Arghavan Khosravi

Arghavan Khosravi studied at University of Tehran, Rhode Island School of Design and Islamic Azad University. The recorded working language is Persian and English. Residence is recorded at Tehran and Stamford. Work by Arghavan Khosravi is recorded in the collections of Rose Art Museum, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Currier Museum of Art and Newport Art Museum. Distinctions recorded are Joan Mitchell Foundation.

• Name — Arghavan Khosravi • Native Name — ارغوان خسروی • Born — 1984 • Birthplace — Shahr-e Kord, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, Iran • Education — Brandeis University • Alma Mater — Islamic Azad University, University of Tehran, Rhode Island School of Design • Occupation — painter, sculptor, illustrator • Movement — Surrealism • Awards — Joan Mitchell Foundation (2019) • Website — Official website

Arghavan Khosravi was born in 1984 in Shahr-e Kord, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Province, Iran. She moved to Tehran when she was 8 years old and was raised in a secular household. In part due to Iranian societal issues in the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution, at an early age she was made aware of the distinct difference between public and private spaces. The theme of the compartmentalized self was one that carried on in her later-made artwork. Khosravi earned a BFA degree (2006) in graphic design from Islamic Azad University; an MFA degree (2009) in illustration from the University of Tehran; and a MFA degree (2018) in painting from Rhode Island School of Design.

Several years after attending the University of Tehran, Khosravi worked as a graphic designer and children's book illustrator. She has illustrated around 20 books. She was detained by the morality police in 2011. In 2015, she moved to the United States to finish her education. She attended a one-year postbaccalaureate program at Brandeis University. In her artwork, she juxtaposes contradictions in her images between freedom and restraints; and they often feature dream-like colorful and whimsical gardens, and something disturbing happening such as someone purposely limiting or obstructing the freedom of the female subject's bodily movement. She uses traditional Persian textile patterns in many of her paintings. Hair as a symbol has been used in many of her works; which a global audience took notice to after the Mahsa Amini protests in 2022.

In 2019, Khosravi had her first solo exhibition in a gallery at Lyles & King in New York City. The exhibition featured 12 of her pieces, and was shown from October 11, 2019 to November 24, 2019. In 2022, she held her first solo museum exhibition at the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, New Hampshire. The exhibition was shown from April 14, 2022 to September 5, 2022 and featured over 20 works made in the years leading up to the exhibition. The exhibition was curated by the assistant curator at The Currier, Samantha Cataldo.

• M+B Gallery (2020) in Los Angeles • Rachel Uffner gallery (2021) in New York City • Carl Kostyal Gallery (2021) in London • Rockefeller Center (2022) • Kavi Gupta Gallery (2022) in Chicago • Stems Gallery (2022) in Belgium • Koenig Gallery (2022) in Germany

• 2021, "Uncombed, Unforeseen, Unconstrained," an official collateral exhibition of the 59th Venice Biennale • Museum of Contemporary Art in Yinchuan, China • Orlando Museum of Art in Florida • Newport Art Museum in Rhode Island • Provincetown Art Association and Museum in Massachusetts