Esmaël Bahrani

Born in 1978, he entered the University of Art and Architecture of Tehran, but quickly turned away from the dogmatism of the courts to chart his own path. Fascinated by graffiti, he began to paint at night clandestinely in various cities in Iran. Along with his nocturnal expeditions, the artist also works in the studio. Similar to screams, his powerful works denounce the oppression of a pervasive theocratic regime and the lack of freedom of rebellious youth. Free, he is also free in the use of techniques, moving from drawing to painting, mixing aerosol spray and brush, covering his canvases in wax to better scratch them and make tortured characters appear in a chaotic environment. He will be the only artist from the Middle East to exhibit as part of the “Tag” exhibition at the Grand Palais. Tired of the repression and threats to which he was subjected, he was forced in 2015 to leave Iran to join France. Today a refugee in Paris, he develops his art where East and West telescope, ancestral myths and punk rebellion, brut art and street art.