Taha Heydari (born 1986 in Tehran) is a contemporary Iranian artist residing and working in Baltimore and New York, USA.
Heydari’s paintings explore the role of information and the visual impact of violence in the post-internet age. Being trained in the millenary art of miniature painting while hailing from a new generation of artists, Heydari mixes his intricately detailed brushwork with the glossy post-modern palette of electronic images to investigate issues of propaganda, prejudice and violence in the West and the Middle East. The artist uses as a starting point images from his archive of material gleaned through research on the Internet and deconstructs, distorts and fragments them to evoke digital glitches. His images often reference current violent events (terrorist attacks, social unrest, environmental catastrophes…) or canonical violent figures from history (Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels…).
While Heydari’s paintings may resemble digital images, they are created through the artist’s skilful painterly techniques rather than computer alterations. The corruption of the image reflects on the seductive power of the media to shape and manipulate the truth and influence the perception and outcomes of world events. It explores the complex relationship between spectator and image, viewer and viewed and ‘questions the relationship between an actual event and its representation online, or through a screen’, in the words of the artist.
Taha Heydari’s work has been presented in solo exhibitions at Haines Gallery, San Francisco, USA (2016), Ethan Cohen Fine Arts, New York, USA (2015) and the Azad Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran (2011 and 2010), and has been featured in group exhibitions including the Touch Gallery, Cambridge, USA (2014); Castrum Peregrini, Amsterdam, Netherlands (2013); the Mah Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran (2012); the De Winkelhaak Gallery, Antwerp, Belgium (2012) and the 1×1 Gallery, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (2012). Heydari’s work has been shown in several Museums and institutional shows, including the Freies Museum, Berlin, Germany (2011); and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tehran, Iran (2009). Heydari received his BFA from the Art University of Tehran and an MFA from the LeRoy E. Hoffberger School of Painting at the Maryland Institute College of Art, USA.
