Born in 1979 Tehran, Iran
Live and work in Iran
Behrang Samadzadegan was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1979. He received a BFA from the Tehran University of Arts, and an MFA from TTU (Tehran Tarbiat Modares University).
Behrang’s work ranges from highly symbolic pieces to arrangements of stuffed-toy sculptures, to various sizes of drawings and paintings, to installations that restage ritual or historical narratives.
A critic and curator, Samadzadegan writes for art and journals and has organized numerous exhibitions incorporating works by fellow artists. His work questions the legitimacy of normative values and systems of authority, and attacks the sanctity of cultural attitudes toward politics, religion, sexuality, art history, and education. He also examines cultural and social identity in his paintings and sculptures through found sources—literature, Chinese toys, photographs, commercial illustrations—to reveal the ways in which the history of colonialism, the civil rights movement, and totalitarian politics inform understandings of Iranian society.
Behrang appropriates texts from a variety of writers including Walter Benjamin, Haruki Murakami, Carl Gustav Jung and many Iranian literary texts as well from more popular sources such as the comic series Adventures of Tintin. He currently lives and works in Tehran. He is a guest professor in Tehran University of Arts and Aria Art Institute, where he has a lot of fun together with his students. They all aim to make big changes in the future!
Education:
2012. PhD candidate, Art Practice program, Vienna Academy of Arts
2007. M.F.A in Painting from T.M.U- Tehran
2001. B.F.A in Painting from Iran Art University-Tehran
1996. Graduation from High school in graphic design
Membership:
Artists pension Trust (APT)
Association of Iranian Painters (AIP)
Solo exhibitions:
2015. Heading Utopia, Zygote Press Inc, Cleveland, Ohio, USA
2013. Art of Impotency, Aaran art gallery, Tehran
2011. Love in The time of unrest, XVA Gallery, Dubai
2011. Good Stories for Good Children, Aaran art gallery, Tehran
2009. 4- Military Attendance, Painting exhibition, Gollestan gallery, Tehran
2009. Everything is just fine!, Aaran art gallery, Tehran
2006. Military Attendance, Painting exhibition, Gollestan gallery, Tehran
2006. H&H, heaven and hell, Digital illustrations, 13 Vanak gallery, Tehran
2005. The Post War Dream, Painting exhibition, Elahe gallery, Tehran
2002. Requiems, Painting exhibition, Atbin gallery, Tehran
Group exhibitions (selected):
2016. Iran X Cuba Beyond the Headlines, Rogue Space Chelsea, New York
2016. United nonsense, Creative Fusion Artists exhibition, Cleveland , Ohio
2015. Tehran; virtual-real, Aaran art gallery, Tehran
2014. The Other Side of Visibility, Mottahedan Projects, Dubai
2012. Contemporary Iranian Art, New Albion Gallery, NSW, Australia
2012. The state of in-Between, Atelierhaus Salzamt, Linz, Austria
2012. Reflecting Reality, Vienna Art Week, Sigmund Freud Museum, Vienna
2011. "Position Velocity Acceleration", XVA Gallery, Dubai
2011. My super hero, Morano Kiang Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
2010. Postcards from Tehran, 18th Street Art Center, Santa Monica, USA
2010. ARTISTERIUM 3, Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia
2010. Iran inside out, Farjam foundation, Dubai
2010. The Promise of Loss, Arario gallery, New York, USA
2009. Golden Gates, Contemporary art from Middle East, Paris, France.
2009. The Promise of Loss, Hilger Brot galley (curaor: Shaheen Merali), Vienna, Austria.
2009. Iran inside out, Chelsea Art Museum, New York, USA.
2008. HAPPY DAYS, video and shorts from Middle East (49th Thessaloniki film festival), Thessaloniki, Greece.
2008. BREAKING NEWS, contemporary art from Middle East, F&A projects, Paris, France.
2008. Heterotopias. A selection from the 1st Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art"Belgrade cultural center, Belgrade, Serbia
2008. The 1st International Media Art Forum for Youth “IMAFY”, Cairo, Egypt.
2008. "Meeting with the Heterotopias: A selection from the 1st Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art”, Municipal Gallery of Larisa - G.I.Katsigras Museum, Larisa, Greece
2007. CARAVAN, An exhibition of Iranian contemporary art, Shiraz Gallery, Venice-Italy
2007. Reloading images, Berlin - Tehran. A project by Reloading Images-Berlin, in collaboration with Parkingallery Tehran. Tehran Aug 2007, Berlin
2007. Second Video Festival, Contemporary Image Collective (CIC) Cairo- Egypt
2007. “Bounded by”, Basement gallery, Vienna - Austria
2007. First contemporary art biennale of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki - Greece
2007. East by East, Video and film festival, the art institute of university of Chicago, USA
2007. Imaginary enemy, Brussels, Belgium
2007. Every thing is going to be alright, Apartment Project, Istanbul-Turkey
2006. Artists 4 Lebanon, in the aim of Lebanese refugees, Gusto, Shargh gallery, Kuwait
2006. Lost in no space, video show, Istanbul, Turkey
2006. CONCHA suitcase show, Manila, Philippines
2006. 5th Gyumri international art biennial, Armenia
2005. A consumption of justice (curated by Beral Madra), Diyarbakir Art center, Turkey
Curator:
2012. Post-Pop, (an index of the Pop like visual approaches Iranian contemporary art within social-political contexts and concepts within), Mah-e- Mehr Gallery, Tehran
2011. Of blossoms and bullets, an index of Iranian young artists, Aaran gallery, Tehran
2010. Recognizable, an index of Iranian figurative painting during the 1990’s, Farevahar Gallery, Tehran
Awards and residency:
2012. Artist residency, Atelierhaus Salzamt, Linz, Austria
2009. Visiting Arts artist residency in Spike Island, Bristol, United Kingdom
2008. Golden Feather, 1st International Media Art Festival (IMAFY), Cairo, Egypt
Bibliography:
2005: Consuption of justice, Beral Madra, Anadolu Kultur, Turkey
2006: Sea dreams and Illusion, Gyumri Biennniale, Armenia
2007: Heterotopia, Center of contemporary arts, Thessaloniki, Greece
2009: Iran inside out, Chelsea museum, New York, USA
2009: Different Sames, New Perspectives in Contemporary Iranian Art, Edited by Hossein Amirsadeghi, Thames & Hudson, London, UK
2009: Radical movements in contemporary art, Behrang Samadzadegan, Honarha-ye-Ziba quarterly
2011: The future of a future: the future of a promise, Behrang Samadzadegan, Art tomorrow quarterly 3rd issue, Art tomorrow quarterly 3rd issue.
2011: The judge of other’s judgement, a glance at the works of Simin Keramati, Behrang Samadzadegan, Art tomorrow quarterly 4th issue.
2012: The narrator of restlesness, on Jinoos Taghizadeh’s art, Behrang Samadzadegan, Art tomorrow quarterly 6th issue.
2012: The narrator of anxieties, Behrang Samadzadegan, “Restless, the catalogue for Adelide International Festival 2012”
Collections:
Center of Contemporary Arts, Thessaloniki, Greece
F&A projects, Paris, France
Mohsen Art Gallery collection
Fereydoun Ave collection (Laa’l)
Motahedan foundation
Lepsien Art Foundation
Several private collections
