Abbas Akhavan lives and works in Toronto. He was born in 1977 in Tehran.

Abbas Akhavan's approach can take different forms: contextual ephemeral installations, drawings, videos, sculptures or performances.
His artistic research is greatly influenced by the specificity of the places where he works: their architecture, the economies that surround them and the people who frequent them.

Abbas Akhavan is interested in the private sphere, which he sees as a complex place that is both a symbol of hospitality and hostility.

This domestic space focuses a lot of emotions, and represents an important source of investigation and reflection for his work. In fact, he has extended the notion of "domestic space" to spaces close to dwellings: the garden, backyards, terraces and other uninhabited spaces.

 

In Saché, Akhavan has established a dialogue between his works, the strong presence of landscapes and natural elements that he has integrated into his approach. The artist invited the spectator to question the presence of his works in the studio, how they interact with each other and respond to the close environment of the Atelier Calder.

 

Abbas Akhavan has been invited in residence at the Marcelino Botin Foundation with Mona Hatoum (Spain), on the occasion of the Printemps de Septembre in Toulouse, Trinity Square Video, Westerne Front, and Fogo Islands (Canada), at the Watermill Center (Canada), Delfina Foundation (Dubai, UAE London).

He has had several solo exhibitions: Study for a Curtain The Third Line, Dubai, UAE (2015); Variations on a Garden, Mercer Union, Toronto, Canada (2013); Study for a Garden, Delfina Foundation, London (2012).

 

 

 

Abbas Akhavan is the winner of the Kunstpreis Berlin (2012), Abraaj Capital Art Prize (2014) and Sobey Art Award (2015).

 

 

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