Iran Darroudi is a contemporary Iranian artist, living between Tehran and Paris. Her art consists of surreal paintings dealing with Iranian themed imagery and strong lighting.
Background
Iran Darroudi was born on September 2, 1936 in Mashhad, Iran to a family consisting of traders from Khorasan on her fathers side and on her mothers side the family was Caucasian merchants who had settled in Mashhad. Her family moved to Hamburg, Germany for her fathers business in 1937 and by the early 1940s they were forced to leave because of the beginnings of World War II. By 1945 her family returned to Mashhad.
Education
Darroudi studied at Ecole Superier des Beaux-Arts in Paris, history of art at the École du Louvre in Paris, stained glass at the Royal Academy of Brussels, and television direction and production at the RCA Institute in New York City.
Career
In 1968 Darroudi was commissioned by the ITT corporation to create an artwork, entitled Iranian Petroleum, on the occasion of the launch of a pipeline from Abadan to Mashahr. The painting generated a great deal of media interest and was published in the likes of Time magazine, Newsweek and Life Magazine - to name but a few. The artwork was later dubbed "Our Veins, the Earth's Veins," by Ahmad Shamlu, a distinguished Iranian poet.
Following her success in arts, Darroudi took on a new adventure. In New York City she met her husband, Parviz Moghadasi, who was also studying television directing at the time. The two began to collaborate with each-other on various projects at a newly established television production company. Over the period of six years, they produced over 80 documentaries about both Iranian and international artists. Her work was consequently recognised by Iran's university of Sharif, where she was invited to lecture the History of Art as an honorary professor.
Her latest project takes Darroudi back to her motherland, where she has donated some 150 works of art to a foundation named after her to be put on permanent display for the people of Iran.