Parviz Tanavoli

Why this artist matters now

Parviz Tanavoli is an Iranian sculptor, painter, educator, and art historian. He is a pioneer within the Saqqakhaneh movement, a neo-traditionalist art movement. Tanavoli has been one of the most expensive Iranian artists in sales. Tanavoli series of sculpture work Heech are displayed in the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, at Hamline University, in the Aga Khan Museum, and as public art in Vancouver. Tanavoli has also written extensively on this history of Persian art and craftsmanship. Since 1989, Tanavoli has held dual citizenship in Iran and Canada, and has lived and worked in both Tehran, Iran and Horseshoe Bay, West Vancouver, British Columbia.