AMIR HOSSEIN AKHAVAN
Biography
PERSONAL
17 April 1980, Tehran
EDUCATION:
2000-2004 Boston University, Boston, MA
Bachelor of Fine Arts Painting
Included extensive study of sculpture, art history, French literature and film
1982-1998 Rowland Hall St. Marks, Salt Lake City, Utah
College preparatory, beginning through upper school
1996-1997 Lycée Alain René Le Sage, Vannes France
Youth For Understanding International Exchange Student
RESIDENCIES AND APPRENTICSHIPS:
March-April 2009 - Vermont Studio Center, Painting Residency
Summer 2007 - New York Studio School: Drawing Marathon with Graham Nickson
Summers 1999 - Intern, Professor Ron Tomlinson, Fort Worth, Texas
2001 1999: Introduction to oil painting: studio practice: photographs and master works
2000: Painting and drawing from life: Self-portraits and Still Lives
2001: Pictorial composition, drawings to inform paintings
SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
October 2009 - Etemad Gallery, Tehran, Iran
October 2008 - Etemad Gallery, Tehran, Iran: “Soul Mud”, presenting the Persian Boy and the Div series
GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
January 2009 Niavaran Art Fair, Tehran, Iran
December 2008 Art Expo, Tehran, Iran
November 2008 Brick Lane Gallery, London, UK: Heaven on Earth Now, Portraying the Iranian Woman
April 2008 Saba Museum of Modern Art, Tehran: 7th National Iranian Painting Biennale
2004 Boston University Thesis Exhibition
2002 Talar Hamidi Gallery, Tehran Iran
2002 Espresso Royal Coffee Shop, Boston MA
2000-2002 Boston University Student Exhibition
HONORS AND AWARDS:
2004 Nominee for the Mortimer Hays Brandies Traveling Fellowship
2000-2004 Boston University Merit Grant
2000-2004 Boston University performance Award
2000-2004 Constatine Alajalov Scholarship
REVIEWS AND CRITIQUES:
21 October 2008 Tandis Art Biweekly, www.tandismag.ir “Searching for the Son of Man, A Look at Amirhossein Akhavan’s paintings at the Etemad Gallery”
LANGUAGES & INTERESTS:
Bilingual English/French; fluent speaker in Persian
Amirhossein Akhavan holds a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Painting from Boston University’s College of Fine Arts. His education and artistic development includes residencies with Ron Tomlinson in Fort Worth, Texas, the New York Studio School of Drawing Painting and Sculpture, and the Vermont Studio Center. In 2004 the artist returned to Tehran where he has participated in several group exhibitions. In 2008 he presented “The Persian Boy” and “The Div” series in the artist’s inaugural solo exhibition at the Etemad Gallery. In 2009, in an effort to gain exposure outside of Iran, Amirhossein has divided his time between Tehran and New York. He currently maintains studios in both countries.
The essence of Akhavan’s work and their beginning and finishing point, is painting for paintings sake. The works, both individually and as a collection, convince the viewer that the painter is concerned primarily with color, brushstroke, composition, and all of the elements that make a painting. The results are works that capture the essence of painting and communicate with the viewer, with, and only with visual language. What that language says is a story of its own. The timelessness of patterns, the authenticity of colors, the importance of identities , and finally, the beauty of that which, as the art works reveal, we have always prized and treasured, love and affection, and the ability express it.
