Born in Shiraz, Iran in 1963, Farhad Moshiri is an Iranian artist who lives and works in Tehran. Moshiri attended the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in the 1980s where he began to experiment with different modes of production. Moshiri first came to attention when he created his series of jar paintings in 2001 but has since produced a very diverse oeuvre of aesthetic pieces.

Moshiri’s work is produced in a range of different media from painting and photography to furniture installation and embroidered tapestry in order to discuss the overlap of imagery from Iranian and Western cultures. Pop and kitsch are two prominent themes that surface from his work that vacillates between traditional form and contemporary culture. From an ironic standpoint, Moshiri makes use of traditional Iranian vernacular, such as calligraphy, its interaction with Western popular culture and the growth of consumerism. Moshiri gained significant visibility in 2008 when one of his pieces was the first work from a Middle Eastern artist to achieve over $1 million at auction. His work can be found in a number of public and private collections such as that of the British Museum and the Farjam Collection.