Farhad Moshiri

Farhad Moshiri (b. 1963, Tehran) creates artworks that fall somewhere in between Iranian tradition and the globalized consumerism that characterizes modern-day Iran. Moshiri’s practice draws from a wide range of influences, including Pop Art, conceptual art, comics, advertising, classic portraiture, and religious iconography. His oeuvre takes shape across mediums, from painting and embroidery to sculpture, video, and installation art. Farhad Moshiri became the first artist from the Middle East to sell a work of art at auction for more than one million dollars, when his Swarovski crystal Eshgh (Love) (2007) sold for $1,048,000 at Bonhams’ first Dubai auction in 2008. One of Moshiri’s most popular series of paintings are of antique Iranian jars, urns, and bowls. Through the cracked, distressed surfaces painted on canvas, the vessels evoke ancient Persian history. On these vessels he superimposed Farsi calligraphy that referenced the pop calligraphy movement of 1960s Iran.