ARTISTS \ Abbas Kowsari
For Abbas Kowsari (Tehran, 1970) photography is an enduring source of power and a way of talking to the world. He has worked for over ten years at Iranian leading newspapers, most of them now banned from publishing. He currently works as the senior photo editor for Shargh newspaper in Tehran. Internationally he has been published in the New York Times, Time magazine, Paris Match and Der Spiegel amongst others.
Kowsari’s work is balanced somewhere between documentary photography and fine art – his saturated colours, delicate washes, and refined emotional content sit alongside his wry commentaries, and distanced characters, playing out scenes within his frames like actors caught in a Brechtian drama. All are tangled in the web of history, moments stilled in time, events which one day will be reflected upon as “then”, “in those days”.
For the artist's complete and available work list, to enquire.
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Biography
Born in 1970, Tehran
Lives and works in Tehran
Education
2005-2006
MA Photography with Distinction, London College Communications
1997-2001
BA Double Hons French and Italian, 2:1, University College London
Solo Exhibitions
2014
Abbas Kowsari, The Wapping Project Bankside, London
2012
Light, Nicolas Silin Gallery, Paris
Light, Aaran Art Gallery, Tehran
2008
Shade Of Water – Shade Of Earth, Aaran Art Gallery, Tehran
Group Exhibitions
2014
Contemporary Iranian Photography, The Fine Arts Gallery of California State University, L.A.
Burnt Generation, Somerset House, London
2012
Light From The Middle East: New Photography, The Victoria and Albert Museum, London
2011
Good City for Dreamers, Nicolas Silin Gallery, Paris
My Super Hero, Morono Kiang Gallery, L.A
2010
TILT, Breda Photo Festival, Breda
A Positive View, Somerset House, London
Iran Diverso: Black Or White, Verso Arte Contemporanea Gallery, Torino
THE PROMISE OF LOSS:A CNTEMPORARY INDEX OF IRAN, Arario Gallery, New York
2009
One Day:A Collective Narrative Of Tehran, Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco
The Promise Of Loss:A Contemporary Index Of Iran, Brot Kunsthalle Gallery ,Vienna
Iran 1979-2009:Between Hope And Chaos, 30 Years Of Iranian Documentary Photography, Monnaie de Paris Museum, Paris
Second Biennial Photoquai, Quai Branly Museum, Paris
Iran Inside Out, Chelsea Art Museum, New York
2004
Muslims Muslims, La Vilette, Paris
2003
Portraits, French Embassy, Damascus
2002
Iran Contemporary Photographers, Assar Art Gallery, Tehran
Awards
2009
Prix Pictet, London – Nominated and shortlisted
Magic of Persia, London – Nominated and shortlisted
Monographs and Catalogues
2014
Amazingly Original: Contemporary Iranian Art at Crossroads
2012
Tehran Art, A Popular Revolution
2008
Iranian Photography Now
Transit Tehran: Young Iran And Its Inspiration