BIOGRAPHY
Ghasem Hajizadeh (b.1974)Born in 1947 in Iran, Ghassem Hajizadeh is a leading artist of his generation. His admiration for old photographs and Iranian popular culture in addition to the diverse painting techniques he employs result in some unique and hearty pictorial expressions.
He received his diploma in arts from Tehran High School of Fine Arts in 1967 and soon after started his art career. During his early years of work, Hajizadeh’s works were mostly abstract. However, after contacts and friendship with Ardeshir Mohasses, he changed his style and concentrated on figurative art. During the 1960s and early 1970s, Mohasses encouraged him to pursue pop art movement, which was thriving in the United States. In 1972, Hajizadeh participated in the first art exhibition, held by Iran–America Society.
In his paintings, Hajizadeh abstracts old photos by reproducing some sections and combining some related and unrelated images into a new unity. By using a mixture of techniques of watercolor, acrylic, gouache, pencil, pastel and varnish he creates incredibly contemporary imagery with a sense of nostalgia. By adding his own futuristic perspective to the old snapshots, he twists and twirls the documental value of each photograph and creates an artistic interpretation of the popular culture.
During his career in arts, his works have extensively been shown on galleries and museum around the world, such as the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, the National Museum of Seoul, the National Museum of Bangladesh and the International Museum of Naïve Art in France only to name a few.
In 1986, he fled to France, where he currently lives and works.
