Parviz Tanavoli
Parviz Tanavoli (born 23 March 1937 in Tehran) is an Iranian sculptor, painter, scholar and art collector. He has lived in Vancouver, Canada since 1989.
Tanavoli’s work has been auctioned around the world leading to overall sales of over $6.7 million, making him the most expensive living Iranian artist. Tanavoli is known for his heeches, three dimensional representations of the Persian word for ‘nothing’, heech. Composed of three Persian characters in the style of nasta’liq. The three letters he, ye and če are combined to produce the word ‘Heech’.
Exhibitions
2018 Saqqakhaneh ,Meem Gallery , Dubai
2016 Vayage a Travers l’Iran, Foundation Behnam Bakhtiar, Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat
2016Iran Art Now, Setareh Gallery , Dusseldorf
2016 Six artist From Iran, Grey Art Gallery , New York
2015 Grey Art Gallery , New York City
2015 Parviz Tanavoli , Davis Mueum , Wellesley
2013 Parviz Tanavoli Rugs, Meem Gallery , Dubai
2013 My Name is not Rouge , Shirin Gallery , New York
2009 Art Dubai, Waterhouse & Dodd Gallery stand, Dubai
2009 Meem Gallery, Dubai (solo)
2008 Word into Art, British Museum, Dubai International Financial Center, Dubai
2008 Art Paris, Waterhouse & Dodd Gallery stand, Abu Dhabi
2008 ‘Routes’, Waterhouse & Dodd, London
2006 Elliott Louis Gallery, Vancouver, Canada (solo)
2006 The British Museum, London, UK
2004 Persian Garden, (installation ), Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art
2003 Retrospective, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (solo)
2002 Iranian Contemporary Art, Christie’s, London
2002 Picturing Iran Art, Society & Revolution, Grey Art Gallery, NY
2001 Iranian Cotemporary Art, Barbican Center, London
2000 Continental Shift, Aachen, Maastricht, Heerlen and Liege
2000 7th International Shoebox Sculpture, The University of Hawaii Art Gallery
1999 Atrium Public Gallery, Vancouver
1989 Contemporary Art from Islamic World, Barbican Centre, London
1989 Rudolf Mangisch Galerie, Zurich (solo)
1988 Hirschberg Galerie, Koln- Galerie Am Rosenberg, Graz (solo)
1988 Olympiad of Art, Seoul,
1980 Galleria Greminger, Genova (solo)
1978 Aachen Neue Galerie/Samlung Ludwig, Aachen (solo)
1977 Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art
1976 Grey Art Gallery, New York University, New York
1976 Iran-America Society,Tehran (solo)
1975 Grey Art Gallery, New York University
1972 Goethe Institute, Tehran (solo)
1971 Martin Gallery, Minneapolis (solo)
1970 Iran-America Society, Tehran- Shiraz University, Shiraz (solo)
1967 Seihoun Gallery, Tehran (solo)
1967 Quadriennale of Rome
1965 Borghese Gallery, Tehran (solo)
1964 Venice Biennale
1962 Musee d’Art Moderne, Paris
1962 Musee d’Ixelles, Brussels
1962 Third International Biennale of Sculpture, Carrara
1962 Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
1962 Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis
1962 K. B. Gallery, Minneapolis (solo)
1961 Atelier Kaboud, Tehran (solo)
1960 Farhang Hall, Tehran- Iran Club, London (solo)
1960 Venice Biennale
1958 Reza Abbassi Hall, Tehran (solo)
1957 Tehran University- Farhang Hall, Tehran (solo)
Auctions
2018 Bonham’s Egypt’s Awakening and Modern & Contemporary Middle East Art , London
2017 : Bonham’s , Modern & Contemporary Middle East Art , London
2016 Sotheby’s
2016 Christie’s , Modern & Contemporary Art , Dubai
2014 Christie’s Modern & Contemporary Arab, Iranian & Turkish Art , Dubai
2014 : Bonhams : Islamic and Indian Art, London
2013 Christie’s Modern & Contemporary Arab, Iranian & Turkish Art , Dubai
2013 Sotheby’s , Contemporary Art , Duha
2012 Christie’s Modern & Contemporary Arab, Iranian & Turkish Art , Dubai
2011 Bonhams Modern & contemporary Middle eastern & South Asian Art , London
2010 Sotheby’s , Contemporary Art/Arab, Iranian , London
2009 : Bonhams Modern & contemporary Middle eastern & South Asian Art , London
2008 : Christie’s International Modern & Contemporary Art , Dubai
2008 Bonhams Modern & contemporary Arab, Iranian, Indian, Pakistani Art, Dubai
2007 Christies International Modern and Contemporary Art , Dubai , UAE
Collections
British Museum, London UK
Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC), Dubai
Forum Ludwig, Aachen
Grey Art Gallery, New York University, New York
Hamline University, St. Paul, Minnesota
Esfahan City Center
Mellat Park, Tehran
Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis
Museum of Modern Art, New York
Museum of Modern Art, Vienna
London Business School, London
Nelson Rockefeller Collection, New York
Noor Foundation, London
Olympic Park, Seoul
Qatar National Museum, Doha
The Royal Society of Fine Arts, Amman
Sculpture Garden of Khaneh-ye Honarmandan (The Artists’ Home), Tehran
St. John University, Collegeville, Minnesota
Shiraz University Campus, Shiraz
The City Theater, Tehran
Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Tehran
University Art Museum, Iowa
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis