MEHRDAD RASHIDI

MEHRDAD RASHIDI
(1963 | IRAN)

Mehrdad Rashidi was born in the town of Sari in Northern Iran in 1963. At the age of 20 he fled Iran because of his strongly held political views and settled in Germany. In 2006, for no particular reason, he began to draw. He found it relaxed him and made him feel happy, he also thought of his homeland, his childhood and easier times in his life whilst he doodled on any piece of paper that came to hand. Using old notebooks, envelopes, shopping receipts and discarded advertising pamphlets, he gradually, in what seems to be an obsessive and compulsive surge of creativity, began to produce an extraordinary, and hauntingly beautiful body of work. This outpouring has continued to this day, the momentum, and the joy it has given the artist have not ceased. In 2012 he was offered a one man show in Dusseldorf which received much acclaim. The Henry Boxer Gallery had exhibited some of his work at the Outsider Art Fair in 2013.

MEHRDAD RASHIDI
(1963 | IRAN)

Mehrdad Rashidi è nato nella città di Sari, nel nord dell’Iran, nel 1963. All’età di 20 anni fuggì dal suo paese a causa delle sue opinioni politiche e si stabilì in Germania. Nel 2006, senza alcuna ragione, incominciò a disegnare, trovando in tal pratica un mezzo di sfogo e felicità, uno strumento per ricordare la sua infanzia e la sua vita in patria. Da quel momento scarabocchiò su qualsiasi pezzo di carta trovasse in giro, vecchi quaderni, buste, ricevute commerciali, opuscoli pubblicitari e, a poco a poco, in quello che sembrava essere un creativo impulso ossessivo compulsivo, Mehrdad produsse un insieme straordinario di opere. Tale creazione continua tutt’ora, con slancio e felicità, elementi mai venuti meno nell’artista stesso. Nel 2012 gli venne dedicata una mostra a Dusseldorf, dove ricevette molto successo. La Henry Boxer Gallery espose i suoi lavoro all’Outsider Art Fair del 2013.

Untitled, 2016, ink and tempera on paper
Untitled, ca. 2009, ballpoint pen ink on found paper © Henry Boxer Gallery, London
Transport, ballpoint pen on paper © Henry Boxer Gallery, London