Background
Ali Akbar Sadeghi was born on 1937 in Teheran, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran.
Ali Akbar Sadeghi was born on 1937 in Teheran, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran.
Sadeghi is an art graduate from the College of Art, University of Tehran.
Sadeghi began to teach painting in high school in the 1950s. His early works were with watercolor, but in 1959, after entering College of Art, he started oil painting and drawing. Ali initiated a particular style in Persian painting, influenced by Coffee House painting, iconography, and traditional Iranian portrait painting, following the Qajar tradition that is a mixture of a kind of surrealism, influenced by the art of stained glass. He created his early works in graphics and illustration. Moreover, he is among the first individuals involved in the Center for the Intellectual Development of Children and the Youth, and was among the founders of the Film Animation department of that institute.
Apart from illustration, he has published a number of books for that Center and has made seven films by using his style in painting. Films produced by Sadeghi have won more than 15 awards at International Film Festivals. Also, for his book illustrations he has won four international awards. After the Iranian Revolution, Sadeghi seriously pursued painting. In 1989 he founded Sabz Gallery, which was actively exhibiting the works of Iranian painters until 2003. In total, he has participated in over 50 individual and group exhibitions, over 7 volumes of books of the collection of his works have been published, and he has been a member of jury panels in over 10 international biennial exhibitions.
Sadeghi has been artistically active in the past 60 years. His works are created in a Persian surrealism, based on Iranian forms and compositions of traditional paintings, the use of Iranian iconography, and the use of Persian cultural motifs, signs and myths, full of movement and action, in prominent and genuine oil colors, in large frames, very personal, reminiscent of epic traditional Persian paintings and illustrations.
Sadeghi draws on the rich traditions of Persian art in his evocative paintings, but adds to them a surreal edge. His meticulous detailing, intricate scenes and the subject matter, often heroes in full armor, follow the traditions of miniature painting.
Ali Akbar Sadeghi has been a member of jury panels in over 10 international biennial exhibitions.
