Taravat Talepasand

{{Infobox person

| honorific_prefix =

| name = Taravat Talepasand

| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1979}}

| birth_place = Eugene, Oregon, U.S.

| alma_mater = Rhode Island School of Design (BFA)
San Francisco Art Institute (MFA)

| occupation = Visual artist, educator, activist

| known_for = Painting, drawing, sculpture, installation art

| website = [http://www.taravattalepasand.com/ Official website]

}}

Taravat Talepasand (born 1979){{Cite web|url=http://www.oneart.org/biographies/artist/taravat-talepasand|title=Biography: Taravat Talepasand|date=2013|website=OneArt.org, platform for contemporary art from Asia, Africa and Latin America|access-date=2016-07-14}} is an Iranian-American artist, activist, and educator.{{cite web |title=Taravat Talepasand |url=https://ybca.org/artist/taravat-talepasand/ |website=ybca.org |publisher=Yerba Buena Center for the Arts |access-date=20 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200815135631/https://ybca.org/artist/taravat-talepasand/ |archive-date=August 15, 2020 |language=en |url-status=live}}{{Cite news |date=2010-04-01 |title=Iranian Women Get Moment in Sun |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/hartford-courant-iranian-women-get-momen/150084502/ |access-date=2024-06-26 |work=Hartford Courant |pages=CAL19 |via=Newspapers.com}} She is known for her interdisciplinary painting practice including drawing, sculpture and installation. As an Iranian-American woman, Talepasand explores the cultural taboos that reflect on gender and political authority. Her approach to representation and figuration reflects the cross-pollination, or lack thereof, in our Western Society.{{Cite web|url=http://beautifuldecay.com/2010/06/15/taravat-talepasand/|title=Taravat Talepasand|last=|date=2010-06-15|website=Beautiful/Decay|access-date=2016-07-14}} Talepasand previously held the title of the chair of the painting department at San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI).{{Cite web|url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Talepasand-takes-on-pleasure-religion-and-Iran-12970880.php|title=Talepasand takes on pleasure, religion and Iran at Jack Fischer Gallery|last=Demarias|first=Charles|date=2018-06-06|website=SFChronicle.com|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-12|quote=She is now the chair of the painting department at the San Francisco Art Institute. (Full disclosure: She was appointed to the SFAI faculty well after my tenure as president there.)}} She is an assistant professor in art practice at Portland State University.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2023-02-01 |title=Multidisciplinary Artist Taravat Talepasand Joins Communitas Lecture Series at USU |url=https://www.usu.edu/today/story/multidisciplinary-artist-taravat-talepasand-joins-communitas-lecture-series-at-usu |access-date=2024-03-20 |website=Utah State Today |publisher=Utah State University |language=en |quote=She currently lives in Oregon and is an assistant professor of art practice at Portland State University School of Art + Design.}}

Early life and education

Taravat Talepasand was born in 1979 in Eugene, Oregon. Her father Iraj was studying at University of Oregon at the time.{{Cite web|url=https://www.khabarkeslan.com/articles/wyk-interview-with-taravat|title=WHAT YOU KNOW: Interview with Taravat Talepasand|website=Khabar Keslan|language=en-US|access-date=2019-12-08}} She was raised in Portland, Oregon.

She studied Persian miniature painting in Isfahan. Talepasand received her B.F.A. degree from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in 2001, and received a M.F.A. degree at the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) in 2006.{{Cite web|url=https://www.cca.edu/academics/faculty/ttalepasand|title=Taravat Talepasand|website=California College of the Arts (CCA)|access-date=2016-07-14}}

Career

Talepasand has taught in the Painting Department at SFAI and at California College of the Arts (CCA).{{Cite web|url=https://issuu.com/sanfranciscoartinstitute/docs/sfai_grad_viewbook_2014|title=SFAI Graduate Admissions Viewbook|date=14 January 2014 |publisher=San Francisco Art Institute|access-date=2016-07-14}}{{Cite web|url=https://issuu.com/sanfranciscoartinstitute/docs/sfai_2012_graduatecatalogue|title=SFAI 2012 MFA/MA Art and Ideas|date=22 May 2012 |publisher=San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI)|access-date=2016-07-14}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.sfai.edu/bios/taravat-talepasand|title=TARAVAT TALEPASAND|website=SFAI|language=en|access-date=2017-05-10}} She previously was the chair of the painting department at San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI),{{Cite web|url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Talepasand-takes-on-pleasure-religion-and-Iran-12970880.php|title=Talepasand takes on pleasure, religion and Iran at Jack Fischer Gallery|last=Demarias|first=Charles|date=2018-06-06|website=SFChronicle.com|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-12|quote=She is now the chair of the painting department at the San Francisco Art Institute. (Full disclosure: She was appointed to the SFAI faculty well after my tenure as president there.)}} until 2019.

In the 2014 exhibition, Theory of Survival: Fabrications curated by Taraneh Hemami at Southern Exposure gallery brought together twelve San Francisco Bay Area Iranian-American artists to display work in their own booth, similar to a traditional bazaar.{{Cite web|url=http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/2014/09/17/taraneh-hemami-creates-a-market-of-iranian-dissent-at-southern-exposure/|title=Taraneh Hemami Creates a Market of Iranian Dissent at Southern Exposure|date=2014-09-17|website=KQED Arts|language=en-us|access-date=2016-07-14}} The space allowed for a gathering place for Iranian American artists and allowed for more community dialog.{{Cite web|url=http://hyperallergic.com/157063/an-iranian-american-artist-revisits-images-from-the-1979-revolution/|title=An Iranian-American Artist Revisits Images from the 1979 Revolution|date=2014-10-22|website=Hyperallergic|publisher=Hyperallergic Media, Inc.|language=en-US|access-date=2016-07-14}} Talepasand's own booth featured souvenir-type items for sale such as t-shirts, magnets and CDs, highlighting the relationship between consumer culture and the arts but also addressing Orientalism. Artists participating in the exhibition included; Hushidar Mortezaie, Morehshin Allahyari, Haleh Niazmand, Ala Ebtekar, Sanaz Mazinani, Ali Dadgar and Gelare Khoshgozaran.

In the 2019 multi-disciplinary group exhibition, Once at Present: Contemporary Art of Bay Area Iranian Diaspora curated by Kevin B. Chen and Taraneh Hemami, at Minnesota Street Project in San Francisco featured Talepasand's work.{{Cite web |date=December 2018 |title=Art Brief IV: Iranian Contemporary San Francisco |url=https://advocartsy.com/art-brief-iv-iranian-contemporary-san-francisco/ |website=Advocartsy West Hollywood}}{{Cite web |last=Curiel |first=Jonathan |date=2019-04-04 |title=These Three Art Exhibits Tether the Visual to the Written Word |url=https://www.sfweekly.com/culture/art/these-three-art-exhibits-tether-the-visual-to-the-written-word/ |access-date=2022-10-10 |website=SF Weekly |language=en-US}}{{Cite book |title=Once at Present: Contemporary Art of Bay Area Iranian Diaspora |publisher=Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies |year=2022 |location=San Francisco, CA}}

Talepasand work has been featured in Art in America, The Huffington Post, New American Paintings, Art Papers, The Boston Globe, SOMA Magazine, and many more.{{Cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/taravat-talepasand/|title=Taravat Talepasand News|website=The Huffington Post|access-date=2016-07-14}} She has exhibited her work in United States, Europe, and the Middle East. Talepasand was one of forty artists selected by the Orange County Museum of Art for the 2010 California Biennial.{{Cite news|url=http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2010/05/orange-county-museum-of-art-announces-artists-for-the-2010-california-biennial.html|title=Culture Monster: Orange County Museum of Art announces artists in the 2010 California Biennial|date=2010-05-20|newspaper=LA Times|language=en-US|access-date=2016-07-14}} She is one of the people featured in the film, Immigrant Stories: Iranian-Americans of Silicon Valley (2021) by Nima Naimi, Alireza Sanayei, and Julian Gigola.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=November 2021 |title=Film screening: Immigrant Stories: Iranian-Americans of Silicon Valley – Stanford Arts |url=https://arts.stanford.edu/event/92511/ |access-date=2022-02-02 |website=Stanford University |language=en-US}}

Her works have been added to the permanent museum collections at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF) at the De Young Museum{{Cite news|url=https://art.famsf.org/taravat-talepasand/westoxicated-2008842|title=Westoxicated - Taravat Talepasand|date=2015-05-13|work=FAMSF Explore the Art|access-date=2018-11-26|language=en}} and the Orange County Museum of Art.