Born in Iran, in 1979, Shahpour Pouyan has an MFA in Integrated Practices and New Forms at Pratt Institute, New York, and has an MFA in Painting from the Tehran University of Art. He previously studied Neoplatonic Philosophy at the Iranian Institute of Philosophy and received a diploma in Math and Physics from Elmieh School, Tehran. Between 2007 and 2009 he taught art history and the history of Persian Architecture at Science and Culture University, Tehran. He currently lives and works in New York.

Shahpour Pouyan’s work is a commentary on power, domination and possession through the force of culture. His artwork seeks to transform historical or political issues into a monument of poetic and visual form. The repetition of mistakes and errors is one of his main concerns, and he reflects this by bringing historical aesthetics and mediums to his contemporary art practice, for example, reinventing chainmail, helmets and Persian miniatures. His work does not announce a political agenda; instead, he grapples with materials provided from the political world and historic documents; the poetic qualities of power and the human condition inspire him. His recent works and projects are influenced by science, archeology, and the poetry of architectural forms that bridge past and present.

He has participated in Lahore Biennial in Pakistan; National Art Museum of China in Beijing, British Museum in London, and Kochi-Muziris Biennale in Kochi Island. His work is part of many prominent private and public collections including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The British Museum, The Abby Weed Grey Collection of Modern Asian and Middle Eastern Art, the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, and etc..

In 2016, Pouyan was shortlisted for the Victoria and Albert Museum Prize, London, UK and has been awarded the Civitella Ranieri Fellowship for Visual Arts in Umbria, Italy. He has participated in several international residencies including International Cite Des Arts, Paris, the Pegasus Art Foundation, Hyderabad, India, and the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, NY, USA in March 2014.

 

CV

 

EDUCATION

2012 MFA, New Forms and Integrated Practices, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY, USA 

2007 MFA, Painting, Tehran University of Art, Iran

2005 Neoplatonism Studies, Iranian Institute of Philosophy, Tehran, Iran

2004 BFA, Painting, Art University, Tehran, Iran

2000 Math and Physics Diploma, Elmieh School of Tehran, Iran

 

BIENNALES

2023 “Islamic Art Biennale,” Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 

2018 “LB01,” Lahore Biennial, Lahore, Pakistan

2017 “The Silk Road and World’s Civilizations,” Beijing Biennale, China

2016 “For An Image, Faster Than Light,” Yinchuan Biennale, Yinchuan, China 

2014 “Whorled Explorations,” Kochi-Muziris Biennale, Kochi Island, India 

2013 Mykonos Biennale, Mykonos Island, Greece

 

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2023 “Cyclupses in Doubt, Observing the West,” Tokyo Gallery + BTAP, Tokyo, Japan

2022 “249 Kilometers by 68 Meters,” Nathalie Obadiah Gallery, Paris, France

2021 “Skyhigh Is My Place,” Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Ghent, Belgium.

2021 “Methinks These Be Devils Three,” Nathalie Obadiah Gallery, Brussels, Belgium.

2019 “After Examining the Logbook, the Doctors Assume They Are Dealing With the Plague,” Nathalie Obadiah Gallery, Paris, France.

2019 “Monday Recollections of Muqarnas Dome,” Barbara Walters Gallery, Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville 

2018 “Wūshuǐ,” Copperfield Gallery, London, U.K.

2018 “The Incarnation of the Body Politic,” The Armory Show, New York City.

2017 “We Owe This Considerable Land to the Horizon Line,” Nathalie Obadiah Gallery, Paris, France.

2015 “History Travels at Different Speeds”, Copperfield Gallery, London, U.K. 

2014 “PTSD,” Lawrie Shabibi Gallery, Dubai, U.A.E.

 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2023 “Toucher Terre,” Espace Monte-Cristo, Paris, France

2023 “Metters les Forms,” Obadia Galerie, Paris, France

2022 “Strange Clay: Ceramics in Contemporary Art”, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre, London, UK 

2022 “Rebel, Jester, Mystic, Poet: Contemporary Persians,” Asia Society Museum, New York City 

2022 “Selection from the NYU Art Collection”, The Grey Art Gallery, NYU, New York City

2021 “Contemporary Ceramic Art from the Middle East”, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK 

2021 “Skin & Hair”, Keramiek Museum Princessehof, Leeuwarden, Netherlands

2020 “Prelude: Melancholy of the future”, Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Ghent, Belgium 

2020 “Miniature 2.0”, Pera Museum, Istanbul, Turkey

2020 “BLUE”, Lawrie Shabibi Gallery, Dubai, UAE

2020 “Clapping with Stones: Art and Acts of Resistance”, Rubin Museum, New York City 

2019 “Diplomacy,” Yeh Art Gallery, St. John’s University, New York City

2019 “Punk Orientalism,” MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina, Canada. Curated by Sara Raza

2018 “In the Fields of Empty Days,” Los Angeles County Museum

2018 “The New Minimalists, “Abrons Art Center, New York City

2017 “Rebel, Jester, Mystic, Poet: Contemporary Persians,” Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas 

2017 “Iranian Voice,” British Museum, London, U.K.

2016 “Home Land Security,” Fort Winfield Scott, San Francisco

2016 “Memory and Continuity”, Pera Museum, Istanbul, Turkey

2016 “Global/Local,” Grey Art Gallery New York University, New York City 

2014 “Young Collectors,” Elgiz Museum, Istanbul, Turkey

2013 “Chambres à Part VII: Dark to Light,” Tower of London, London, U.K. 

2012 “Centrefold 8,” Zabludowicz Collection,” Art Projects, London, U.K.

2012 “Domination, Hegemony and The Panopticon”, Traffic, Dubai, UAE 

2011 “Artbeat Istanbul”, Center Lutif Kirdar, Istanbul, Turkey

2010 “Performance Box Curatorship”, Mohsen Art Gallery, Téhéran, Iran 

2010 “Sous Le Radar”, JTM, Paris, France

2008 “Third International Digital Miniprinte Exhibition, Le Centre d’artistes Voix Visuelle”, Ottawa, Canada

 

SELECTED AWARDS AND HONORS

2023 Ceramic Fellowship, The Victoria and Albert Museum, London

2022 The Ellsworth Kelly Award for Visual Arts 

2022, The Foundation for Contemporary Arts, New York 

2020 Fellowship at the Kenneth Armitage Foundation, London

2019 Fellowship at International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP), New York

2016 Fellowship at Civitella Ranieri Foundation, Umbertide, Italy

2015 Shortlisted for Victoria and Albert Museum prize for Islamic Art Prize, London

2014 Fellowship at Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, New York City

2011 Fellowship at Pegasus Art Foundation, State Art Gallery, Hyderabad, India

2007 Grant, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Arts awarded for the residency program, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris

 

PUBLIC APPEARANCES

Saskatchewan Weekend, CBC, Regina, 2018

C-Arts TV, PBS, New York City, 2017

“Profile: Shahpour Pouyan,” BBC, May 2015

Radio Report and Conversation between Murtaza Vali and Lee Xie, In Book of Lee Program, March 31, 2014

 

PUBLIC AND PRIVATE COLLECTIONS

Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio, (USA)

Abby Weed Grey Collection of Modern Asian and Middle Eastern Art, New York (USA) 

British Museum, London (UK)

Cornell University Herbert F. Jonhson Museum Of Art (USA)

The Farjam Collection, Dubai (UAE)

Houston Fine Arts Museum, Houston, TX (USA)

Huma Kabakci Collection, Istanbul (Turkey)

Keramiekmuseum Princessehof, Leeuwarden (The Netherlands) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (USA)

Mohammed Afkhami Collection, Dubai (UAE) 

Omer Koç, Istanbul (Turkey)

SYZYGY, New York (USA)

Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Tehran (Iran) 

Victoria and Albert Museum, London (UK) 

Zoroastrian Cultural Institute, Paris (France)

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

2023 Kenichi Kondo, “Architecture, the Middle East conflict, East-West relations”, bijutsutecho, December

2020 Huma Kabakci, “10 minutes interview”, Open Space Contemporary, July

2018 Anna Wallace-Thompson, “Shahpour Pouyan at Copperfield, London”, Art Review, December

2018 Rahel Aima, “Shahpour Pouyan: My Place is the Placeless”, Art Review Asia, Spring

2018 Rebecca Close, “ ‘My Place is the Placeless’: Iranian artist Shahpour Pouyan at Lawrie Shabibi”, Dubai, Art Radar, December 12

2018 “A New Body of Work by Shahpour Pouyan”, Islamic Arts Magazine, March 7

2018 Kelly Crow, “High Tech Meets High Art at the Armory Show”, Wall Street Journal, March 5

2017 Jason Farago, “Art Basel Miami Beach, Post-Irma, Is Still Swinging,” The New York Times, December 7 

2017 Nick Leech, “ ‘My Place is the Placeless’: Shahpour Pouyan at Lawrie Shabibi”, The National, December 12 

2017 Jyoti Kalsi, “Rejecting labels of identity,” Gulf News, December 20

2017 Anna Sansom, “We Owe This Considerable Land to the Horizon Line”, Damn Magazine, May

2017 Efi Michalarou, “New Comers: Shahpour Pouyan”, Dream Idea Machine, March

2016 Gabrielle Gopinath, “Home Land Security at The Presidio”, SFAQ, December

2016 Amei Wallach, “Awaiting Armageddon”, Art in America, November

2016 Kevin Jones, “Tehran Days,” Art Asia Pacific, Sep/Oct

2016 Anna Wallace-Thompson, “Global/Local”, Artforum, 20 March

2016 Livia Alexander, “Tracing tradition in a survey of six Iranian artists,” Hyperallergic, 18 March

2016 Michael Fitzgerald, “Global/Local review,” The Wall Street Journal, 2 February

2016 Holland Cotter, “Six Artists from Iran,” New York Times, 14 January

2015 Rob Sharp, “How the Global Refugee Crisis Is Impacting and Influencing Artists”, Artsy, 5 November

2015 Dale Berning Sawa, “Unfamiliar Territory”, The Guardian, 28 September

2014 Amy Kisch, “Climbing Jacob’s Ladder”, Fine Art Magazine, December

2014 Kevin Jones, “PTSD SHAHPOUR POUYAN”, Flash Art, May 4

2014 Bharti Lakwani, “PTSD Review”, Harpers Bazaar, May 1

2014 Anna Seaman, “SHAHPOUR POUYAN AT LS”, The National, March 31

2013 Jyoti Kalsi, “Traces of Humans”, Gulf News, July 4

2013 Danna Lorch, “A Scientist And A Philosopher”, Danna Writes, July 2

2013 Paddy Johnson, “ArtCycle Discovers Prize”, Art Fag City, January 30

2011 Ali Bakhtiari, “Path and Glory”, Contemporary Practices, November 1

2011 Jyoti Kalsi, “Allegory of Authority”, Gulf News, May 13

2011 Jason Rezaian, “Inside Iran: The Art of Resistance”, Global Post, April 19

2010 Daniel Barney, “Iranian artists portray life under regime”, The Christian Science Monitor, September 28 

2009 Soheila Niakan, “Towers come behind you”, Hamshahri, Tehran ISSN 1735-6385 Vol.17, No.4843, 25 May 

2009 Raziqueh Hussain, “Power and Glory”, Khaleej Times, Dubai, 20 February

 

BOOKS

2022 Media Farzin, Pepe Karmel,Antony Hudek, “Skyhigh is my place”, Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, ISBN:9-789076-034300

2021 Shahpour Pouyan, William Lawrie, “TEN: Selected projects from 2009-2019”, Lawrie Shabibi and Nathalie Obadia Gallery, ISBN: 978-1-63821-100-6

 

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