Farhad Moshiri

Living between Tehran and Paris, Farhad Moshiri developed a personal language in which he discussed commonalities in Iranian and Western cultures. Inspired by Pop art, Moshiri overturned both pop culture and highbrow imagery by transforming them into figurative artwork. His pieces were made using everyday objects as well as luxurious materials such as pearls, crystals, sequins, and gold leaf. Although his practice appeared as playful and decorative, Moshiri offered a critical narrative beyond the shimmering surfaces. He addressed the flaws of contemporary Iran while toying with its traditional forms, and acknowledged the appeal of the Western world in addition to its limitations.

Moshiri began experimenting further with materials that comprised everyday found objects – skillfully layering such materials as cake icing dispensers, embroidery, Swarovski crystals, and even assortments of kitchen knives to make works that incorporated increasingly textured and sculptural approaches. His use of such materials continued to demonstrate his ability to surpass the confines of pure aestheticism with playful irreverence and layered meaning. In his usual subdued impertinence, Moshiri deployed his mastery of Iranian visual vernacular, as well as an acute awareness of popular culture and art history, to evoke pertinent issues of our times. Through ‘candy’ colors and hybrid materials in paintings and installations, he played with the codes of modernism while developing a flamboyant iconography.

Moshiri’s first solo museum exhibition Go West opened at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh in October 2017. Other solo exhibitions include First Snow, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria (2018); Snow Forest, Galerie Perrotin, New York, USA (2017); Float, Galerie Perrotin, New York, USA (2014); My Flower, Hyundai Gallery, Seoul, South Korea (2014); Shukran, The Third Line, Dubai, UAE (2011); Love is Not Everything, Farjam Foundation, Dubai, UAE (2011); and Nothing Serious, Galerie Thaddeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria (2010).

Moshiri’s recent group exhibitions include: Some seasons: Fereydoun Ave and the Laal Collection, 1959-2019, Jameel Art Center, Dubai, UAE (2023); The Future Of Traditions, Writing Pictures: Contemporary Art From The Middle East, The Brunei Gallery, SOAS, London, UK (2023); Perpetual Inventory, Volume 1: An Exercise in Looking, The Third Line, Dubai, UAE (2022); The Future Of Traditions, Writing Pictures: Contemporary Art From The Middle East, The Brunei Gallery, SOAS, London, UK (2023); Perpetual Inventory, Volume 1: An Exercise in Looking, The Third Line, Dubai, UAE (2022); There Is Fiction In The Space Between, The Third Line, Dubai, UAE (2020); Rebel, Jester, Mystic, Poet: Contemporary Persians, Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, Canada and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA (2017); Heaven and Hell. From Magic Carpets to Drones, Boghossian Foundation – Villa Empain, Brussels, Belgium (2015); One Way: Peter Marino, Bass Museum, Miami Beach, FL, USA (2014); Safar/Voyage: Contemporary Works by Arab, Iranian and Turkish Artists, Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver, Canada (2013); Love Me, Love Me Not: Contemporary Art from Azerbaijan and its neighbours, The 55th International Art Exhibition (Collateral Event), Venice Biennale, Italy (2013); The World Belongs to You, François Pinault Collection, Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy (2011); Iran Inside Out, Chelsea Art Museum, New York, NY, USA (2009); and Words Into Art: Artists of the Modern Middle East, British Museum, London, UK (2006).

Moshiri also participated in the 6th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art at the Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia (2009) and in the 6th Sharjah Biennial, Sharjah, UAE (2003).

His works are housed in the collections of The British Museum, London, UK; Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar; the Virginia Museum of Fine Art, USA; and François Pinault Collection, Palazzo Grassi, Venice, Italy; Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE; and The Farjam Foundation, Dubai, UAE.