Farrokh Mahdavi

Farrokh Mahdavi (b. 1970, Tehran, Iran) is a prolific painter. His works can be distinguished through the use of unique pinkish hues. His technique aims to reach "a more material meaning" by "omitting the impurities", defamiliarizing the well-known facial elements, and crossing over "cliché definitions". His works emphasize the fleshy-pink color, a color that covers his figures and allows the rendering of "a more general depiction of human beings devoid of stereotypes of gender and of race". The faces in Mahdavi’s work are reduced to such features as the eyes or the lips, and the rest are covered by thick layers of pink paint, hinting at the emotional world of his characters. He tries to specify forms and conditions without directly depicting anything additional to that as he believes it deviates from the main point. Farrokh Mahdavi's works have been shown in Iran and abroad including major exhibitions, including most recently at Frieze Cork Street, London (2022); FIAC, Paris (2021); "Seemingly Playful", Yavuz Gallery, Sydney, Australia (2021); "City Prince/sses" at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2019); and the Iranian Pavilion in Venice Biennale (2015).