Farhad Moshiri, a pivotal figure in contemporary Iranian art, passed away on July 17th at the age of 61. The Third Line in Dubai, which co-represents him alongside Perrotin, confirmed his death on Instagram. His politically conscious work is highly conceptual and often classed as Pop Art, drawing comparisons to the work of Andy Warhol.
“Moshiri developed a personal language in which he discussed commonalities in Iranian and Western cultures,” the gallery wrote on Instagram. “Although his work appears playful and decorative, Moshiri offered a critical narrative beneath the shimmering surfaces, addressing the flaws of contemporary Iran while toying with its traditional forms and acknowledging both the appeal and limitations of the Western world.”
Born in 1963 in Shiraz, Iran, Moshiri was first introduced to the arts through his family’s cinema business. However, during the Iranian Revolution, the family emigrated to Los Angeles, leaving behind the cinemas. There, he pursued a fine arts degree at the California Institute of the Arts and graduated with an MFA in 1984 before returning to Tehran in 1991.
In the early 2000s, Moshiri became known for his jars, a series of large-scale paintings depicting archaeological pottery. These works were decorated with changing pigments and traditional Iranian verse written in Persian calligraphy. Then, in 2008, the artist gained additional recognition for becoming the first Middle Eastern artist to hammer above $1 million at auction, achieved at Bonhams in Dubai.
Moshiri evoked high- and low-brow elements across his video art, paintings, and installations, drawing on his admiration for all types of Persian culture and producing critical observations on contemporary Iranian society. Much of his work was characterized by the use of beads, glitter, and faux gems, which added a tactile dimension to his paintings and installations. Among his notable works is his “Snow Forest” series, featuring beaded embroidery pieces based on photographs of a snowy forest created in collaboration with Iranian craftswomen.
Moshiri has shown extensively at galleries worldwide, including Perrotin, The Third Line, Thaddaeus Ropac, and Galerie Rodolphe Janssen. His first solo museum exhibition, “Go West,” was presented at The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh in 2017. His work is featured in several major collections around the world, including the British Museum in London, the Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Doha, Qatar, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Art.
