I am an Iranian/Canadian artist (b. 1977, Tehran, Iran) who has a studio-based practice in Vancouver, B.C. I work across a range of media in painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, and collage. My practice draws upon multiple approaches from miniature to life size, allowing micro and macro visions to inform each other. Miniature pieces are a blueprint for the larger works, while those on a larger scale contain the intricacies found in the smaller pieces. This interaction between forms and scales creates a dialogue, suggesting a shared world and a multitude of perspectives.
I work through a reductive-like process in which I construct multiple small and abstracted parts, made playfully with a diverse range of materials, and surfaces. They are then assembled or composed together to form intricate and more complex compositions and structures that elicit delight. My practice honours imagination as the prevailing human force that accompanies us in difficult times and leads us towards joy and hope. The playful rearrangements of abstracted parts tend to defy easy categorization and representation while revealing a story about both singular form and the whole.
My work has been published in various media outlets such as Preview magazine, Vancouver Sun, Ellele and Georgia Straight and The City Without Art? My work has been exhibited nationally and internationally in Toronto, Portland, Los Angeles, and Vancouver. I have been teaching an IB visual and culinary arts program at Brockton School in North Vancouver since 2012. I hold an honours degree in Fine Arts from the University of Waterloo, a postgraduate degree in New Media Design from Sheridan, Le Grand Diplome in cuisine and pastry from Le Cordon Bleu, Paris, Bachelor of Education and Masters of Art in Art Education from UBC.
EDUCATION
2023 University of British Columbia, MA in Art Education on A Turn To Domestic Objects
2012 University of British Columbia, B.Ed
2009 Le Cordon Bleu Paris, Le Grand Diploma
2002 University of Waterloo, Honours Fine Arts
2003 Sheridan College, Post Graduate New Media Design
EXHIBITION
2022 Next, Alternative Creations Gallery & Firehall Arts Centre, Vancouver
2022 King Sofa Abstract, Shockboxx Gallery, Hermosa Beach, Los Angeles
2022 Utopia The Not Yet, Grit Gallery, Port Moody
2022 25th Annual Eastside Culture Crawl, Parker Studios, Vancouver
2021 25th Annual Eastside Culture Crawl, Parker Studios, Vancouver
2020 7th Annual Abstract Catalyst, Verum Ultimum Gallery, Portland
2019 Displacement, Alternative Creations Gallery, Vancouver
2017 The Garden, Pendulum Gallery, Vancouver
2015 A Novel Collision, The Old Foundry Building, Vancouver
2015 The Gathering, Roam Gallery, Vancouver
2013 Colourplay, Pendulum Gallery, Vancouver
2012 Text-tile, Volution Gallery, Vancouver
2011 QR, Old Foundry Building, Vancouver
2011 Little Gems, Beaumont Gallery, Vancouver
2009 Art for Life, Elliott Louis Gallery, Vancouver
2009-2019 Eastside Culture Crawl, The Old Foundry Building, Vancouver
2004 Smalls, Locus Gallery, Vancouver
2002 And, University of Waterloo Art Gallery, Waterloo
2002 Pickled, Kitchener Public Library, Kitchener
1998-2002 SOFA's Annual Juried Exhibitions, University of Waterloo, Waterloo
2001 taciturnity, Front Gallery, University of Waterloo, Waterloo
2001-2002 40th and 41st Annual Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition, Toronto
2000 Works on Paper, Front Gallery, University of Waterloo, Waterloo
2000 Juried Exhibition, Student Life Centre, University of Waterloo, Waterloo
1999 4th Annual University of Waterloo Juried Exhibition, Eldon Gallery, Kitchener
1999 University of Waterloo Juried Exhibition, Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Kitchener
PRESS
2019 A City Without Art?, Exhibition and Forum publication for Displacement.
2019 Georgia Straight interview + the front cover page on the exhibition Displacement.
2017 Exhibition text for The Garden, Pendulum Gallery,Vancouver
2013 Exhibition text for Colourplay, Pendulum Gallery,Vancouver
2013 http://decoymagazine.ca/Ongoing/colourplay/
2012 UBC ART Education Award Winners, Vancouver Sun, Vancouver
2011 Vancouver Faces, Alelle, Vancouver
2011 Portrait of an Artist: Rojia Dadashzadeh The Georgia Straight online publication,
2009 Art For Life, 16th annual exhibition catalogue, Vancouver
2006 Channel M; Multivision Television: Paivand, by Ramin Mahjouri
2002 AND, exhibition catalogue, University of Waterloo Art Gallery, Waterloo
GRANTS, RESIDENCIES, AND AWARDS
2019 INSEA 2019 Conference presenter, UBC, Vancouver
2018 Recipient of Jeanette Andrews Student Research Award, UBC, Vancouver
2012-2013 ArtStart, artist in the classroom residency, Vancouver
2012 Recipient of Leon Tuey Scholarship in Art Education, UBC, Vancouver
2009 Recipient of Honorary “Mention Bien”, Le Cordon Bleu, Paris, London, and Ottawa.
2006 Honorary Appreciation Grant, Winterruption Festival, Vancouver
2003 Student Scholar, Sheridan College, Oakville