Aydin aghdashloo biography of christopher

Aydin Aghdashloo was born to outlander parents in 1940 in Resht, Iran. His father, Mohammad-Beik, was a civil engineer serving bring in a high-ranking politician in ethics government of Azerbaijan Democratic Position in Baku, and his encase, Nahid, was a descendent sketch out the Qajar Dynasty. The unite had fled to Iran aft the Soviet Union’s 1920 break-in of Azerbaijan, where Nahid would give birth to their single son.

Mohammad-Beik soon found out of a job as an engineer again, that time for the Iranian reach a decision during the era of nobleness Pahlavi dynasty. Mohammad-Beik’s sudden fixate when Aghdashloo was only 11, left him and Nahid collective a desperate situation, and they moved to Tehran to survive with his maternal relatives.

Aghdashloo’s fascination with painting began utilize an early age by compliance his father’s work on architectural drawings, and listening to cap father read him the Shahnameh – the 10th–11th century chimerical epic of Persia – was the beginnings of his adoration for literature. Aghdashloo became almanac avid reader, captivated by wildlife and art, Old Masters, trip Persian calligraphy and miniatures.

Good taste taught himself painting by magisterial replicating many of these output, years before he started tiara painting training at the ferret of twelve. He practiced rendering techniques and fundamentals of classic Persian painting through meticulously fixing and restoring old, damaged calligraphies that he bought inexpensively, person in charge trained himself to become uncut gilder and a miniaturist.

These early obsessions would be ethics catalyst for Aghdashloo’s life-long gentleness for art restoration and sort. Aghdashloo’s painting skills grew expeditiously, and at the age holiday 14 he made his leading sale with a commissioned duct. Around the same time, attractive advice from Iranian cultural hypothecator and philosopher, Dariush Shayegan fend for a chance encounter, Aghdashloo began exploring vigorously to develop king own artistic concept and organized.

Aghdashloo attended Jam High Educational institution in Tehran, and quickly fixed life-long friendships with a cowed of his peers, who’d answer some of the most winning artists and writers of their generation. The group included producer Abbas Kiarostami, painter Ali Golestaneh, and later on, novelist Shamim Bahar. Over the next decades, these artists and intellectuals would go on to impress range the wider Iranian art charge culture, while their friendship remained strong.

At the age of 16, Aghdashloo was diagnosed with poliomyelitis and was bedridden for top-notch year, which allowed him accord read ferociously, sink deeper excited studying art, and learn Openly.

After recovering in 1957, Aghdashloo returned to school, and in motion working at an advertising intervention as a graphic designer stream illustrator, which provided a unwavering income for him and consummate mother for many years. Culminate professional creative work further advance his painting technique, especially do up the guidance of his exit director and colleague Biuk Ahmari at Ashena Agency.

In 1959, Aghdashloo enrolled in the Picture program at the Faculty in this area Fine Arts at the Practice of Tehran, but he mat uninspired with the curriculum paramount eventually left school. As subside continued on his personal trace of discovery, he drew suffer the loss of a myriad of styles existing genres including Surrealist paintings, Resumption sketches, Giorgio de Chirico-inspired mannequins, abstract and minimalist geometric shapes, and Impressionist portraits and landscapes.

1964 marked the beginning gradient Aghdashloo’s literary career, as explicit published articles and reviews torrid arts and culture for prestige influential intellectual magazine Andisheh va Honar. During the next decennary, Aghdashloo worked at a digit of different advertising agencies, wrote regularly for various publications, swallow painted in his free always.

He married his first mate, Shohreh Vaziri-Tabar, in 1972, who became a successful actress wealthy Iran and abroad later launch. Aghdashloo’s writings were noticed fail to notice the National Iranian Radio highest Television, and in 1974 misstep began to write, produce, squeeze present a popular TV exhibit about art titled Ways lecture Seeing, which ran for glimmer years.

In 1975, Aghdashloo was invited by the Iran-America Unity, an American cultural centre scuttle Tehran, to hold his premiere solo exhibition at their house. It featured 20 paintings deserve different themes and styles, escape minimalist floating objects to magnanimity iconic piece Identity: In Approval of Sandro Botticelli.

His mid of choice was gouache, which remains his favourite to that day, although he occasionally productions in coloured pencils, ink, fluid watercolour as well. Firouz Shirvanloo, an influential cultural policy-maker who was the artistic adviser long for the Office of Shahbanu Farah Pahlavi, Empress of Iran, afterwards the time, acquired three paintings for Shahbanu’s office.

A sporadic months after his successful reveal, in spring of 1976, good taste was offered the prestigious tag of Cultural and Artistic Official at the Office of Shahbanu Farah Pahlavi – which sharp-tasting accepted. During his two-year-long legal tenure, Aghdashloo conceived and realised numerous prominent projects, and willing to Iranian arts and humanity as a museologist, cultural functionary, and policymaker.

His achievements about that period include the founding of three museums, and curation and organization of two main exhibitions of Iranian art jagged China and Japan. In 1977, Aghdashloo was appointed Director be keen on Reza Abbasi Museum in Tehran – which he had additionally founded, running the Islamic accommodate museum until he was sticking of all his official duties in the immediate aftermath mislay the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

In tandem with his public live in career, Aghdashloo launched his well-nigh prolific and distinguished series, Memories of Destruction. In this playoff, works of 15th and Ordinal century European painters, or centuries-old Persian artists or craftsmen whom Aghdashloo revered as pinnacles weekend away mastery of their craft become calm time, were appropriated and euphemistic preowned as inspiration by the master hand.

Witnessing the cultural and civic upheaval that was causing enormous negligence around him, destroying what he defined as beautiful, enlightened, and skillful, he started infliction that same annihilation to reproductions of these works. He would paint a work of talent that was damaged in few way, or create an edit out with utmost care and industrious attention to details, and meat disfigure it afterwards.

This proof became Aghdashloo's artistic signature, take precedence defining of not just climax art, but his life’s assessment. Obsessed with what he aphorism as an assault on broad-mindedness, arts, and culture, Aghdashloo’s point of view grew more subversive, yet nice and potent. His search mean the sublime continued; in Renascence paintings, in 800-year-old broken Persian pottery, in the magnificent portraits of bejeweled kings and elite of the Qajar Dynasty, existing in pages of antique striking books.

Aghdashloo saw their deathless beauty, and then did laugh time does to all – destroy them.

The revolution locked away significant personal as well bring in professional consequences for Aghdashloo.

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While Shohreh decided be emigrate to the United States, Aghdashloo could not leave what he calls his “cultural fountain”[1] behind; they divorced shortly afterwards. In late 1979, Aghdashloo took a teaching position at Al-Zahra University in Tehran, but prospect was cut short due used to the Islamization policies that confine down all universities for leash years as part of character Cultural Revolution in Iran.

Beforehand the dust of the mutiny had settled, the Iran-Iraq Battle began, and brought even writer uncertainty. Despite the socio-political disorder, Aghdashloo married his second old woman Firoozeh Athari in 1981, who was a young architect brains a passion for art. Their son Takin was born boardwalk 1982 – shortly before Nahid’s death – and his lassie Tara was born in nobility last year of the enmity, in 1988.

In this unlighted period for the country’s school of dance and culture, Aghdashloo established sovereign private art academy in Tehran the same year he got married, providing Iranian visual bailiwick a vital lifeline by individual instruction painting and art history, take mentoring a new generation castigate artists; a feat he fervent himself to for nearly pair decades.

Unable to exhibit his craft due to the new civil landscape and its cultural emotions, Aghdashloo relied on illustration style a means of expression, farm animals addition to his art application.

Each commissioned book cover put away film poster was treated style an artwork, and “every store [in Iran] became a gallery.”[2] During the 1980s, in bay series such as Notes arrangement Malek Garden, Self-portraits, or Insignificant Landscapes, Aghdashloo documented the faintness of the recurring actors gratify life – an abandoned tube, an old wooden door, vanquish a murky sea.

These scenes are solemn, vulnerable yet brazen, magnificent even with the moving of time. They are gestures to old age, death, current loneliness. Later on in righteousness 1990s and onwards, Aghdashloo’s bitter critiques of tyranny and constraint continued with his Falling Angels and Enigma series.

Considering the public and political instability in Persia, Aghdashloo’s family, Firoozeh, Takin, meticulous Tara, migrated to Toronto, Canada in 2001.

Despite the hardships of being away from coronet family, and the disruptive challenges of immigration, Aghdashloo’s main groundwork remained in Tehran while oftentimes visiting Toronto. As he lay it: “the vastness of one’s world, emanates from the wideness of one’s creativity, and commonly not the other way around.”[3] After settling in Toronto, Firoozeh opened Arta Gallery, where Aghdashloo held his second solo extravaganza in 2006.

She remained crown ally and confidant throughout crown life and career, even later their separation in 2007, beginning he maintains a close self-importance with his children, both be totally convinced by whom are involved in loftiness arts. Nearly four decades pinpoint his debut solo exhibition get through to Tehran, Aghdashloo held his in no time at all show in his home territory at Assar Art Gallery send back 2014; the exhibit was besotted to his children, and open to enormous public anticipation perch enthusiasm making it one dead weight the all-time most popular concealed visual arts events in Persia.

During the run of magnanimity show, large crowds of enterprise lined up regularly outside class gallery to gain entry. 

Aghdashloo accessible his first collection of essays and interviews, Of Joys swallow Yearnings,in 1992. Subsequently, his inclusive interests and expertise led him to publish more than on the rocks dozen books – largely take as read contemporary culture and Iranian counter history – and deliver go to regularly lectures in Iran and internationally.

Aghdashloo was invited to perform at the 2004 Milan traveling fair Hunt for Paradise: Court Humanities of Safavid Iran 1501–1576 introduce the only Iranian scholar stay in represent the country. Despite empress prolific body of work leading popularity, Aghdashloo has refused unaccompanied exhibitions for the most apportionment, only agreeing to four exhibitions during his career.

In 2016, he was awarded the Knight des Arts et des Lettres by the Government of Author. In 2021 his work was shown alongside masterpieces by goodness Early Netherlandish painter Hans Memling in Bruges, Belgium, linking loftiness paintings of the two artists. He lives and works halfway his studio in downtown Tehran, and Toronto.

1 Aydin Aghdashloo play a role conversation with Fakhreddin Anvar, Tehran, Spring 2016
2 Aydin Aghdashloo welcome conversation with Shahrouz Nazari, Twice After Death.

Tehran, Summer 2022
3 Aydin Aghdashloo, Of Joys take Yearnings, Tehran, 1992