Reza Aramesh’s work has been exhibited in both solo and group exhibitions most recently during the Venice Biennale (2024), at the Bienal de la Habana (2024), Asia Society Museum in New York (2020), Met Breuer in New York (2018), SCAD Museum in Georgia Atlanta (2018), Akademie der Kunst Berlin (2016), the 2015 Venice Biennale, Art Basel Parcours 2017, Frieze Sculpture Park 2015 and 2017, and at Maxxi Museum in Rome (2016). He has orchestrated a number of performances and exhibitions in such spaces as at Barbican Centre, Tate Britain and ICA, London. His works have entered public and private collections worldwide including in Argentina, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, USA, Belgium, France, Iran, Lebanon and the UK.
Working in sculpture, drawing, embroidery, ceramics, video and performance in a succession of ‘actions’, Reza Aramesh draws inspiration from media coverage of international conflicts dating from the mid-20th century until present day. This coverage is then transformed into sculptural volumes in collaboration with non-professional models, who help him reenact his chosen source materials. No direct signs of war remain in the physical end results and the characters seem driven out of their initial contexts. Opposition between beauty and brutality allows the artist to unveil the absurdity and the futility of these actions. Aramesh de-contextualises these scenes of violence from their origins, exploring the narratives of representation and iconography of the subjected male body in the context of race, class and sexuality in order to create a critical conversation with the western art historical canon.
Exhibitions
2022
Muntref collection at MUNTREF Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Capitulo I - Presente continuo, Buenos Aires, Curated by Diana Wechsler
Pejman Collection at Pejman Foundation, Vanishing Point, Argo Factory, Tehran, Iran, Curated by Zohreh Deldadeh
14 Bienal de la Habana, Rupture; A Thousand and One Times, Museo de Artes Decorativas, Habana, Curated by Marianne Wagner and Nelson Ramirez de Arellano
Frieze No.9 Cork Street, Soft Edge of the Blade, London, Presented by Dastan Gallery
2021
Asia Society Triennial, We Do Not Dream Alone, Asia Society Museum, New York, Curated by Michelle Yun Mapplethorpe and Boon Hui Tan
Sculpture in the City - 9th Edition, Action 180: At 9:15am Sunday 28 May, 1967, London
2020
Fitzwilliam Museum’s Octagon Gallery, Sensual/Virtual: Two Coloured Sculptures, Cambridge, UK, Curated by Dr Victoria Avery and Luke Syson
Colnaghi London, Dreamsongs: from Medicine to Demons to Artificial Intelligence, London, Curated by Bjorn Stern for Frieze London 2020
252nd Summer/Winter show at the Royal Academy of Art, London Curated by Jane and Louise Wilson
2019
Nocturnal Creatures 2019, Scramble, 1967, performance at Bury Court, London
BIENALSUR 2019, Action 213, A taste of austere luminance, Museo Nacional de Arte Decorativo (MNAD), Buenos Aires, Argentina
Asia Society Museum, 12 noon, Monday 5 August, 1963, New York
2018
The MET Breuer, Like Life: Sculpture, Color and the Body (1300 - Now), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Curated by Luke Syson, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor, Sheena Wagstaff, Leonard A. Lauder Chairman, Brinda Kumar and Emerson Bowyer
Koroka Art Museum, WAR / VOJNA der KREIG, Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia, Curated by Marko Košan
2017
Yarat Contemporary Art Space, Crumbling Down, Up and Up we Climb, Baku, Azerbeijan, Curated by Suad Garayeva-Maleki and Bjorn Geldhof
H2 Centre for Contemporary art in the Glass Palace, Bilder Fragen, Kunstsammlungen and Museen, Ausburg, Germany, Curated by Thomas Elsen, Anastasia Khoroshilova and Gustavo Sagorsky
Frieze Sculpture Park 2017, Metamorphosis - a study in liberation, Curated by Clare Lilley
Art Basel Parcours 2017, Site of the Fall: Study of the Renaissance Garden, Curated by Samuel Leuenberger
Koroška Art Museum, WAR, Slovenj Gradec, Slovenia, Curated by Marko Košan
2016
Leila Heller Gallery, At 9:15 am Sunday 28 May 1967, Dubai
Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, L’arte differente: MOCAK al MAXXI, Exhibition of works from the MOCAK Collection, Rome, Italy, Curated by Maria Anna Potocka
MUNTREF Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Migrations (in) Contemporary Art, , Museum of the National University Tres de Febrero Buenos Aires, Argentina, Curated by Diana Wechsler
Academie de Künst, Uncertain States - Artistic Strategies in States of Emergency, Berlin, Germany, Curated by Dr. Anke Hervol
Art Centre Hugo Voeten, permanent Collection display, Herentals, Belgium
Ab-Anbar gallery, At 11:57 am Wednesday 23 October 2013, Tehran, Iran
Esfahan Museum of Contemporary Art, RTL: LTR, Esfahan, Iran, Curated by Tarlan Rafiee and Yashar Samimi Mofakham
1x1 Art Gallery, Poetics of Absence, Dubai, Curated by Cristiana de Marchi
2015
Sazmanab, Spring of Recession - Centrefold Project, Tehran, Iran
Venice Biennale Edition 56, The Iranian Pavilion, Venice, Itay, curated by Okwui Enwezor
Frieze Sculpture Park 2015, Curated by Clare Lilley
Leila Heller Gallery, Friday April 25, 2003 at 07:55, New York
MUNTREF Centro de Arte Contemporáneo, Migrants, curated by Diana Wechsler, Buenos Aires, Argentina
The Armory Show, New York
2014
Ab-Anbar gallery, At 11:08 March 14th, 2006, Tehran, Iran
Al Quoz Industrial 3, The Whistle of the Souls, a play that never starts, Dubai, Curated by Ali Bakhtiari
2013
Leila Heller Gallery, 12 MIDNIGHTS, multi-venue exhibition in collaboration with five nightclubs in NYC: Marquee, No. 8, Santos Party House, Sugarland and Bossa Nova Civic Club, New York
Goethe Institute Brussels, Cultural Freedom in Europe, Brussels, Belgium, Curated by Filip Luyckx
The Armory Show Centennial Edition, New York
2012
Le Loft Sévigné, Lost in paradise: du spirituel dans l'art actuel, Paris, France, Curated by Arianne Levene and Eglantine de Ganay
Curated by Arianne Levene and Eglantine de Ganay
Without Hope, Without Fear, Al Joud Center, UAE
The Elephant in the Dark, crated by Amirali Ghasemi, Devi Art, Foundation, Gurgaon, India
Migrasophia - ( Migration + Philosophy ), curated Sara Raza, Maraya Art Centre, Sharjah
ADVANCE/...NOTICE, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
2011
Walking in the Darkness of a Promised Light, Isabelle Van Den Eynde Gallery, Dubai, UAE (cat.)
Light – Part I, curated by Gabriel Rolt and Nick Hackworth, Paradise Row, London
Eat Me, Goodman Gallery, Cape Town
2010
Satement, Paris Photo 2009, curated by Catherine Davide, France (cat.)
Between the Eye and the Object falls the Shadow, Isabelle Van Den Eynde Gallery, Dubai, UAE (cat.)
Hope!: I’espoir, de Giacometti a Murakami, curated by Ashok Adiceam, Palais des Arts et du Festival, Dinard, France. (cat.)
2009
Live Action 71, curated by The Diogenes Club, Late at Tate Britain, London, UK
Relaunch, Sunbury House, London, UK
2008
Live Action 60, commissioned for Zoo Art Fair and CollectingLiveArt, London
Best of Discoveries, Shcontemporary, Shanghai, China. (cat.)
A World without Borders, Event Horizon, GSK Contemporary, Royal Academy of Art, London, UK
The Apartment, curated by Brian Chalkley and Lewis Amar, Royal London House, London
2007
You Were the Dead, Their’s Was the Future, seduced, Barbican Art Gallery, London, UK
Who is the Third that Walks Beside You?, Matthew Bown gallery, London, UK
Reza Aramesh, Watermans Centre, London, UK
We’ve Lost the Hearts and Minds..., Event gallery, London, UK (cat.)
Space Invasion, an International Offspace Project, various venues, Vienna, Austria (cat.)
Los Vinilos, Buenos Aires, Argentina
The Politics of Fear, Albion Gallery, London, UK. Temporary Measures, curated by Hut Projects, Associates Gallery, London, UK
Into Position, curated by Anthony Gross, Bauernmarkt
1 and 9, 1010 Vienna
The Lucifer Effect, curated by Gordon Cheung, Gallery Primo Alonso, London
2006
Live Action: I am a Believer, commissioned by ICA, Trafalgar Square, London, UK
Making a Scene, curated by Tal Yahas Haifa Museum of Art, Israel (cat.)
Metropolis Rise: New Art from London, CQL Design Centre, Shanghai and 798 Art District, Beijing, China (cat.) Culture Bound, East Wing Collection VII, Courtauld
Institute of Art, Somerset House, London, UK
Art Car Boot Fair, Brick Lane, London. Curated by Karen Ashton and Helen Hayward
2005
Live Action: The Key of Dreams, Gasworks Gallery, London, UK
Live Action: Of this Men Shall Know Nothing, Thomas Goode Shop, London, UK
USA . Defense, University of California, Sweeney Art Gallery
We Have Met The Enemy and He is Us, curated by Shezad Dawood, Redux Project Space, London, UK
Pencil (a drawing show), Carter presents, London
Contemporary Drawings, Parnassos Literary Society, Athens, Greece. Curated by Synthesis
2004
The eternal spring, Lawrence O’Hana gallery. London
U.K. So You’re Afraid of What?, curated by Centrefold, Redux Project Space, London, UK
Copy-art.net, curated by Irini Papadimitriou, ICA, London, UK
Gewalt, curated by Suhall Malik, Laushy Art, Tel Aviv Israel (cat.)
Sir ® Eel: The Suit since ’68: The Politics of Revulsion, curated by Peter Lewis, Redux Project Space, London, UK
Pilot1, Lime House Town hall, Lime House, London
Art Car Boot Fair, Truman Brewery, London, curated by Karen and Helen Asthon
Flea market, TemporaryContemporary, London
2003
Picture This, Platform Gallery, London, UK. Flaca, Flaca Gallery, London, Book Launch
2001
What if I Told the Truth?, curated by Reza Aramesh, Cell Projects, London, UK
Trick Peaser, curated by Luke Oxley, Mandarin Duck, London, UK
Teeth and Trousers, curated by Richard Priestly, Cell Projects, London, UK
Forever Yours, curated by Reza Aramesh, Victoria House, London, UK
Heart of Glass, curated by Esther Windsor, London, College of Printing, London, UK
Reza Aramesh. Desert Rose, Victoria House, London, UK
2000
Include Me Out, London. Curated by John Chilver
Wooden Heart, Avco, London. Curated by Reza Aramesh and Tina Spear
Collections -
The work has been collected by many public and private collections including:
- Tate UK
- Lazaar Foundation
- Hugo Voeten Foundation
- Mocak Museum Poland
- Rodin Museum
- Versaille Palace Collection - Zabludowicz Collection
Prizes & Awards -
2011 -
Nominated for a Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Visual Artists
2010 -
Nominated for a Paul Hamlyn Foundation Award for Visual Artists
2006 -
Artsadmin Bursary
2006 -
Arts Council of England grant for the ‘I am a Believer’ show hosted by the ICA
2004 -
London Arts Research and Development grant, Arts Council
Projects & Publications -
2018 -
Centrefold Project Issue 10
2017 -
Centrefold project Issue 9
2015 -
Friday April 25, 2003 at 07:55, Leila Heller Gallery, Murtaza Vali
Centrefold Scrapbook, Issue 9, Spring of recession, Sazmanab Centre for Contemporary Art, Tehran, Iran
At 11:08 March 14, 2006, Sazmanab centre for contemporary art, Ab-Anbar, David Thorp
2014 -
12MIDNIGHT, multi-venue exhibition in five nightclubs, New York Milovan Farronato, Media Farzin, Eugenio Viola
Crude Humanity, Sara Raza, The Whistle of the Souls
2012 -
Centrefold Scrapbook, Issue VIII, The Circle of Manias. Launch and exhibition/talk at Zabludowicz Collection, London
2011 -
Walking in the Darkness of a Promised Light, Isabelle Van Den Eynde Gallery
2010 -
Between the Eye and the Object falls the Shadow, Isabelle Van Den Eynde Gallery, Thomas Frangenberg
2008 -
Centrefold Scrapbook, Issue VII, A world without borders...
2007 -
Centrefold Scrapbook, Issue VI, It is is, And it is now only...
2006 -
Centrefold Scrapbook, Issue V, We’ve lost the heart and minds...
2005 -
Centrefold Scrapbook, Issue IV, I think I’ll Speak To...
Books -
“Reza Aramesh” Published by the Collectors’ Editions 2018
“Like Life Sculpture, Color, And the Body” Published by The MET New York 2018
“Uncertain States, Travelling Fragments” Published by Akademie Der Kunste, 2017
“At 11:57am Wednesday 23 October 2013” Published by Ab Anbar Gallery, Tehran, 2016
“Friday April 25, 2003 at 07:55” Published by Leila Heller gallery New York, 2015
“The Great Game” Art, Artists and Culture from the heart of the world.: Silvana Editoriale, 2016
“Hope” Une Exposition d’art contemporain sur l’Espoir. Skira Flammarion, 2010
2011. “Reza Aramesh Them Who Dwell on the Earth”, “12 MidNight” Published by Damani Press Italy Metropolis Rise: New Art From London Published by temporary Contemporary 2006