NASIM HANTEHZADEH
b. 1988, IranWorking in oil, pastel and graphite, across both canvas and paper, Iranian-American Nasim Hantehzadeh brings together freewheeling figurative elements in vibrant and arresting compositions that allude to a range of references, including Paleolithic cave paintings and indigenous art from Mexico, Islamic architecture and ancient Persian rug patterns. Hantehzadeh’s work often reflects their particular interest in Mayan and pre-Islamic art and artefacts, occasioned by evidence of matriarchal and gender-fluid practices that existed in these cultures prior to European colonisation. Embellished orifices and sexual organs populate Hantehzadeh’s work, transfigured from the corporeal to the otherworldly in an earthy palette that complements their biomorphic and abstract forms.
Hantehzadeh’s work draws on both personal and collective memory, with particular focus on liminal states of being. The artist returned to the United States – their country of birth – after being raised in Iran until early adulthood, and their deeply personal works reflect this cultural duality in the hybrid forms that occupy their paintings and drawings. Hantehzadeh creates moving narratives examining the shifting spaces that coalesce around identity, personhood, sexuality and race, evoking a world in which categories are deliberately in flux and undefined. They eschew dogmatic binaries in favour of a more nuanced approach to gender.
Nasim Hantehzadeh (b. 1988, Stillwater, Oklahoma) lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. They earned a BA from the University of Tehran Center for Art and Architecture in 2010, a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2013, and an MFA from the University of California Los Angeles in 2018. In 2022, Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London, presented Hantehzadeh’s first European solo exhibition, _Ray of Light. _ Recent exhibitions include Mehmooni Part II, Nazarian / Curcio, Los Angeles, CA __(2025); Queer Histories, Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP), Brazil, curated by Julia Bryan-Wilson (2024); Halfway to Sanity: Inaugural Group Exhibition, The Pit, Los Angeles, CA (2024); Nasim Hantehzadeh: Mutates and Grows, Nina Johnson, Miami, FL (2023); The Moth and The Thunderclap, Modern Art, London (2023); Where Cloudy Waters Collide..., Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London (2022); Solo Booth, The Pit, Frieze Los Angeles, CA (2022); and Orgasmic, Nina Johnson, Miami, FL (2021), amongst others. They have received the Resnick Grant, the D’Arsy Hayman Grant and the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Award. Collections include Frederick R Weisman Art Foundation, Los Angeles, CA; Jorge Pérez, Miami, FL; Dieresis Collection, Guadalajara, Mexico; GAIA Collection, Mexico; Isabel and Agustín Coppel Collection, Mexico; and Lynda and Stewart Resnick Collection, USA.
Text courtesy Pippy Houldsworth Gallery.
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