Biography



Bahram Dabiri was born in the city of Shiraz, Iran, in the year of the Tiger, 1950, under the sign of Sagittarius whose symbol, the Centaur with bow and arrow, figure greatly in his works. Dabiri spent his childhood years gazing at the bas-reliefs and sculptures on the walls nearby the Persepolis and at the splendid inscription on the Naqsheh Rustam Monument. At the age of twelve, without encouragement or tutelage, Dabiri started his career in what he likes to call "The Paintings". The following 47 years were spent painting out those memories and uniting them with the world he came to live in as an adult.

Rouin Pakbaz once said of Dabiri's works: 'In practicing his art, Dabiri has, in his recent paintings, reached his desired objectives. Mastery in his choice of colors, facility in design, uniformity in creativeness, polymorphous positioning of elements in depictions, and a firm basis for his imaging, are all plainly observable features in these paintings. The thoughtfully conceived order apparent in most of the drawings, manifest a kind of spontaneity and free flowing expression of action. But amongst the most important new elements to emanate from Dabiri's current works, is the basis upon which the quest arises and the complex message is represented by the images. By using visible contrivances, he succeeds in conveying the puzzling and hidden meanings of his messages to the viewer.

His message, especially in his depiction of seated women, is most illuminating. Movements made visible by the use of color, fusion of shapes, and the synergy of shadowy forms and figures, seemingly half protruding in relief, all tend to draw the attention of the viewer to the painting while at the same time, inspiring a sense of excitement.

However, the presence of pastel shades of color in the renderings, by giving a placid and mild rhythm to the creative and decorative depictions, produce a relative symmetry to the overall form and thereby bring back a calm stability to the paintings.

The canvases do not ascribe to either a fixed time or place. The reason for the presence of beings and objects in the paintings, are, at once, both real and imaginary. The looks and movements awaken a long past memory and at the very same time, forebode a future event. A murky and bothersome question arises about existence, which stops the routine daily cycle of life for a moment. But, in that fleeting moment, no finite answer to this question can be given. The existence of anything pivots on the border between certainty and doubt. Now we ask ourselves, what is the thing that we can believe in Dabiri's world? Is it the permanence of fiction or the inconstancy of reality? Which one does the artist choose when he is faced with the duality of physical reality as opposed to spiritual existence? Is it the acclamation of life, love, and beauty or fear of the loss of these graces? It is in this manner that Dabiri compels his viewers to start a mental discussion within themselves. Therein lies his success and this success was not easily achieved.' Dabiri is presently living and working in Tehran.

www.bahramdabiri.com