Ali Banisadr, born in 1976 in Tehran, Iran, emigrated to California with his family in 1988 at the age of twelve, where he became immersed in the local graffiti art scene while studying psychology. He later moved to New York City, earning a BFA from the School of Visual Arts (2005) and an MFA from the New York Academy of Art (2007), and he currently resides and works in Brooklyn, NY. Banisadr’s expansive, highly detailed paintings evoke tumultuous worlds, where intricate rhythms and a rich array of references from art history converge to offer profound reflections on the human condition.
His work draws from a vast spectrum of sources, including ancient and contemporary history, mythology, personal experience, and sonic memories, creating unique realms that explore both the personal and the collective. His paintings are informed by a dazzling mastery of various artistic traditions—from the precision of Persian miniatures and the energy of Abstract Expressionism to the narrative clarity of Dutch masters, the splendor of Venetian Renaissance art, and the surrealist impulses of early 20th-century painters. Banisadr’s scenes are both figurative and abstract, blending autobiographical narratives with larger themes of world history and collective memory.
His first major U.S. survey will be held in 2025 at the Katonah Museum of Art in New York, and his work is included in prestigious public collections worldwide, including the British Museum, the Centre Pompidou, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden ,and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Notable solo exhibitions have taken place at institutions such as the Museo Stefano Bardini and palazzo Vecchio in Florence (2021), the Benaki Museum in Athens (2020), the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford (2020), and Gemäldegalerie, Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna, Austria (2019); while his work has also been featured in significant group exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale (2013-14) and the Prague Biennale (2013), Victoria and Albert Museum, London (2021), Museum of Fine Arts ,Houston (2017), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY (2012). A major book will be published in March 2025 by Yale University press with critical essays by Dr. Gražina Subelytė, Associate Curator, Peggy Guggenheim Collection; Dr. Bill Sherman, Director, The Warburg Institute, University of London; and Michelle Yun Mapplethorpe, Director, Katonah Museum of Art. It will also feature a transcribed conversation with the artist and noted art historian Robert Storr.