Artist Name: Arghavan Khosravi
Residency Dates: June – August
Date of Birth: 1984
Place of Birth: Teheran, Iran
Lives and works: Provincetown, MA
Artist URL: https://arghavankhosravi.wixsite.com/portfolio
Education: 2018 Master of Fine Arts in Painting, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI; 2016 Post-baccalaureate, Studio-Art program, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA; 2009, Master of Fine Arts in Illustration, University of Tehran, Iran; 2006 Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
Bio/Statement:
Arghavan Khosravi creates mixed media paintings which probe personal and political experiences from her native Iran, and which interweave historical Persian motifs with 21st-century imagery borrowed from popular culture and contemporary media. Replete with surreal situations, objects, and characters that demand a narrative only the viewer can provide, the paintings evoke a sense of historical and personal affairs being out of balance. State monuments, state actors, archeological relics and traditional Iranian textiles ornament and frame Khosravi’s images both visually and culturally, while painted figures appear unmoored by gravity or masked by unexplained blindfolds. Featuring tromp-l’oeil female bodies that reach beyond national boundaries and traditional historical narratives, Khosravi’s detailed works provide an alternative space for reflection within reality. As a reaction to the Muslim travel ban in the US, she also created a series of paintings that incorporate her Iranian passport as their foundation, replete with situations, objects, and characters that demand a narrative only the viewer can provide.
Selected solo and group exhibitions include: 2019, SPRING/BREAK , New York (curated by Kristen Smoragiewicz); Four, Yossi Milo Gallery, New York; 2018, The Shapes of Birds: Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa, Newport Art Museum, Newport, RI; Strange Beach, Fridman Gallery, New York; Counter Narratives: Geographies of the Unfamiliar featuring ten recent graduates of Rhode Island School of Design’s MFA Program in Painting, (curated by Sara Reisman), Asya Geysberg Gallery, New York; I’m Yer Virgil, Super Dutchess Gallery, New York, NY; • “Where’s Your Privilege, R(ace) I(dentity)?”, Hera Gallery, South Kingstown, RI; 2017, UN/SETTLED, RISD Museum, Providence, RI; RISD MFA Painting Group Exhibition, Morgan Lehman Gallery, New York; 2016, Last Reminiscent of Heaven, Homa Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran, 2016; 2015, Passing the Blues of Days, Atbin Gallery, Tehran, Iran; 2014, Like Breeze on Trees, Hena Gallery, Tehran, Iran; 2009, Illustration for Handicapped Children’s Stories, group exhibition, Children’s Book Council, Iran Artists Organization, Tehran.
In 2018 she was selected to participate in the following residencies: Fine Arts Work Center, Provincetown, MA; Monson Arts, Monson, MN (awarded by the Division of Fine Arts at RISD) and the Studios at MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA.
AWARDS & FELLOWSHIPS include: Walter Feldman Fellowship 2017 – 2018; Arts and Business Council, Boston, MA; Jacques and Natasha Gelman Trust Graduate Scholarship 2017 – 2018 supported by Ms. Janet Neschis & Ms. Marylin Diamond, Providence, RI The Professor Baruch Kirschenbaum Term Scholarship 2017 – 2018 supported by Ms. Harriet Judith Roaman, Providence, RI Graduate Fellowship 2016 – 2018 Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI Graduate Teaching Assistantship 2016 – 2018 Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI Sandra Shea ‘ 56 Fisher Prize 2016 for Exceptional Achievement in the Creative Arts Brandeis University, Waltham, MA Graduate Teaching Assistantship 2015 – 2016 Brandeis University, Waltham, MA
Public Collections:
The Newport Art Museum, Newport, RI
The Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence, RI
Support: Arghavan Khosravi’s residency is made possible with funding from the Cultural Development Fund, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and National Endowment for the Arts /Artworks Grant.
