Ala Ebtekar

Ala Ebtekar grew up in Berkeley and Oakland, California in the San Francisco Bay Area{{Cite web|title=Ala Ebtekar Interview |url=https://www.fecalface.com/SF/features-mainmenu-102/938-ala-ebtekar-interview|language=en|date=December 18, 2007|author=Cynthia Houng|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130509170147/http://www.fecalface.com/SF/features-mainmenu-102/938-ala-ebtekar-interview |archive-date=2013-05-09 |url-status=dead}} to parents who immigrated to the United States from Iran.{{Cite web|url=http://mopcap.com/artist/2009-ala-ebtekar/|title=Ala Ebtekar - Magic of Persia|website=mopcap.com|access-date=2019-09-19}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.7x7.com/q-a-with-bay-area-artist-ala-ebtekar-1786375780.html|title=Q&A with Bay Area Artist Ala Ebtekar|date=2013-07-12|website=7x7 Bay Area|language=en|access-date=2019-09-19}} Ebtekar is the great nephew of the renowned Iranian poet Hushang Ebtehaj.{{Cite web|url=http://bartalos.com/2008/11/30/ala-ebtekar-the-art-of-stepping-through-time/|title=Bartalos / Ala Ebtekar: The Art of Stepping Through Time|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-16}}

He started drawing at an early age, and by his adolescent years he began to focus his energies on music. In 1992, at age 13, he went through DJ training at KALX 90.7 FM, the radio station of the University of California at Berkeley. This experience with music eventually led Ebtekar to the world of graffiti and ultimately back to an interest in visual art. In 1998 he was chosen to participate in a workshop at Zeum Art and Technology Center (now Children's Creativity Museum) with New York–based artist Tim Rollins and K.O.S. (Kids of Survival) to create work for the center's inaugural exhibition. Ebtekar, along with several other young artists from the San Francisco Bay Area, came to form the core unit for a short lived West Coast chapter of KOS. One year later, Ebtekar traveled to Tehran, Iran to visit extended family which led him to return several months later to study art.{{Cite web|url=https://kevinbchen.com/artwork/3432732.html|title=Elemental - A Solo Exhibition by Ala Ebtekar|language=en|access-date=2019-09-21}}

Initially studying with a traditional Persian miniature painter, Ebtekar soon discovered the mid-20th Century style of Qahveh-khanehei painting (Iranian Coffeehouse painting), and he went on to study under master Qahveh-khanehei painter Mohammad Farahani.{{cite web|url=http://arteeast.org/pages/artenews/article/90/ |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130616081551/http://arteeast.org/pages/artenews/article/90/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 16, 2013 |title=Under The Indigo Dome: An Exhibition of work by Amir H Fallah and Ala Ebtekar |publisher=ArteEast |date=April 1, 2007 |author=ArteEast }} A style defined as much by its popularity amongst regular folk as its distance from court arts. In contradistinction to the official court painters of the time, qahveh khanehei painters brought fine art from the exclusive province of those with money and power to the domain of the common people. A singular characteristic of Qahveh-khanehei painting was its freedom, as artists of this style created their work with neither external themes nor the attention to proper anatomy and perspective as seen in miniature paintings. Iranian Coffeehouse painters worked entirely from their imagination and creative ability. It's entirely fitting that Ebtekar found early artistic inspiration from the worlds of graffiti and the modern tradition of Qahveh-khanehei painting, as his work has encompassed comparable populist sensibilities spanning continents, celebrating the stories and lives of heroic everyday people across time.{{cite web|url=https://dq1ivg5vvn6u.cloudfront.net/artist-1/179/8046-71ox0l/source.pdf |title=1388 Exhibition Catalogue |publisher=The Third Line |date=December 18, 2007 |author=Kevin B. Chen }}{{dead link|date=October 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

Following studying traditional painting in Iran with Mohammad Farahani, Ebtekar went on to pursue a formal education in fine arts. In 2002, he received his B.F.A. degree from the San Francisco Art Institute, followed by an M.F.A degree from Stanford University in 2006.{{cite web|url=http://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=30541h|title=All the Identities He Can Paint|publisher=Stanford Magazine|date=May 1, 2009|author=Jack Fischer}} He served as a Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Art Practice at the University of California at Berkeley from 2007 to 2008, and has served as visiting faculty in the Department of Art and Art History at Stanford University since 2009.

• British Museum, London, UK{{Cite web|url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/blog/enter-intriguing-world-artists-books|title=Enter the intriguing world of artists' books|language=en|access-date=2023-02-16}}
• Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City, New York{{Cite web|url=https://whitney.org/artists/16077|title=Ala Ebtekar|website=whitney.org|language=en|access-date=2019-09-19}}
• San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco, California{{Cite web|url=https://www.flysfo.com/grandopenings/grand-hyatt-sfo-public-art|language=en|access-date=2019-09-21|title=Grand Hyatt at SFO Public Art | San Francisco International Airport}}
• Devi Art Foundation, India{{Cite web|url=http://kunstaspekte.art/person/ala-ebtekar?hl=en|language=en|access-date=2019-09-21|title=Ala Ebtekar}}
• Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California{{Cite web|url=https://www.cjamesgallery.com/2014/05/crocker-art-museum-acquires-ala-ebtekars-absent-arrival-large-5|title=Crocker Art Museum Acquires Ala Ebtekar's Absent Arrival|language=en|access-date=2019-09-21}}
• Orange County Museum of Art, Santa Ana, California{{Cite web|url=https://www.orangecoast.com/event/misappropriations-new-acquisitions/|title=Misappropriations: New Acquisitions|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190921082820/https://www.orangecoast.com/event/misappropriations-new-acquisitions/|archive-date=2019-09-21|url-status=dead|language=en}}
• Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Berkeley, California{{Cite web|url=https://bampfa.org/press/bampfa-mounts-exclusive-virtual-presentation-new-documentary-bay-area-art-scene|title=BAMPFA Mounts Exclusive Virtual Presentation of New Documentary on the Bay Area Art Scene|date=April 20, 2021 |language=en|access-date=2022-10-08}}
• Deutsche Bank Collection, Germany{{Cite web|url=https://art.db.com/deutsche-bank-collection/|language=en|access-date=2023-02-16}}
• de Young Museum, San Francisco, California{{Cite web|url=http://www.aptglobal.org/en/Artists/Page/5504/Ala-Ebtekar|title=Ala Ebtekar Biography|language=en|access-date=2022-10-08}}
• the [https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/about/artcollection/about.aspx Microsoft Art Collection] in Redmond, Washington
• San José Museum of Art , San Jose, California{{Cite web|url=https://sjmusart.org/exhibition/point-stretched-views-time/ala-ebtekar|title=Ala Ebtekar's Thirty-six Views of the Moon|language=en|access-date=2023-02-16}}
• Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas{{Cite web|url=https://stateoftheart.crystalbridges.org/blog/project/ala-ebtekar/|title=Ala Ebtekar State of The Art|language=en|access-date=2022-10-08}}
• Stanford University Special Collections, Stanford University, Stanford, California{{Cite web|url=http://www.sazmanab.org/|title=Sazmanab ⧚ The Water Department –|website=Sazmanab ⧚ The Water Department|language=en-US|access-date=2019-09-19}}
• Allen Memorial Art Museum , Oberlin, Ohio{{Cite web|url=https://allenartcollection.oberlin.edu/objects/40428/ascension?ctx=6aa18f14aa267610a886898defb9cd78f813072f&idx=0 |title=Ascension – Artist/Maker Ala Ebtekar |website=allenartcollection.oberlin.edu |access-date=2023-06-06}}
• San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, California{{Cite web|url=https://www.sdmart.org/the-san-diego-museum-of-art-debuts-groundbreaking-exhibition-exploring-the-intersections-of-islamic-art-and-science/}}

Ebtekar's work has been included in over 70 group exhibitions, 5 two-person exhibitions, and 12 solo exhibitions.{{cite web|url=http://www.gallerypauleanglim.com/Ala_Ebtekar_files/Ebtekar_Ala_biography.pdf |title=Artist's Biography |publisher=Gallery Paule Anglim |year=2013 |author=Gallery Paule Anglim |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130923084046/http://www.gallerypauleanglim.com/Ala_Ebtekar_files/Ebtekar_Ala_biography.pdf |archivedate=September 23, 2013 |df=mdy }} Significant solo exhibitions include "Elemental" (2004) at Intersection for the Arts (San Francisco, CA);{{cite web|url=http://www.sfbg.com/38/40/art_c_art_elemental.html|title=Elemental|author=Clark Buckner|date=June 2004|publisher=San Francisco Bay Guardian}} "Ala Ebtekar" (2007) at Gallery Paule Anglim (San Francisco, CA); "1388" (2009) at The Third Line (Dubai, United Arab Emirates);{{cite web|url=http://www.thethirdline.com/ex_details.php?id=166&cbo=0&year=2009|title=Exhibitions|date=March 1, 2013|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111103180327/http://www.thethirdline.com/ex_details.php?id=166&cbo=0&year=2009|archivedate=November 3, 2011|df=mdy}} "Indelible Whispers of the Sun" (2010) at Charlie James Gallery (Los Angeles, CA);{{cite web|url=http://www.cjamesgallery.com/artist-detail/ebtekar|title=Shows @CJG|date=December 14, 2023 |publisher=Charlie James Gallery}} "Elsewhen" (2012) at The Third Line (Dubai, United Arab Emirates); and "Absent Arrival" (2012) at Gallery Paule Anglim (San Francisco, CA).{{cite web|url=http://www.gallerypauleanglim.com/Press_Releases/Entries/2012/10/9_Ala_Ebtekar_-_Absent_Arrival.html|title=Absent Arrival|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121220085420/http://www.gallerypauleanglim.com/Press_Releases/Entries/2012/10/9_Ala_Ebtekar_-_Absent_Arrival.html|archivedate=December 20, 2012|df=mdy-all}}

Significant group exhibitions include "The 2006 California Biennial" at the Orange County Museum of Art (Newport Beach, CA);{{cite web|url=http://ocma.net/index.html?page=past&show=exhibit&e_id=2482|title=2006 California Biennial|access-date=April 22, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130518061150/http://www.ocma.net/index.html?page=past&show=exhibit&e_id=2482|archive-date=May 18, 2013|url-status=dead}} travelling exhibition "One Way or Another: Asian American Art Now” (2006–2008), curated by Melissa Chiu, Director and Curator of Contemporary Asian Art at the Asia Society Museum, Karin Higa, Senior Curator of Art at the Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles, and Susette S. Min, Assistant Professor of Asian American Studies and Art History at the University of California, Davis and exhibited at Asia Society and Museum (New York, NY), Blaffer Gallery at University of Houston (Houston, TX), Berkeley Art Museum (Berkeley, CA), Japanese American National Museum (Los Angeles, CA), and Honolulu Academy of Arts (Honolulu, HI); "Bay Area Now 5" (2008) at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco, CA), organized by Kate Eilertsen, Acting Director of Visual Arts and Berin Golonu, Associate Visual Arts Curator; and "The Global Contemporary. Art Worlds after 1989" (2011) at Museum of Contemporary Art (Karlsruhe, Germany), curated by Andrea Buddensieg and Peter Weibel."The Global Contemporary. Art Worlds after 1989" ZKM Museum of Contemporary Art, Karlsruhe, Germany. Web. September 16, 2011. [http://on1.zkm.de/zkm/stories/storyReader$7514] In May 2005, Ebtekar had a two-person exhibition at Lisa Dent Gallery in San Francisco with artist Jeong-Im Yi.

Envisioned and directed by Ala Ebtekar, "Art, Social Space and Public Discourse" is a three-year{{When|date=September 2019}} Stanford University initiative on art that investigates the multiple contexts that shift and define changing ideas of public space. This ongoing critical framework of conversations, newly issued art projects, and exploration of various cultural productions and intellectual traditions looks at recent transformations of civic life.{{Cite web|url=https://artandsocialspace.org/about/|title=About}}

He has been awarded residencies at ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe in Germany, Cité internationale des arts in Paris, Sazmanab in Tehran, Iran, the San Francisco Center for the Book, and 18th Street Art Center in Los Angeles through the Visions from the New California Award, a project of the Alliance of Artist Communities in partnership with the James Irvine Foundation.{{cite web|url=http://www.artistcommunities.org/CAVisions/index.html |title=Visions from a New California |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130719000020/http://www.artistcommunities.org/CAVisions/index.html |archivedate=July 19, 2013 |df=mdy }}

The Huffington Post featured and mentioned Ala Ebtekar as one of the "17 Visual Artists You Should Know in 2016".{{Cite web|url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/17-visual-artists-you-should-know-in-2016_n_5673587ae4b0b958f65620c8|title=17 Visual Artists You Should Know In 2016|first1=Priscilla|last1=Frank|first2=Katherine|last2=Brooks|date=December 22, 2015|website=HuffPost}}

Ebtekar was named the 2025 King Artist in Residence at Arion Press. {{Cite web|url=https://arionpress.com/2025-king-artist-in-residence-ala-ebtekar/}}

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Category:1978 births

Category:Living people

Category:20th-century American painters

Category:21st-century American painters

Category:20th-century American male artists

Category:21st-century American male artists

Category:American artists of Iranian descent

Category:American conceptual artists

Category:American contemporary painters

Category:American male painters

Category:American people of Iranian descent

Category:Artists from Berkeley, California

Category:Iranian painters

Category:San Francisco Art Institute alumni

Category:Stanford University alumni