Soft Edge of the Blade Vol.2: Zaal Art Galley & Art Toronto 2023

Reza Aramesh (b. 1970, Iran) focuses on photography and sculpture. He currently lives and works in London, a city he moved to at the age of 15. He received his MFA from Goldsmiths University, London (1997).

Working in photography, sculpture, video and performance, Reza Aramesh’s understanding of the history of art, film and literature is ever-present in his artwork. As a response to war reportage images from sources such as newspapers, online articles and social media, Aramesh takes scenes of reportage of violence out of their original context, exploring the narratives of representation and iconography of subjected body apropos race, class, and sexuality to create a critical conversation with Western Art History.

Reza Aramesh exhibitions: the 14 Bienal de la Habana (Havana, 2022) | Muntref Centro De Arte Contemporåneo (Buenos Aires, 2022) | Pejman Foundation (Argo Factory, Tehran, 2022) | the 9th Edition of Sculpture in the City (London, 2021) | Fitzwilliam Museum (Cambridge, 2020) | Asia Society Museum (New York, 2021) | Met Breuer (New York, 2018) | SCAD Museum (Georgia, Atlanta, 2018) | Akademie der Kunst (Berlin, 2016) | the 56th Venice Biennale (2015) | Art Basel Parcours (Basel, 2017) | Frieze Sculpture Park (London, 2015 and 2017) | Maxxi Museum (Rome, 2016). He has organized a number of performances and exhibitions in such spaces as at Barbican Art Centre, Tate Britain and ICA, London. His works have entered public and private collections worldwide.

Mehdi Ghadyanloo (b. 1981, Karaj, Iran) received his BA from the University of Tehran (2005) and his MA in Film Studies from Tarbiyat-e Modarres College. Known primarily for his gigantic trompe l'oeil-style murals in central Tehran, Ghadyanloo has worked with various media, including printmaking, sculpture, and paintings with surreal and minimalistic themes. He currently lives and works in Frankfurt.

Through his works, Ghadyanloo opens a window to life, one informed by his personal experience, portraying the landscapes of his youth, growing up around the agricultural fields on the outskirts of Tehran, his memories of Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), and his living experience as a public artist. Although sometimes somber and even suggestive of a failed utopia, Ghadyanloo's work is about imagining a different landscape within the current state of affairs of what remains glorious in gloomy times.

Answering an open call from the Municipality of Tehran, he painted over 100 gigantic murals between 2004 and 2011. In 2016 he became the first Iranian artist since the Revolution of 1979 to be commissioned to complete a massive mural for the Rose Kennedy Greenway Project in Boston, US.

Alborz Kazemi (b. 1989, Tehran, Iran) studied Painting at Tehran’s School of Fine Arts. After his graduation, he became more interested in photography and cinema; most of his works have been photography-based.

Kazemi has documented regional press in videos and photographs for years. As a documentarist, he has lived with the belief that a photograph is a reference. Skeptical today of this referential hubris, he is now destroying and altering his negatives to reclaim emotions and experiences he feels are lost. Returning to images he has been storing for years, he realized at some point that there is always a loss in the stutter of a photograph. The fact that a photograph flattens the world of things, its content is at the mercy of many outside forces and finds new identity in its presentation casts doubt as to the nature of its referential status.

Alborz Kazemi (b. 1989, Tehran, Iran) studied Painting at Tehran’s School of Fine Arts. After his graduation, he became more interested in photography and cinema; most of his works have been photography-based.

Kazemi has documented regional press in videos and photographs for years. As a documentarist, he has lived with the belief that a photograph is a reference. Skeptical today of this referential hubris, he is now destroying and altering his negatives to reclaim emotions and experiences he feels are lost. Returning to images he has been storing for years, he realized at some point that there is always a loss in the stutter of a photograph. The fact that a photograph flattens the world of things, its content is at the mercy of many outside forces and finds new identity in its presentation casts doubt as to the nature of its referential status.

Meghdad Lorpour (b. 1983, Shiraz, Iran) is a painter based in Tehran. He studied painting at Shahed University, Tehran (2010).

Throughout his career, Meghdad’s subject matter has ranged from portraiture to landscape and still life, and his analytical approach to every aspect of his work has constantly evolved. He begins with a multi-layered phase of research, which includes deep dives into related literature, travel, documentation, and recording oral histories. He continues by exploring his recollections of the research process as sketches and experiments in technique and representation. After his early focus on portraiture, inspired by Persian mythology and Miniature Painting, Lorpour soon shifted towards looking at animals in their natural habitats, contextualizing them in his research on mythological history. More recently, he has focused on nature — landscapes and the different aspects of the natural environment. The artist has been meticulously looking at nature through specific points of view and has sought to induce inner mythological layers to his settings while depicting natural scenery.

Meghdad Lorpor's work has been exhibited in five solo exhibitions, including the Iranian Artists' Forum (Tehran, Iran 2006); Mah Art Gallery (Tehran, Iran, 2010); "Callus" (Mah Art Gallery. Tehran, Iran, 2013) "Tangab" Electric Room. (Dastan:Outside, Tehran, Iran, 2017) "Daryabar" (Dastan+2. Tehran, Iran 2018); as well as over twenty group exhibitions and international art fair presentations.

Kour Pour (b. 1987, Exeter, Devon County, UK) is a British-born American Artist based in Los Angeles. Kour Pour is of British and Iranian descent. The artist's work reflects his experience of living between different cultures, and he expresses himself primarily through painting and printmaking. While living in Los Angeles, he was introduced to hip-hop and became fascinated with the concept of sampling as it is used in music production, and how he could apply similar principles to his own artwork. 

Pour's art is inspired by his diverse background and interests. His carpet paintings are a synthesis of his experience working in his father's carpet shop and his love of hip-hop. He also creates woodblock paintings and paper pulp paintings, both of which are based on Japanese Geological Survey maps. Pour's paintings are highly detailed and take months to complete. He uses a variety of techniques to create his unique works, including silk screening, hand painting, and sanding.

Mehsa Merci (b. 1990 Tehran, Iran) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Canada, who works in various media and techniques. She received her MFA from the University of Manitoba in 2019.

Mahsa is a creative artist who uses different materials and methods to make art. She often makes art about people who are not often represented in society, especially her own experiences as an Iranian woman and a member of the LGBTQ community. She wants her art to help people see the different sides of people's identities. Mahsa's art is new and different, and it challenges the way we think about beauty, texture, and gender.

Amin Montazeri (b. 1992, Tehran, Iran) creates elaborate illustrative paintings and drawings, featured detailed contemporary and universal readings of actual and mythological events. His allegorical approach and his sarcastic tone is an attribute of the development process of his themes, which involve human memory and social consciousness. Amin's delicate technique draws inspiration from the Persian miniature painting tradition. The illustrative nature of his drawings are counteracted by intricacies which give the works a layer of texturized abstraction.

Peybak‭ (‬Peyman Barabadi and Babak Alebrahim Dehkordi‭, ‬both b‭. ‬1984‭, ‬Tehran‭, ‬Iran‭) ‬is the acronym of two artists who have been working together as a‭ "‬unified duo‭" ‬since December 20‭, ‬2001‭. ‬Peybak is mostly well-known for depicting imaginative creatures in a‭ ‬dystopian reverse void‭.‬‮ ‬The duo work on every piece together‭, ‬each taking on different parts until they both declare it finished‭. ‬Peybak's works are inspired by Persian poetry‭, ‬mythology‭, ‬and miniature painting‭.‬

Peybak solo shows with Dastan Gallery: "Xa La" ( +2 Gallery, 2021) | "Zahouk" (Dastan's Basement, 2018) | "Abrakan Éclat" (Galerie GP & N Vallois, Paris, France, 2017) | "Abrakan" (+2 Gallery, 2017) | "Abrakan (Naissance)" (Dastan’s Basement, 2016) | "Abrakan (Naissance)" (Galerie GP & N Vallois, 2015) | "Abrakan's Room" (Dastan's Basement, 2015). Peybak group shows: "Jungle Fever" (Galerie GP & N Vallois. 33 rue de Seine. Paris, 2019) | "Tu dois changer ta vie !." (Tri Postal, Lille, France, 2015) | "Year in Review" (A Dastan:Outside Project. Sam Art. Tehran, 2015) | "Monster’s Room" (Bleu Brut, Domaine Vranken Pommery, Reims, France, 2014) | "The Mine" (Dubai, UAE, 2014) | "Must Be Destroyed" (Sin Gallery, Tehran, 2013). Peybak has participated in the following art fairs: "Mossavar-Nameh" (Art Dubai. Dastan's Basement Booth. Dubai, 2018) | Sydney Contemporary (Dastan's Basement Booth, Sydney, 2017) | "The Sun Rises from the West" (Art Dubai, Dastan’s Basement Booth, 2016) | The Armory Show (Galerie Georges-Philippe & Nathalie Vallois Booth, New York, 2016) | FIAC (Grand Palais, Galerie Georges-Philippe & Nathalie Vallois Booth, Paris, 2016) | Abu Dhabi Art Fair (Abu Dhabi, 2015) | Contemporary Istanbul (Istanbul, 2015) | FIAC (Grand Palais, Galerie Georges-Philippe & Nathalie Vallois. Paris, 2015).

Mamali Shafahi (b. 1982, lives in Amsterdam and Paris) is a filmmaker and video installation artist. His practice, varying from installation to sculpture and film, includes a deep fascination with the impact of emerging technologies on life and art. His early work in France, at the Paris-Cergy school of fine arts, focused on performance. He then produced a number of video installations, and his investigation of relationships between past, present, future, and new technologies.