BABAK ROSHANINEJAD

MORE ON ARTIST

Born in 1977 in Hamedan, Iran, Babak Roshaninejad has been inspired and influenced by social philosophy and the global language of visual arts. A self-taught painter, he uses painting not only to express his views on culture and in particular the social effects of visual culture, but to also emphasis on the power of art as an expressive tool in creating cross cultural dialogue.

Known for his large and limited colour canvases, Roshaninejad is particularly concerned and pays special attention to form, composition and the aesthetics of his paintings. The use of conventional tools, namely oil paint, is no longer merely a painterly technique to him, rather, the rhythm of the palette knife and the thickness and body of the paint, the solidity of colours and the feeling they induce are all there at work to present art as ‘language’, as well as being an aesthetic visual metaphor.

Roshaninejad believes in the very inventive and thought-provoking approach to reality. In his series, he is analysing the world and the aesthetic quality in the everyday things around us; things we tend to bypass and ignore. In his approach, Roshaninejad aims to focus on, and transform the mundane into “art”, using the very act of painting.

The overall images that he creates are extreme; the result of his unique artistic approach to what makes the mainstream. What helps complete each piece are the seemingly strange but meaningful titles he chooses for each of his serious. The titles and the large characteristic of his signature on each painting are not only the elements enhancing and completing each work but they also suggest Roshaninejad’s deep engagement with the ink between “subject” and “object”.

Roshaninejad lives and works in Tehran. As well as being part of some prominent private collections, his work is in the permanent collection of The Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art. His art has been exposed in a number of art fairs and has been the subject of several exhibitions worldwide. Apart from painting, he has also published several books of fiction and aphorism.