definite. (Los Angeles)
Ala Ebtekar’s paintings, drawings, and installations can be found in renowned collections both public and private. He has been teaching at Stanford University since 2009 in the Department of Art & Art History and Institute for Diversity in the Arts at Stanford. (San Francisco)
Aida Izadpanah possesses a diverse repertoire of media and styles, having worked for many years in acrylic, oil, mixed media, watercolor, photography, floral design, and porcelain painting. She specialized in European styles, ethnic Persian motifs, and modern designs. (New York City)
Simin Keramati is a multidisciplinary artist whose work incorporates biographical, social and political imagery addressing localities of her home in Toronto as well homeland Tehran. (Toronto)
Farzad Kohan was born in Tehran, Iran. His sculptures and paintings explore themes such as love, migration, and identity, and often incorporate appropriated media and found objects. Kohan places an emphasis on form, allowing the successive stages of art making to become analogous to diasporic experience, as diverse, sometimes opposing, elements are sampled, brought together, and accumulated. (Los Angeles)
Dana Nehdaran studied painting at Sooreh University in Shiraz, Iran and has recently migrated and currently resides in NY. Nehdaran has won several awards for his detailed sketches and photographs and is a celebrated Iranian painter with works in renowned international collections. (New York City)
Dariush Nehdaran‘s photography captures intimate moments suspended in time. He aims to turn spectators into participants, drawing them into contemporary Persian culture. (San Francisco)
Marjam Oskoui‘s family was exiled from Iran to Hannover, Germany in 1973. Her work is highly influenced by the local DADAists of her new community. Her work explored the intersection of cultural myth and perceived reality. (Los Angeles)
Hadi Salehi is a master of analog photography. Hadi’s images capture diverse portraits that are nostalgic, powerful and soft, leaving a haunting quality that lingers in the psyche. (Los Angeles)
Shilla Shakoori is an accomplished painter whose diverse artistic output springs from an exploration of the synthesis between native and adopted cultures. (Chicago)
Kambiz Sharif was born in 1978 in Tabriz, Iran and has lived and worked in Los Angeles since 2011. Since 2002 he has had solo exhibitions in Tehran, Paris, and Los Angeles. Sharif was the recipient of Diploma of Honor Awards at the 2003 and 2005 Tehran Sculpture Biennials and at the 2007 Tehran Festival of Moghavemat Art. (Vancouver)
Kamran Sharif was born in 1978 in Tabriz, Iran and has lived and worked in Los Angeles since 2011. Since 2002 he has had solo exhibitions in Tehran, Paris, and Los Angeles. Sharif was the recipient of Diploma of Honor Awards at the 2003 and 2005 Tehran Sculpture Biennials and at the 2007 Tehran Festival of Moghavemat Art. Kamran’s works have been acquired by museums including LACMA. (Los Angeles)
Shadi Yousefian‘s work media work reflects and addresses issues that touch on universal themes such as loss, dislocation, alienation, and reinvention. (San Francisco)
ADVOCARTSY is a collaborative visual arts platform with the mission to bring awareness and
connection amongst artists, collectors and the fine art community, with focus on Iranian
contemporary art. ADVOCARTSY collaborates with artists, galleries, curators, and collectors to
elevate engagement and awareness.
Roshi Rahnama is the founder. Principal and director of ADVOCARTSY.
Talinn Grigor is a professor of contemporary art in the Department of Art and Art History at the
University of California, Davis. Her research concentrates on the cross-pollination of visual
culture and global politics and historiography, focused on Iran and India. She received her Ph.D.
from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2005. Her books include Contemporary Iranian
Art: From the Street to the Studio (Reaktion, 2014); Persian Kingship and Architecture:
Strategies of Power in Iran from the Achaemenids to the Pahlavis, with S. Babaie (I.B.Tauris,
2014); and Building Iran: Modernism, Architecture, and National Heritage under the Pahlavi
Monarchs (2009).
For Information Contact Roshi@advocartsy.com
