FEREYDOUN AVE

A life spent between Europe, America, and Iran has informed the formal and theoretical basis for Ave’s art. He was born in Tehran in 1945 and completed his primary and secondary education in England. With a career grounded in the theatre and film world, he gained a BA in Theatre Arts from Arizona State University in 1969 and studied film at New York University in 1969-70. Prior to the Iranian Revolution, he worked as a stage and graphic designer at the Iran American Society in Tehran, was Resident designer for the National Theatre, Tehran, and was advisor to National Iranian Television and the Shiraz Arts Festival. Between 1974 and 1979 he was acting artistic director of the Zand Gallery in Tehran. After the Revolution, in the 1980s, he created his own alternate space, 13 Vanak Street, not functioning since June 2009. Ave’s work is represented in various collections in the US including that of his friend and mentor, the legendary painter Cy Twombly’s Foundation; as well as the Contemporary Art Museum, Tehran; the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Lloyds Bank, Geneva, and the British Museum, London.