Arghavan Khosravi
{{Short description|Iranian-born American painter (born 1984)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Arghavan Khosravi
| native_name = ارغوان خسروی
| native_name_lang = fa
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1984}}
| birth_place = Shahr-e Kord, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, Iran
| education = Brandeis University
| alma_mater = Islamic Azad University,
University of Tehran,
Rhode Island School of Design
| occupation = painter, sculptor, illustrator
| movement = Surrealism
| awards = Joan Mitchell Foundation (2019)
| website = [https://www.arghavankhosravi.com/ Official website]
}}
Arghavan Khosravi ({{Langx|fa|ارغوان خسروی}}; born 1984) is an Iranian-born American visual artist, and illustrator.{{Cite web |last=Garcia |first=Jacob |date=29 April 2022 |title=Open Studio: Iranian artist Arghavan Khosravi and playwright Matthew López |url=https://www.wgbh.org/news/arts/2022/04/29/open-studio-iranian-artist-arghavan-khosravi-and-playwright-matthew-lopez |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230903202649/https://www.wgbh.org/culture/2022-04-29/open-studio-iranian-artist-arghavan-khosravi-and-playwright-matthew-lopez |archive-date=3 September 2023 |access-date=3 November 2022 |website=WGBH news |language=en}}{{Cite web |last1=Bowen |first1=Jared |last2=Barillaro |first2=Maureen |date=11 August 2022 |title=Iranian artist's surrealist work explores restrictions on women and immigrants |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/iranian-artists-surrealist-work-explores-restrictions-on-women-and-immigrants |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230430114357/https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/iranian-artists-surrealist-work-explores-restrictions-on-women-and-immigrants |archive-date=30 April 2023 |access-date=3 November 2022 |website=PBS NewsHour |language=en-us}} She is known for her three dimensional paintings with works that cross between the traditions of European Renaissance and Persian miniature; with themes of freedom, exile, and empowerment.{{Cite web |last=Memarian |first=Omid |date=12 May 2022 |title='The ambition of expressing myself freely': A conversation with Iranian artist Arghavan Khosravi |url=https://globalvoices.org/2022/05/12/the-ambition-of-expressing-myself-freely-a-conversation-with-iranian-artist-arghavan-khosravi/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230320173224/https://globalvoices.org/2022/05/12/the-ambition-of-expressing-myself-freely-a-conversation-with-iranian-artist-arghavan-khosravi/ |archive-date=20 March 2023 |access-date=3 November 2022 |website=Global Voices |language=en}} Khosravi lives in Stamford, Connecticut,{{Cite web |last=Upenieks |first=Elizabeth |date=17 September 2022 |title=Review: Arghavan Khosravi's The Witness at Kavi Gupta Gallery |url=https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/review-arghavan-khosravis-the-witness-at-kavi-gupta-gallery/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230608111902/https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org/review-arghavan-khosravis-the-witness-at-kavi-gupta-gallery/ |archive-date=8 June 2023 |access-date=4 November 2022 |website=Sixty Inches From Center |language=en-US}} and previously lived in Natick, Massachusetts.{{Cite web |date=2019 |title=Arghavan Khosravi |url=https://www.joanmitchellfoundation.org/arghavan-khosravi |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230321143734/https://www.joanmitchellfoundation.org/arghavan-khosravi |archive-date=21 March 2023 |access-date=4 November 2022 |website=Joan Mitchell Foundation |language=en}}
Early life and education
Arghavan Khosravi was born in 1984 in Shahr-e Kord, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, Iran. She moved to Tehran when she was 8 years old and was raised in a secular household.{{Cite web |last=Palumbo |first=Jacqui |date=2 November 2022 |title=Iranian artist's surreal paintings of women take on a new sense of urgency |url=https://www.cnn.com/style/article/arghavan-khosravi-paintings-iran-protests/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230813033425/https://www.cnn.com/style/article/arghavan-khosravi-paintings-iran-protests/index.html |archive-date=13 August 2023 |access-date=3 November 2022 |website=CNN |language=en |issn=1607-8810}}{{Cite web |last=Fenstermaker |first=Will |date=30 October 2019 |title=Facing Duality: Arghavan Khosravi |url=https://bombmagazine.org/articles/facing-duality-arghavan-khosravi-interviewed/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230518095625/https://bombmagazine.org/articles/facing-duality-arghavan-khosravi-interviewed/ |archive-date=18 May 2023 |access-date=3 November 2022 |website=BOMB Magazine}} In part due to Iranian societal issues in the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution, at an early age she was made aware of the distinct difference between public and private spaces. The theme of the compartmentalized self was one that carried on in her later-made artwork.
Khosravi earned a BFA degree (2006) in graphic design from Islamic Azad University; an MFA degree (2009) in illustration from the University of Tehran; and a MFA degree (2018) in painting from Rhode Island School of Design.
Career
Several years after attending the University of Tehran, Khosravi worked as a graphic designer and children's book illustrator. She has illustrated around 20 books. She was detained by the morality police in 2011. In 2015, she moved to the United States to finish her education. She attended a one-year postbaccalaureate program at Brandeis University.
In her artwork, she juxtaposes contradictions in her images between freedom and restraints; and they often feature dream-like colorful and whimsical gardens, and something disturbing happening such as someone purposely limiting or obstructing the freedom of the female subject's bodily movement.{{Cite web |last=Ebert |first=Grace |date=26 August 2022 |title=Bound by Cord, the Women of Arghavan Khosravi's Paintings Exemplify the Borderless Fight for Equality |url=https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2022/08/arghavan-khosravi-paintings/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230610080101/https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2022/08/arghavan-khosravi-paintings/ |archive-date=10 June 2023 |access-date=3 November 2022 |website=Colossal |language=en}} She uses traditional Persian textile patterns in many of her paintings.{{Cite web |last=Heidt |first=Emily |date=26 July 2022 |title=The Best Events Happening in August |url=https://www.nhmagazine.com/the-best-events-happening-in-august-2/ |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220801102143/https://www.nhmagazine.com/the-best-events-happening-in-august-2/ |archive-date=1 August 2022 |access-date=4 November 2022 |website=New Hampshire Magazine |language=en-US}} Hair as a symbol has been used in many of her works; which a global audience took notice to after the Mahsa Amini protests in 2022.{{Cite web |date=3 November 2022 |title=Gerçeküstü isyan: İranlı sanatçı resimlerinde başrolü saçlara veriyor |trans-title=Surreal rebellion: Iranian artist gives hair the leading role in her paintings |url=https://www.diken.com.tr/gercekustu-isyan-iranli-sanatci-resimlerinde-basrolu-saclara-veriyor/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230228152933/https://www.diken.com.tr/gercekustu-isyan-iranli-sanatci-resimlerinde-basrolu-saclara-veriyor/ |archive-date=28 February 2023 |access-date=4 November 2022 |website=Diken |language=tr}}
Exhibitions
In 2019, Khosravi had her first solo exhibition in a gallery at Lyles & King in New York City. {{Cite magazine |last=Fateman |first=Johanna |date=25 October 2019 |title=Arghavan Khosravi |url=https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/art/arghavan-khosravi |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920173324/https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/art/arghavan-khosravi |archive-date=20 September 2022 |access-date=3 November 2022 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en |issn=0028-792X}} The exhibition featured 12 of her pieces, and was shown from October 11, 2019 to November 24, 2019.{{Cite web |others={{Primary source inline|date=February 2024}} |title=Arghavan Khosravi - Tightrope Walking the Red Lines |url=https://lylesandking.com/arghavan-khosravi-tightrope-walking-the-red-lines |access-date=2024-03-07 |website=Lyles & King |language=en-US}}
In 2022, she held her first solo museum exhibition at the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, New Hampshire.{{Cite news |last=Whyte |first=Murray |date=13 March 2022 |title=Visual Arts |pages=Z24 |work=The Boston Globe |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe-visual-art-arghavan/124636820/ |url-status=live |access-date=16 May 2023 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20230903215214/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-boston-globe-visual-art-arghavan/124636820/ |archive-date=3 September 2023 |via=Newspapers.com}} The exhibition was shown from April 14, 2022 to September 5, 2022 and featured over 20 works made in the years leading up to the exhibition.{{Cite web |title=Arghavan Khosravi |url=https://currier.org/exhibition/arghavan-khosravi/ |access-date=2024-03-07 |website=Currier Museum}}{{Cite web |title=Press |url=https://kavigupta.com/press/898-arghavan-khosravi-s-potent-paintings-explore-oppression-and-liberation/ |access-date=2024-03-07 |website=Kavi Gupta Gallery |language=en}}{{Primary source inline|date=February 2024}} The exhibition was curated by the assistant curator at The Currier, Samantha Cataldo.
= Solo exhibitions =
- M+B Gallery (2020) in Los Angeles{{Cite web |others={{Primary source inline|date=February 2024}} |title=Arghavan Khosravi - Overview |url=https://www.mbart.com/exhibitions/204-arghavan-khosravi-presence-of-others/overview/ |access-date=2024-03-07 |website=M+B |language=en}}
- Rachel Uffner gallery (2021) in New York City{{Cite web |last=Howe |first=David Everitt |date=18 May 2021 |title=One Work: Arghavan Khosravi's "Black Rain" |url=https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/aia-reviews/arghavan-khosravi-multipart-painting-freedom-key-1234593254/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230607050738/https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/aia-reviews/arghavan-khosravi-multipart-painting-freedom-key-1234593254/ |archive-date=7 June 2023 |access-date=4 November 2022 |website=Art in America |language=en-US |issn=0004-3214}}
- Carl Kostyal Gallery (2021) in London{{Cite web |date=2023-11-27 |others={{Primary source inline|date=February 2024}} |title=Arghavan Khosravi – Carl Kostyál |url=https://kostyal.com/artists/arghavan-khosravi/ |access-date=2024-03-07 |language=en-GB}}
- Rockefeller Center (2022){{Cite web |last=Culgan |first=Rossilynne Skena |date=19 September 2022 |title=Art in Focus: Arghavan Khosravi |url=https://www.timeout.com/newyork/art/art-in-focus-arghavan-khosravi |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221104002324/https://www.timeout.com/newyork/art/art-in-focus-arghavan-khosravi |archive-date=4 November 2022 |access-date=4 November 2022 |website=Time Out New York |language=en-US}}
- Kavi Gupta Gallery (2022) in Chicago
- Stems Gallery (2022) in Belgium
- Koenig Gallery (2022) in Germany{{Cite web |others={{Primary source inline|date=February 2024}} |title=ARGHAVAN KHOSRAVI |url=https://www.koeniggalerie.com/collections/arghavan-khosravi |access-date=2024-03-07 |website=KÖNIG GALERIE |language=en}}
= Group exhibitions =
- 2021, "Uncombed, Unforeseen, Unconstrained," an official collateral exhibition of the 59th Venice Biennale
- Museum of Contemporary Art in Yinchuan, China
- Orlando Museum of Art in Florida
- Newport Art Museum in Rhode Island
- Provincetown Art Association and Museum in Massachusetts
Collections
Her work is in public museum collections including at the Newport Art Museum, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Museum, Rose Art Museum, Currier Museum of Art, and RISD Museum.
Awards, honors, and residencies
Her art residencies have included the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, New Hampshire; the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Mass.; the Studios at MassMoCA in North Adams, Mass.; Monson Arts in Monson, Maine; and Residency Unlimited in Brooklyn, New York.
- Joan Mitchell Foundation, Painters 7 Sculptors Grant (2019)
- Walter Feldman Fellowship (2017)
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.arghavankhosravi.com/ Official website]
- Video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kcG-8fDWm8 Open Studio Full Show: April 22, 2022] from GBH-TV on YouTube
- Article: [https://www.risd.edu/news/stories/muslim-ban-made-personal Muslim Ban Made Personal] (2017) by Simone Solondz, RISD News
- Podcast: [https://anchor.fm/tavanstudio/episodes/Arghavan-Khosravi-eaebgd Arghavan Khosravi, Tavan Studio in Conversation] (January 26, 2020)
{{Mahsa Amini protests}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khosravi, Arghavan}}
Category:Iranian emigrants to the United States
Category:Islamic Azad University alumni
Category:University of Tehran alumni
Category:Rhode Island School of Design alumni
Category:American women painters
Category:Iranian women painters
Category:21st-century Iranian painters
Category:American women sculptors
Category:Iranian women sculptors