Rafael Mahdavi, Abstract Wood Collage Assemblage Oil Painting Rafael Mahdavi Art Brut Kouros NYC, 1990, Framed

Raphael Mahdavi,
Untitled, 1990,
Oil and wood collage, assemblage painting on paper,
Provenance: Kouros Gallery NYC Label. (label and backing torn but present)
Dimensions: 17.5 x 23 mat, 25 x 32 frame.

Rafael Sinclair Mahdavi (1946-) is a painter and sculptor.
He has lived and worked in America, France, Greece, Austria, Spain and England. He has quadruple nationality, France, American, Mexican and Iranian.
HIs work combines elements of Contemporary, Symbolist Abstraction and Minimalist art in particularly in his sculpture.
Cranbrook BFA & Former Parsons Professor. He taught in Paris, Amiens and Issy-les-Moulineaux, France. Rafael Mahdavi was born in 1946 in Mazatlan, Mexico of an American mother and Iranian father. He was home schooled in Mallorca and later attended board boarding schools in London, Madrid and Vienna. He finished art school in the U.S., and fled to Paris, France to avoid being sent to fight in Vietnam. He speaks five languages not including Catalan, has held various jobs ranging from bartender in Pigalle to university professor, and has three passports. He has exhibited his paintings and sculptures internationally, with gallery and museum solo shows. He now divides his time between Burgundy and the Aegean islands. His painting incorporates photograph images, patterning and slashing brush marks. His work is autobiographical, textured and sometimes includes language. Oil painting based on personal surrealist symbolism. He showed with Tibor de Nagy in the 60’s and 70’s when he was showing the likes of Robert Goodnough, Grace Hartigan, Joyce Kozloff, Rafael Mahdavi, Peter Reginato, Larry Rivers, Jack Tworkov, Carl Andre Rosemarie Castoro, Ray Ciarrocchi, Jane Freilicher, Ann Purcell, Archie Rand, Richard Tum Suden, and Jane Wilson.

select group shows
1970 Salon de la Jeune Peinture, Paris
1971 Grands et Jeunes d’Aujourd’hui, Paris
1973 New Talent, Tibor de Nagy, Gallery, New York
1974 Polly Friedlander, Gallery, Seattle
1975 “Tout en Blanc” Iolas Gallery, Paris
1976 “Boites” Musée d’Art Modern de la Ville de Paris (with Donald Judd, Nicolas Schoffer and Varujan Boghosian and others)
1977 “Drawings of the Seventies” Chicago Art Institute
1978 “Photo-Graphie Photo-Constat”, Galerie Stadler, Paris
1979 Galerie Stadler, Paris
1980 Salon de Montrouge, Paris
Galerie Farideh Cadot,. “Installation Espace 13”, Paris
1981 Tours Multiple, Tours
1982 Salon de Montrouge, Paris
Billboard Art, France
1983 Salon de Montrouge, Paris
“Place”, Gimpel Fils Gallery, London
“Six du Centre”, American Center, Paris
1984 “Sechs Künstler aus Frankreich”, Klapperhof, Cologne
1985 “Histoire en tant que Résistance”, Gesellschaft für Aktuelle
1986 Salon de Montrouge, Paris
1987 “Kunst in Frankreich”, Ludwig Collection, Koblenz
1988 Galerie Stadler, Paris, Fondation Cartier, Paris
1989 “The Broader Format”, Gimpel Fils Gallery, London
1990 Newton Art Center, Newton, Ma., USA
1991 Collection BNP, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts, Paris
1993 Triennale des Ameriques, FRAC Nord Pas de Calais
1994 Kouros Gallery, New York (he showed with Arman, Stanley Boxer and Chryssa
1995 Galerie Stadler, Paris
1996 ARCO, Madrid, Galeria Joan Guaita,
Galeria Los Oficios, La Habana, Cuba
1998 Musee de Bourbon Lancy, Bourbon Lancy
Ecole Superieure d’Art et Design, Amiens
1999 “Etats des Leiux” Musée de Chateauroux
2000 Quoi Peindre Donc?”, Espace Ecureuil, Toulouse
2001 ARCO, Madrid, Galería Joan Guaita
2003 ARCO, Madrid, Galería Joan Guaita
Mexico Art Fair, Galería Joan Guaita
Kunst Symposium, Kleinbreitenbach, Germany
Toronto International Art Fair, Odon Wagner Gallery
2004 Art Fair, Miami, Odon Wagner Gallery
Artistes Pérégrins– Art Senat, Paris
2006 Sculpture Grande, Prague
Seis Artistas del Siglo XXI, Centro Cultural Juan de Salazar, Asuncion, Paraguay
2014 Venice Architecture Biennale Global Arts Affairs, Palazzo Bembo