Artdayme: The solo exhibition of Fereydoun Ave, a famous Iranian artist, curator and collector, called Retrospective part I, will be opened at Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde, Dubai on September 30. The exhibition presented by Dastan Gallery from Tehran.

Total Arts Gallery, which has a history of cooperation with Fereydon Ave, has announced this news on its official page on Instagram.

The announcement of Total Arts Gallery states:

"Total Arts is proud to announce 

Fereydoun Ave

retrospective part I

1970-2023

Opening: 30 Sep 2023

Venue: IVDE gallery

Courtesy of Dastan Gallery, Tehran

It has been a delight and privilege to collaborate closely with Fereydoun Ave over the course of the last 15 years.

Throughout this time, Total Arts has been hosting his solo exhibitions as well as numerous collaborative projects, part of the journey of his remarkable carrier.

Working alongside Fereydoun Ave feels as fresh and exciting as the very first time, every time. While his work ethic and principles remain steadfast, his boundless imagination and artistic creativity consistently inject wonder into each project.

The experience of working with Fereydoun Ave flows effortlessly, as if guided by some invisible, harmonious force. His wisdom is shared with grace and generosity, elevating every endeavor and with each new project, we eagerly anticipate what the future holds for us."

In 2023, Fereydon Ave held the solo exhibition "Fire" at Total Arts Gallery, Dubai.

About Fereydoun Ave

Fereydoun Ave (b. 1945, Tehran) is an influential figure in Iranian contemporary art. He received his BA in Applied Arts for Theatre from Arizona State University (1964), studied Film at New York University (1969), and attended the University of Seven Seas (aka Semester at Sea, 1964). Over the past five decades, he has taken on many different roles as artist, designer, art director, collector, curator, gallerist and art patron.

The art of Fereydoun Ave is a freehanded engagement with a personal ethos informed by larger cultural influences. He ceaselessly reflects on various facets of his relationship with age, myths, plants, elements, seasons, moods, and heredity. He takes inspiration from the art of Iran, which tends to use the entire surface of the canvas, and the Western penchant for minimalism, which leaves large swaths unattended. Fereydoun Ave's joint projects with artists, galleries (including Dastan), and institutions is an integral part of his practice, finding expression in his role as a curator, gallerist, and collector.

Works of Fereydoun Ave have been featured in numerous solo exhibitions along with hundreds of group shows in galleries and museums around the world. Other than many notable private collections, works of Fereydoun Ave have been acquired by prestigious art institutions like the British Museum in London | the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York | Los Angeles County Museum of Art | Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris | Cy Twombly Foundation | Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art | Carnegie Museum.

About Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde

 One of a handful of pioneers who shaped the UAE’s early commercial art scene, Isabelle van den Eynde opened her first gallery, B21, in 2006 in Dubai’s Al Quoz industrial district. At a time when contemporary art galleries were just beginning to stake their place in the local cultural landscape, she exhibited challenging artists whose names still figure on her roster today—Rokni and Ramin Haerizadeh and Hesam Rahmanian, Mohammed Kazem, and the late Hassan Sharif, considered a trailblazer of contemporary art in the UAE.

In 2010, van den Eynde founded her eponymous space in Alserkal Avenue. As the gallery grew, what the roster gained in artists, the program garnered in daring. Alongside her long-time co-conspirators came new artists from the Middle East and North Africa and beyond. Meanwhile, challenging the conventions of exhibition-making became a gallery hallmark—from Abdelkader Benchamma’s space-changing work (The Unbearable Likeness, 2016) to :mentalKLINIK’s delirious installations (Truish, 2017), crowned by an unpredictable six-month-long takeover by Rokni and Ramin Haerizadeh and Hesam Rahmanian (We Are Open for Installation, 2019).

In addition to a robust exhibition program and art fair participation, the gallery’s reach extends beyond physical spaces into publishing ventures, online activities and international projects with curators and collectors.