Biography

Bahram Dabiri was born in Shiraz in 1950. His family appreciated art; his mother was the daughter of a landowner who loved art and literature, and his father, who took no pride in aristocracy, had a deep interest in literature and history. Dabiri’s childhood was simultaneous with the disintegration of Iran's social system and the emergence of a new elite. Even the remnants of an aristocracy on the verge of extinction could not help keep his family in his hometown, leaving them with no alternative but to migrate to Tehran.
The twelve-year-old Dabiri adopted a strong interest in painting when he saw the movie The World of Suzie Wang, a dramatic story of an artist’s life. Later on he concluded that painting is well beyond an occupation; it is a way of life. Upon entering the College of Fine Arts, University of Tehran, in 1969, he studied the processes of modernism and the works of great artists while learning about his cultural identity and the national and historical background of his country. The works of Dabiri are classified into three distinct eras: first, his studying years; second, his big murals and paintings during the Revolution; and third, his works after 1981, which reflect various different dimensions of modernistic painting.
Dabiri is engaged with both modernism and tradition. His works are narratives that, at times, mix his fundamental beliefs with the language of life and contemporary painting to express the concepts within his mind. He has his own narrative and symbolic style, method and criteria and depicts the world sometimes delicately and poetically and at other times violently and horrifically. Nevertheless, he does not paint with the obsolete beliefs of his predecessors. In both cases, he creates a beautiful scene. Dabiri uses certain techniques that he has acquired through his experiences. For instance, he sometimes paints one scene within another, thus demonstrating an event that is taking place inside another.
What is significant in Dabiri’s paintings is his consistency of thought. Each of his works inevitably belongs to his mental world, and he paints with the same language and images that have been constructing his dreams for a very long time. He does not wish to create a world and space in a traditional, systematic easily decodable way. Rather, he tends to develop an atmosphere of infinity in which explicitness is inefficient; consequently, his works enjoy a deeper visual effect. His paintings are often based on epics or tragedies. The tragic essence may not be implied on the canvas directly, but may unveil itself within the dramatic circumstances of the figures in the painting. The forms and conditions encompassing their surroundings exhibit the force of destiny and tell of the pains and sufferings of humankind.
One of the important features of his works, which are combinations of drawing and painting, is that they both reassure the spectator of their being representations of real objects while mystifying him or her as to their actual meaning. There is no doubt over what has been painted; the hesitation arises about the time and place and purpose of the painting, and why the endlessness of space intentionally is broken where it is. At times it seems that certain images have been maintained in a vast but scattered space in which the pulse of life continues beating, and the sound of its breath is clearly audible.

Exhibitions

2021 Group show, "Birds", Soo Contemporary, Tehran
2020 Group show, "Summer's Color ", Shamideh Art Gallery, Tehran
2020 Group show, "Shabtab 8 - Online Viewing", Azad Art Gallery, Tehran
2020 Group show, "Shabtab (7)", Azad Art Gallery, Tehran
2020 Group show, "Editions", Aknoon Gallery, Isfahan
2020 Group show, "Carbafoo - Collection I", Saye Gallery, Tehran
2019 Group show, "Painting and Sculpture Show", Sarv-E Naz Gallery, Shiraz
2019 Group show, "Eye of The City", Sarv-E Naz Gallery, Shiraz
2019 Group show, "Editions", Aria Gallery, Tehran
2019 Group show, "Collector 3", Artibition, Tehran
2018 Solo show, "Painiting Show", Golestan Gallery, Tehran
2018 Solo painting show, Golestan Gallery, Tehran
2018 Group show, "Painting Show", Sohrab, Tehran
2018 Group show, "I Sohrab Sepehri", Dd Museum Gallery, Mazandaran
2018 Group show, "Free Sale", Tarahane Azad Gallery, Tehran
2018 Group show, "6th International Art for Peace Festival", Pardis Mellat, Tehran
2018 Group painting show, Sohrab, Tehran
2013 Summer group painting show by 60 Artists
2012 Show, Seyhoon Gallery, Tehran
2010 Sole shows, Golestan Gallery, Tehran
2009 Group show, Hana Gallery, Tehran
2009 Group show, Haft Negah, Tehran
2008 Solo painting show, Atbin Gallery, Tehran
2008 Group show, Tirgan, Toronto, Canada
2007 Sole show, Mekic Gallery, Montreal, Canada
2007 Sole show, Collages and Drawings based on the Saadie’s Poetry, Shirin Gallery, Tehran
2007 Sole show, Arta Gallery, Toronto, Canada
2006 Sole shows, Neek House Gallery, Yazd, Iran
2006 Sole show, "A Handful of Dust", Tiles and Vases, Golestan Galley, Tehran
2006 Show, Painting and sculpture by Bahram Dabiri, Simin Ekrami, Ramtin Hotel, Tehran
2005 Painting show, Mah Art Gallery, Tehran
2004 Painting show, "Gol va Morgh", Saadabad Palace, Tehran
2003 Painting show, House of Artists, Tehran
2003 Group show, Bernak Gallery, Bremen, Germany
2003 Group show, "Autumn", Hotel Mirage, Dubai
2002 Painting show, "Bahram’s Classics", Seyhoun Gallery, Tehran
2002 Group show, "Spring", Hotel Mirage, Dubai
2001 Solo painting show, 20 selected works, Marbella Country Club, Marbella, Spain
2001 Sole show, "Bahram Dabiri's Insects (Metamorphosis)", Ave Gallery, Tehran
2001 Sole show, "Bahram Dabiri's Inscriptions", Golestan Gallery, Tehran
2001 Sole show, "25 Leaves from a Lost Book", Seyhoon Gallery, Tehran
2001 Group show, Iranian Artists’ Forum, Tehran
2001 Group show, "Total Arts at the Courtyard", Dubai
2000 Show, Symbolic expression in the Iranian contemporary painting, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Arts, Iran
2000 Group show, Reagan Center, Washington, D.C., USA
2000 Group show, Contemporary Iranian Modern Art, New York
2000 Group show of allegorical themes in Iranian modern paintings, Museum of Contemporary Arts, Tehran
2000 Group painting show, Art Expo New York, New York
2000 Group painting show of Iranian artists, Shevchenko Museum, Kiev, Ukraine
1999 Show, Tensil Paintings, Pasargad Gallery, Tehran
1999 Group show, "Total Arts at the Courtyard", Dubai, UAE
1998 Solo stained glass show, Passargad Gallery, Tehran
1998 Solo show, "The Hens and Roosters of Bahram Dabiri", Golestan Gallery, Tehran
1998 Sole shows, "Envelopes", Niavaran Book City, Tehran
1997 Solo show, Works of the Shiraz School, Personal Workshop, Tehran
1997 Commissioned to produce 120 collages and 3 bas-reliefs for Istiqlal Hotel, Tehran
1996 Solo show, Ceramics and Metals, Golestan Gallery, Tehran
1996 Solo calligraphy and drawing show, Personal workshop, Tehran
1996 Sole etchings & drawings Show, Tehran
1996 Show, "Felt Rugs: Second Generation", Golestan Gallery, Tehran
1996 Private show, Etchings & Drawings, Tehran
1996 Group show, Mixed Media: Metal & Ceramic Works, Golestan Gallery, Tehran
1995 Solo show, "Felt Rugs", Golestan Gallery, Tehran
1994 Solo show, Seyhoun Art Gallery, Tehran
1993 Solo show, Arya Gallery, Tehran
1993 Group painting show, Abi Gallery, Babol
1992 Solo show, Personal workshop, Tehran
1992 Solo painting show, 50 Works, Tehran, Iran
1992 Shared show with Hannibal Alkhas, Abi Gallery, Babol, Iran
1992 Group painting show in support of Bosnian Women & Children
1991 Show, "Collages", Golestan Gallery, Tehran
1990 Show, 70 works, Private Viewing, Tehran
1990 Drawing show, "Birds & Looks", Open-Air Show, Darakeh Mountains, Tehran, Iran
1989 Solo show, Personal Workshop, Tehran
1989 Solo show, Pafar Gallery, Tehran
1988 Solo show, Nashr Noghreh, Tehran
1987 Iranian mythological drawings show, Artist's Workshop, Tehran
1986 Solo show, "Figures", Personal workshop, Tehran
1986 Paintings & portraits show, Artist's workshop, Tehran
1985 Solo show, "Curtains", Personal Workshop, Tehran
1985 Mythological studies show, "Paintings & Drawings", Artist’s workshop, Tehran
1984 Solo show, "Still Life", Personal workshop, Tehran
1984 Solo design show, Personal Workshop, Tehran
1984 Landscape studies show, Private workshop, Tehran
1982 Group painting show, Museum of Contemporary Arts, Tehran
1981 Show, The Council of Iranian Writers and Artists, Tehran
1981 Group painting show, Museum of Contemporary Arts, Tehran
1980 Solo show, Commissioned Works, Mural Painting, Khazaneh Bus Terminal, Tehran
1980 Show, The Council of Iranian Writers and Artists, Tehran
1980 Painting show, Reopening Show, Museum of Contemporary Arts, Tehran
1980 Live painting show, "In Front of People", Bagh Ferdows, Tehran
1980 Group show, Iranian Writers & Artists Assembly, Tehran
1980 Group mobile shows in the northern cities of Iran
1979 Show, Tehran Gallery, Iran
1979 Group painting show, Reopening, Museum of Contemporary Arts, Tehran
1979 Group live painting show, "Before the Public", Bagh Ferdows, Tehran
1978 Solo painting show, Tehran Gallery, Iran
1977 Solo show, Tehran Gallery, Iran
1977 Shared show with Hannibal Alkhas, Naqsh Gallery, Tehran
1977 Group painting show, Derici Gallery, Shiraz
1977 Group drawing show, Naghsh Gallery, Tehran
1976 Solo painting show, Seyhoon Gallery, Tehran
1976 Solo painting show, Goethe Institute, Tehran
1976 Group painting show, Derici Gallery, Shiraz
1976 Group drawing show, Naghsh Gallery, Tehran
1975 Solo shows, Goethe Institute, Tehran
1975 Solo show, Seyhoun Art Gallery, Tehran
1968 Solo painting show, Sepid Gallery, Tehran