Ali Banisadr

Born in Tehran in 1976, Ali Banisadr moved to California with his family as a child. In San Francisco, he studied psychology and became involved in graffiti art. In his paintings, Banisadr conjures intangible realms where abstraction and figuration harmoniously intertwine, creating a rhythmic sense of motion with vibrant colors across the canvas. Drawing from his experience of synesthesia, where his senses of color and sound intertwine, he translates this internal perception into visual form. The enigmatic figures in his works often reflect his fascination with mythological creatures, embodying the ever-shifting identities of our increasingly digital age. While these fantastical scenes are deeply rooted in the legacy of art historical figures like Hieronymus Bosch, they resonate powerfully with contemporary life.

Banisadr's paintings feature dynamic surfaces that juxtapose areas of precise brushwork with energetic, gestural strokes, creating a sense of constant motion and tension across the canvas, as if the entire composition is in a state of metamorphosis. He avoids establishing a central protagonist or focal point, instead presenting a multitude of overlapping figures. Reflecting on his childhood memories, particularly of the Islamic Revolution and the Iran-Iraq War, he has described them as a blend of half-abstract and recognizable images. Fascinated by the histories of war, conspiracies, colonialism, and corruption, Banisadr captures the dynamics and breakdown of various systems—political, cultural, or historical—in his complex painted structures where different elements intermingle and clash.

Since relocating to New York in 2000 to study at the School of Visual Arts and the New York Academy of Art, Banisadr has made the city his home. After his first solo exhibition in 2008, his work has been showcased in numerous museums, including S.M.A.K. in Ghent (2010), Kunstmuseum Den Haag (2011), The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (2012), Lehmbruck Museum in Duisburg (2013), Aga Khan Museum in Toronto (2017), The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston (2017), and a two-person exhibition with Andrew Sendor at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Jacksonville (2019). He also participated in Love Me/Love Me Not: Contemporary Art from Azerbaijan and Its Neighbours at the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013. Recent solo exhibitions include those at Het Noordbrabants Museum in the Netherlands (2019), Benaki Museum in Athens (2020), and Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, USA (2020).