About
Alireza Shojaian is an Iranian artist, born in 1988 in Tehran. He started his career in Tehran and Beirut and since 2019 he is based in Paris.
His work aims to fight societal prejudice against LGBTQIA+ people while making space for non-heteronormative masculine identities. His work reflects on the queer history of West Asia, the present context, and his own experiences. Shojaian’s queerness meant he could not continue his practice in Iran, where carnal depictions are censored and sexual identity is scrutinized and politicized. In 2016 he moved to Beirut where he held two solo exhibitions in 2017and 2018. In 2019 Shojaian was offered by the French embassy in Lebanon an art residency with the Académie des beaux-arts. He now resides in Paris.
Alireza Shojaian est un peintre et activiste visuel Iranien. Né à Téhéran, Iran, en 1988, Shojaian représente ses sujets nus ou partiellement nus dans des compositions intimes et vulnérables. Son travail tend à combattre les préjugés à l’encontre des populations LGBTQA+ tout en créant un espace d’expression dédié aux identités masculines non-hétéronormatives. Son travail reflète l’histoire queer d’Asie occidentale, son contexte actuel, en regard de ses experiences personelles. La sexualité de Shojaian rendait impossible la poursuite de sa pratique en Iran, où la nudité est constamment censurée et où l’orientation sexuelle est instrumentalisée et réprimée par les autorités au pouvoir.
En 2016, il s’installe à Beirut puis en 2019, il obtient de l'ambassade française au Liban une résidence artistique auprès de l’Académie des Beaux-Arts à Paris où il vit et travaille désormais.
ART RESIDENCIES
2023, Cité Interbationale Des Arts, Paris
2021, Château de Lourmarin, Académie Des Beaux-arts Paris
2019-2020, La Villa Les Pinsons, Académie Des Beaux-arts Paris
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022, Sous le ciel de Shiraz, La La Lande Gallery, Paris, France
2018, Sweet Blasphemy, Artlab Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
2017, Corps-à-corps, Artlab Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
DUET EXHIBITION
2021, Ombres D’hommes , Depardieu Gallery, Nice, France
INSTITUTIONAL EXHIBITION
2022 - 2023, Institut du monde arabe, Habibi, Les révolutions de l’amour, Paris
2024 - 2025 Medelhavsmuseet, Stockholm
Prizes
2022, Vaclav Havel, PaykanArtCar
2022, Prix Utopi.e, Public Prize
Performances
2022, Stitches on the body of freedom ( in collaboration with Niyaz Azadikhah), Centre Pompidou, Paris, france
2022, Stitches on the body of freedom ( in collaboration with Niyaz Azadikhah), Imago Mundi Foundation, Treviso, Italy
Art Fairs
2018, Beirut Art Fair, Lebanon
2017, Beirut Art Fair, Lebanon
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023, Nouchine Pahlevan Gallery, Paris
2023, Résistance des fluides (Troisième chapitre), Gallery Sultana, Paris
2023, Résistance des fluides (deuxième chapitre), Gallery Marcelle Alix, Paris
2022-2023, Désirés ,110 Gallery, Paris
2022, Résistance des fluides I (premier chapitre), Air de Paris Gallery, Paris
2022, Prix Utopi.e, Magasins Généraux, Pantin
2022, Nouchine Pahlevan Gallery, Paris
2021, Lalalande Gallery, Paris
2019, Printmaking, Kennedy Heights Arts Center, Cincinnati, Ohio
2019, Twelve Gate Arts, Philadelphia
2018, Red Action, Flux Factory, New York
2018, Catalogue, Artlab Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
2018, Three and a half, 392Rmeil393, Beirut, Lebanon
2018, Printmaking, Sim Art Gallery, Alesund, Norway
2017, Printmaking, Culture and stereotypes, Artlab Gallery, Beirut, Lebanon
2017, Radical, French Institute, Beirut, Lebanon
2017, Annual printmaking exchange, Laleh Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran
2016, Private Collection of Fereydoun Ave, Lajevardi Foundation, Tehran, Iran
2016, Identity, Shirin Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran
2016, Printmaking, Hoormazd Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran
2016, Annual printmaking exchange, Laleh Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran
2015, Printmaking, Characteristic, Vista Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran
2015, Three drops, Arte Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran
2015, Narrator Painter, Shirin Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran
2015, Printmaking, Cultural Section of Embassy of Cote d’Ivoire, Tehran, Iran
2015, Printmaking, 26 Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran
2015, Annual printmaking exchange, Laleh Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran