Critically acclaimed and widely acknowledged as the “father of modern Iranian sculpture,” Tanavoli’s trajectory has spanned east and west as he has innovated ambitiously across media. Best known as a sculptor, his expansive oeuvre also includes painting, printmaking, ceramics, rugs, and jewelry. As well, he is a highly regarded collector, scholar, and poet. This exhibition shares the breadth and richness of his work from the 1960s to the present. Based in Tehran and Vancouver, Tanavoli (b.1937) was a leading influence among a generation defined by its commitment to artistic practices that are both modern and distinctly Iranian. Over decades, he has refined a complex system of symbols and motifs into a distinctive visual lexicon, fusing Persian traditions with pop sensibility. As well, his work entwines profound sensitivity to language, formal clarity, and conceptual engagement into a forcefully original artistic practice. Tanavoli returns again and again to the Poet, the Prophet, and the Lovers, to walls and windows, locks, and birds— figures that stand on metaphorical borders, and exist aesthetically between traditions of realism and abstraction. Among his many long-standing projects, heech—initiated in February 1965, and set to mark a fiftieth anniversary with the opening of the Davis exhibition—perhaps best exemplifies Tanavoli’s work. The artist treats the calligraphic script for “heech,” the Farsi word for “nothing” or “nothingness” to multiple expressions in three dimensions and variable materials—from delicate jewelry to polished bronze and hi-gloss fiberglass sculpture. The concept of heech, as Tanavoli explains, is abstract, philosophical, and celebratory; he says, "Heech is not nothing. It has a body, a shape, but also a meaning behind it.” Internationally recognized as one of Iran’s foremost artists, Tanavoli’s work has been presented around the world, and has recently been featured in exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the British Museum, Asia Society and the Grey Art Gallery at New York University. His work is held in numerous public and private collections, including: Tate Modern and the British Museum, London; the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna; the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tehran; Mathaf Museum, Qatar; Royal Society of Fine Arts, Amman; and the Guggenheim Museum, Abu Dhabi. |
1964-79 Head of the Sculpture Department at Tehran University |
| 2013 Exhibition in Tehran 2011 Exhibition in London 2009 Exhibition in Dubai 2006 Elliott Louis Gallery, Vancouver, Canada 2003 Retrospective, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art 1989 Rudolf Mangisch Galerie, Zurich 1988 Hirschberg Galerie, Koln- Galerie Am Rosenberg, Graz 1980 Galleria Greminger, Genova 1978 Aachen Neue Galerie/Samlung Ludwig, Aachen 1976 Grey Art Gallery, New York University, New York- Iran-America Society,Tehran 1972 Goethe Institute, Tehran 1971 Martin Gallery, Minneapolis 1970 Iran-America Society, Tehran- Shiraz University, Shiraz 1967 Seihoun Gallery, Tehran 1965 Borghese Gallery, Tehran 1962 Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis- K. B. Gallery, Minneapolis 1961 Atelier Kaboud, Tehran 1960 Farhang Hall, Tehran- Iran Club, London 1958 Reza Abbassi Hall, Tehran 1957 Tehran University- Farhang Hall, Tehran |
| 2013 Asia Society, New York 2013 Museum of Anthropology ( MOA ), Vancouver 2012 Metropolitan Museum, New York 2009 “Art Dubai,” Dubai 2008 “Routes,” London 2006 The British Museum, London, UK 2004 Persian Garden, (installation ), Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art 2002 Iranian Contemporary Art, Christie’s, London- Picturing Iran Art, Society and Revolution, Grey Art Gallery, NY University 2001 Iranian Cotemporary Art, Barbican Center, London 2000 Continental Shift, Aachen, Maastricht, Heerlen and Liege- 7th International Shoebox Sculpture, The University of Hawaii Art Gallery 1999 Atrium Public Gallery, Vancouver 1989 Contemporary Art from Islamic World, Barbican Centre, London 1988 Olympiad of Art, Seoul, 1977 Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art 1975 Grey Art Gallery, New York University 1967 Quadriennale of Rome 1964 Venice Biennale 1962 Musee d’Art Moderne, Paris- Musee d’Ixelles, Brussels- Third International Biennale of Sculpture, Carrara-Walker Art Center, Minneapolis 1960 Venice Biennale |
| British Museum, London Dakar, Senegal, Outdoor Sculpture Forum Ludwig, Aachen Grey Art Gallery, New Yourk University Guggenheim Museum, Abu- Dhabi Haft Chenar Park, Tehran Hamline University, St. Paul, MN Iowa University Art Museum Jahan Nama Museum, Tehran Mathaf Museum, Qatar Mellat Park, Tehran Metropolitan Museum, New York Minneapolis Institute of Arts Museum of Modern Art, New York Museum of Contemporary Art, Tehran National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh Nelson Rockefeller Collection, New York Nour Foundation, London Olympic Park, Seoul, South Korea Sammlung Ludwig, Museum Moderner Kunst, Vienna Saint John University, Collegeville, MN Shiraz University Tate Modern, London The City Theater, Tehran Walker Art Center, Minneapolis |