Iranian artist Farhad Moshiri, whose work explores Western and Iranian consumer culture, has died aged 61, announced his Dubai gallery The Third Line.
Born in Shiraz, Iran, Moshiri and his family relocated to the United States during the onset of the Iranian Revolution, where he attended the California Institute of the Arts. He returned to Tehran upon his graduation in 1991.
Initially working as a painter, some of Moshiri’s best known works include what came to be known as ‘the jars’ – a series of largescale paintings of pottery inspired by the archaeological remains of pre-Islamic Persia. Painted in oil and acrylic, the works feature a cracked texture formed by chemical reactions between the pigments.
Sometimes dubbed the ‘the Middle East’s Andy Warhol’, Moshiri later worked with a range of media including sequins, crystals, beads and gold leaf in works that negotiate popular and consumer culture in both the West and in Iran. Often sparkling and playful, the subjects of the resulting compositions range from cartoon characters to quotidian scenes, providing critiques of contemporary culture in both the Western world and Iran.
Moshiri’s 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.
