Skip to content

Biography

Golnaz Fathi (b. 1972) is part of a thriving generation of Iranian artists who grew up during the Islamic revolution and the Iran-Iraq war, a deeply isolated period of the country’s history. Fathi, whose work is in the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The British Museum, is one of the few women in Iran to excel at traditional calligraphy. Fascinated by the expressive nature of calligraphic forms, she spent years rigorously training up to eight hours daily, learning to control her breathing and writing poetry with a qalam to master traditional strokes.

 

Fathi has a Bachelor of Arts degree in graphic design from Azad University, Tehran, and a diploma in Iranian calligraphy from the Iranian Society of Calligraphy. After becoming one of the country’s most skilled practitioners, Fathi left the privileged world of traditional calligraphy to pursue a career as a contemporary artist. Over time, she has developed a distinctive visual language derived from her reinterpretations of Persian calligraphy. It is gestural, abstract and layered with meaning. Fathi is widely recognized for expanding the tradition of calligraphy and pushing it to new heights. Her works are inspired by American Abstract Expressionists and Iranian and Middle Eastern modernists who pioneered the use of the written word as a pictorial element in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Technically brilliant, she has developed a new visual language, which reconciles the ancient with the contemporary.

 

Early works were often in fine pen, mostly on varnished raw, rectangular, polyptych canvases, in a limited palette of white, black, red and yellow. Fathi layered canvases with thousands of minute marks echoing the curvilinear forms of calligraphic letters and words. These intricate lines coalesce into minimalist compositions that can be read in multiple ways—as landscapes, electronic transmissions or atmospheric phenomena. She often refrained from titling these works, allowing viewers free reign to assign their own interpretations.

 

More recent works, although in her familiar limited palette, are freer and more boldly expressive. Fathi does not plot colors in advance nor does she create preliminary sketches. Instead, she immerses herself in the moment, tapping into the kind of creativity that arises from unconstrained movement, free of forethought or expectation. These are action paintings. She sets the canvases on the floor, spontaneously dripping and spilling paint across the surface, allowing chance to determine the forms. Syncing her movements to the rhythm of the music that always fills her studio, Fathi immerses herself in the pure physicality of the process.

 

Fathi’s works are in the permanent collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, which in 2019 featured her work in the exhibition The Decorated Word: Writing and Picturing in Islamic Calligraphy; The British Museum, London; Denver Art Museum, Colorado; Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore; Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur; Museum of Contemporary Art, CAA, Hangzhou, China; World Bank, Washington, D.C.; Brighton & Hove Museums, England; Carnegie Mellon University, Doha; Devi Art Foundation, New Delhi; The Farjam Collection, Dubai. In 2015, her work was exhibited in Frontiers Reimagined at the 56th Venice Biennale.

 

Golnaz Fathi has been recognized with numerous awards and accolades. In 1995, she was named Best Woman Calligraphist by the Iranian Society of Calligraphy. In 2010, she was invited to be a member of the selection committee of the renowned Sharjah Calligraphy Biennial and in the following year was chosen as a Young Global Leader Honoree by the World Economic Forum.

Gulf Today
Press
Gulf Today
Sundaram Tagore NewYork to Host Artist Golnaz Fathi's Work October 25, 2022

The Iranian artist's solo show of new abstract canvasses opens at Sundaram Tagore Gallery in New York on November 17.

Asian Art News
Press
Asian Art News
Golnaz Fathi review November 2015

Like all excellent calligraphers Golnaz Fathi makes art that speaks not only to the richness of her own culture but also to that of others far beyond her reach.

Blouin Artinfo
Press
Blouin Artinfo
Dealer's Notebook: Q&A With Sundaram Tagore June 2015

Blouin Artinfo speaks with Sundaram about STG's early days; what makes a good gallerist; and which historical figure he would like to share a drink with.

Blouin Art+Auction
Press
Blouin Art+Auction
Shifting Sands March, 2015

23 Modern and Contemporary artists from the Middle East who transcend borders while tackling such themes as identity and exile.

星島日報(副刊)|  Sing Tao Daily
Press
星島日報(副刊)| Sing Tao Daily
藝術有價 September 2014

世界上最遠的距離,不是生與死的距離,而是我站在你面前,你不知道我愛你.....世界上最遙遠的距離,是魚與飛鳥的距離,一個在天,一個卻深潛海底。

想想,不管是不是泰戈爾(Rabindranath Tagore) 譜寫了《世界上最遠的距離》,開頭的選段記載了情侶間的愛情,慢慢接近,慢慢遠離,生成了優美的距離。優美的距離,不止歸屬於愛情、人文藝術的世界裏,不止一次地承載和釋懷各名族文化間幽美而又遙遠的距離。因為遠離,我們彼此仰慕,慢慢接近,學習與自身文化不同的世界和人情。

藝術新聞(The Art Newspaper ) 號外
Press
藝術新聞(The Art Newspaper ) 號外
當代絲路 August 2014

絲綢之路,自西漢張騫出塞,由中國長安和洛陽出發,橫貫歐亞,直通羅馬。途經中國,印度,波斯,伊斯蘭和希臘文化,象徵西方和非西方聞名的交匯。在由泰戈爾第五代傳人Sundaram Tagore於香港開的同名畫廊的「2014夏季聯展」(The Summer Group Show) 上, 延續了絲綢之路的精神,薈萃了當代非西方和西方的藝術思緒。

資本企業家(第110期)
Press
資本企業家(第110期)
Sundaram Tagore 把文化藏於家中 January 2014

Sundaram Tagore 位於半山的大宅,猶如小型藝術館,當中有畫作、雕塑、在屋內各據一方,藝術家來自世界各地,以藝術創作展開跨越時空的文化對話。他已大半生的時間收藏藝術品,有籍藝術作品認識各地文化,由此為人生帶來最大的快樂。

蘋果日報
Press
蘋果日報
泰戈爾後人 「藝術是歷史解碼器」 October 2013

「當我們大為謙卑的時候,便是我們最接近偉大的時候。(We come nearest to the great when we are great in humility)」這是曾獲諾貝爾文學獎的印度大文豪泰戈爾(Rabindranath Tagore)讓人耳熟能詳的名句。他周遊列國,與徐悲鴻、譚雲山為友,對促進東西文化最落力,描寫也最為細膩,甚至影響中國一代詩風。個半世紀後,泰戈爾對文化融通的深層視野仍然像基因遺傳在第五代子孫 Sundaram Tagore 的血液裏。「當我曾曾祖父拿到諾貝爾文學獎後,把獎金都捐到大學去,他深信人道主義(humanity)而非民族主義(nationalism)會令世界變好。我也深受影響,藝術不是商品也不只講求美輪美奐,最重要是有沒有達到歷史解碼的功能。」Sundaram Tagore這印度大文豪之後如是說。他更侃侃而談「文化衝擊」作為自己收藏和經營事業的單一準則與品味。

Blouin Artinfo/Modern Painters
Press
Blouin Artinfo/Modern Painters
500 Best Galleries Worldwide July 2013

Sundaram Tagore Gallery has been named one of the top galleries in the world by Blouin Artinfo and Modern Painters magazine.

South China Morning Post
Press
South China Morning Post
Writ Large October 2012

Historically, Arabic calligraphy grew from a desire to honour the perfect language of God as set down from the Koran.

Voice of America News
Press
Voice of America News
New York Gallery Displays Modern Middle Eastern Calligraphy November 2011

Middle Eastern calligraphy on display at a New York City art gallery is being touted as a vehicle for dialogue between Middle East and the West.

Back To Top