March 2024)

My Country

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Artists Biography:

Azita Alipoor (Vancouver)

 

I was born and raised in Tehran, Iran. I graduated from Tehran University with dual majors in Midwifery and Fine Arts.

My journey in art began at the age of 15, where I started painting and later attended private classes taught by renowned Iranian painters such as Rahim Beheshti, Mina Abedini, and Jafar Shahir. Additionally, I pursued an advanced course in art history instructed by Alireza Samiazar.

 

I also have a passion for traditional Iranian music and play the SETAR, an Iranian musical instrument.

 

Throughout my career, I have participated in several exhibitions in Tehran, including the Milad Tower art event, Najma Gallery, and three private exhibitions. My collections encompass various painting styles, including realism, conceptual art, and mixed media, drawing inspiration from Iranian traditions, ancient Persian civilization, nature, and modern concepts.

 

Some notable collections of mine include 'Khorshid Khanom,' 'Liberty (Woman/Life/Freedom),' and 'Embossed Calligraphy.

 

After years of painting, I decided to implement my artistic works on skin. Therefore, I entered the tattoo industry, and as a tattoo artist, I tattoo designs and special ideas.

Where: Koja Café at 239 St Georges Ave, North Vancouver BC, V7L 4T4

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January 2024)

The Cards

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Artists Biography:

Ahmadreza Peyk (Vancouver)

 

1973, Mashhad-Iran

 

Education: Master of Architecture

Artistic activities: Classical and Pop Guitarist, Designer and Painter

Exhibitions:

Open Theme Painting Exhibition at Cube Gallery in KualaLumpur, Malaysia, 2008

Painting exhibition with the theme of Music in Life in Barg Gallery, Tehran, 2013

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* This series of (Playing Cards) works is something I've done in Vancouver during Covid-19 and is about my interest in playing cards and the atmosphere around them.

Where: Koja Café at 239 St Georges Ave, North Vancouver BC, V7L 4T4

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August 2023)

Love Life Joy

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Artists Biography:

Neda Shojaei (Vancouver)
 

Is a software engineer, achievement coach and consultant, and a talented artist born and raised in Tehran, Iran.  She started her journey in calligraphy at the young age of 12, attending private classes in Tehran and obtaining certifications for different levels of calligraphy, including the prestigious 'Momtaz' level from the Iranian Calligraphers Association of Iran.

Art has always been an integral part of Neda's life, and even after moving to Canada with her family, she brought her calligraphy tools along with her. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she found a renewed connection with calligraphy and used it in modern calligraphy painting. Her exceptional talent was recognized when she won the SPECTRUM People's Choice Award in 2021, offered by the West Vancouver Community Art Council.

 

Neda recently participated in a group exhibition held at the Silk Purse Art Gallery in March, 2023, where she showcased her incredible skills. Her artwork is a perfect blend of calligraphy, painting, and color, exuding a positive and poetic energy. Neda's passion for empowering words and phrases is evident in her work, where she transforms traditional Persian calligraphy into bold, abstracted letterforms layered with gestural brushstrokes, bold swaths of color, and texture.

 

Neda's artwork is a lyrical expression of hope, connection, and beauty, transcending language barriers to inspire people from all walks of life. Her pieces are not just mere works of art; they exude positivity and can evoke feelings of joy and inspiration in the viewer. Her artwork has a combination of passion, energy, and poetry. She has taken the traditional art of Persian calligraphy to vivid new directions, creating artwork that is a true reflection of her passion for art and her unwavering spirit. Neda hopes that her artwork will find hearts and homes with art lovers and collectors who appreciate her unique style and connect with her pieces in different ways.

Where: Koja Café at 239 St Georges Ave, North Vancouver BC, V7L 4T4

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Sep 2023)

Wet Trees

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Artists Biography:

Ehsan Jabarouti (Vancouver)
 

Where: Koja Café at 239 St Georges Ave, North Vancouver BC, V7L 4T4

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(July 2023)

Cartoon and Caricature

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Artists Biography:

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Afshin Sabouki (Vancouver)

 

Afshin Sabouki, born in Shiraz, is a visual artist and cartoonist. He graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Tehran with a degree in painting. Sabouki embarked on his artistic career in the field of caricature in 1365 when he joined the group "Kasni" and later continued his work with other artists in the group "Kalagh-e-Sefid" (White Crow). He was also a founding member of the magazine "Keyhan Caricature."

Throughout his career, Sabouki collaborated with various publications, including "Hamshahri," "Salam," "Tanz-o-Karikatur" (Humor and Caricature), "Film," "Donya-ye Tasvir" (World of Image), and "Gozaresh-e Film" (Film Report). Prior to immigrating, his last position in the Iranian media was serving as the secretary of the Cartoon and Illustration Department at Shargh newspaper.

Sabouki served as a jury member for two editions of the Tehran International Cartoon Festival. He has received several awards from cartoon festivals, including:

Second place in the international cartoon competition for portraits in 2002

Second place in the cartoon competition for portraits in China, "IACC," International Animation, Cartoon & Comic Competition in 2004

Third place in the 17th World Press Freedom International Editorial Cartoon Competition in 2017, held in Canada

After immigrating to Canada, Sabouki pursued studies in digital animation at Capilano University and has been actively engaged in creating animations while collaborating with studios, websites and publications. He has also held several cartoon exhibitions in the field of digital animation.

Where: Koja Café at 239 St Georges Ave, North Vancouver BC, V7L 4T4

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(May-June 2023)

Serenity

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Artists Biography:

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Maliheh Vatankhah (Vancouver)

Maliheh was educated in tourism management in master degree. She grown up in Bandarabbas ( south of Iran ) and you can feel this passion and feeling for the south in her paintings. She moved to Vancouver in 2019 and between 2020 and 2021 she was an active member of Federation art gallery. During 2021 to 2022 she attended to three art Vancouver exhibitions . Her choice of images, proficient use of jubilant colors and harmonious compositions evoke feelings of hope and positivity. The bliss and solace we feel upon our first encounter continue to nurture us throughout her entire portfolio. The designs she chooses for her art also quiet our minds and lift our spirits.She believes painting is like a journey for her to another unknown world and art is one the most important reasons for love living. 

Where: Koja Café at 239 St Georges Ave, North Vancouver BC, V7L 4T4

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(March and April 2023)

Serenity

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Artists Biography:

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Azadeh Honarvar (Vancouver)

Azi Honarvar studied graphic design at an acclaimed graphic design program at a university in Iran. She moved to Vancouver in 1999. She enjoys experimenting with various types of themes, including abstract and conceptual art. Her paintings are mostly acrylic and she loves to work with a pallet knife and bright colours.

 

She has exhibited in various group art shows such as the Harmony festival in West Vancouver and the Anonymous art show at North Vancouver Cityscape.

This is her first solo art show and it’s about women and their surroundings. The paintings intend to depict the audience’s self-portraits and the women in the paintings are intended to blend with and impact their surroundings.  

Where: Koja Café at 239 St Georges Ave, North Vancouver BC, V7L 4T4

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(December 2022)

Abbas Bahrami and Marlyn MacDonald

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Artists Biography:

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Abbas Bahrami (Tehran)

Marquetry is the art of cutting, carving wood pieces, and putting them together like a puzzle to make an artwork. Marquetry has been rooted in Iranian and Middle Eastern culture for hundreds of years, but artists recently started making this craft known to the world. So far, many artists have created galleries worldwide, and it has had an excellent outcome for the artists and visitors. With the same attention, Abbas Bahrami is trying to show this craft and his artworks in Canada with the engagement of introducing people to this craft.  

Abbas Bahrami (Marquetry and Curving)

 

Started making artworks and sculptures in his early twenties by cutting and carving wood pieces. In the beginning, this was a hobby to him, a way to restore his connection to nature by working with pieces of wood and turning them into beautiful sculptures and pictures. He quickly escalated from his classmates and focused his teacher’s attention on himself. His hard work and talent helped him start creating his first artworks after a few months, and they were way more advanced than his experience. The artworks he developed enabled him to become an apprentice to the most excellent teachers in the country.

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Marlyn MacDonald (Acrylic on Canvas)

 

Marlyn MacDonald, Artist in floral and abstract, Born in England in 1942 -2022 and, was living in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Marlyn worked in Acrylic on canvas, she rarely used a brush. She was amazing artist inspired beautiful Vancouver flowers in her paintings.

She said:" From my early days of sculpting, my knife became my tool of choice. Every small or large painting is important to me. Shaping, reshaping of many layers of paint. Every composition is a journey and when I feel the painting is complete, I imagine the eye of all those who view my work....is the emotional expression there? Happiness is moving on to another painting.

In February 2022, when dear Marlyn left all of us, Azi Yousefi, the best friend of hers, figured out that she is the owner of all Marlyn’s Paintings. Such an amazing generosity! Azi made decision to create an art book about her art by selling some pieces of her work and introduce this wonderful Canadian artist to the world.

Let’s enjoy Marlyn’s Paintings in Art Koja Café; with a warm atmosphere that we know Marlyn would be love here.

Where: Koja Café at 239 St Georges Ave, North Vancouver BC, V7L 4T4

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(November 2022) 

Artist Biography:

Saeideh Rashidi Jey

Born on September 21, 1979 in Tehran, is a painter and instructor. Her paintings   were welcomed by those around her during her teenage years, which made her go to design classes at the Tehran Art Faculty and learn drawing from masters such as Dariush Hosseini and Zaighami.  Also, she learned the technic of oil painting from master Rahim Navahasti and learned other technics such as pastels and watercolours.  Also, some of her oil paintings have been published by well-known publications in Iran such as Yasavoli. Saeideh has attended more than 10 National Art Fairs individually and as a group between 2004-14 and Tehran EXPO 2007 and 2009. In 2006, Saeideh established the Kagoosh School of Visual Arts in Tehran and taught oil painting, drawing, pastel and watercolour to many students during those ten years. In 2016, Saeideh immigrated to Canada where she has worked in several art schools as art instructor and has inspired many painting lovers.  Most of his paintings are close to realism and impressionism.

Where: Koja Café at 239 St Georges Ave, North Vancouver BC, V7L 4T4

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(October 2022) 

Artist Biography:

Nada Hamatto is a Canadian Artist with middle-eastern background, based in Vancouver BC. Hamatto is known for her expressionist emotions large scale portraits using two different techniques between brushes and palette knives. She graduated from school with a Bachelor of Fine Arts & Design. Hamatto has exhibited solo and group shows in Canada, USA, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Jordan just to name a few. Nada is also a Member of the Federation of Canadian Artists. Besides creating art on canvas, Hamatto works with hand painted pieces of furniture & uses everyday objects as her canvas. She is also known for her portraits of iconic pop figures. She uses her characterized style to capture emotions, aura, and feelings.

 

In this exhibition, Hamatto is also collaborating with Persian-Canadian calligrapher, Viktor Mascot, to bring some middle-eastern calligraphy motifs into her paintings. A number of mixed-media round pieces carry poems by Persian philosopher and astrologist, Omar Khayyam. Viktor Mascot embellished three of the paintings of women portraits with the popular protest slogans heard recently from within Iran and in solidarity from around the world: “Zan, Zendegi, Azadi” & “My Body is my right”, informed by the current uprising of women in Iran demanding their human rights and body autonomy.

Where: Koja Café at 239 St Georges Ave, North Vancouver BC, V7L 4T4

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(September 2022) 

Artist Biography:

Pardis Barzali was born in 1984 in Gorgan, Iran. She studied Technology of Architecture in university and had her first exhibition in 2007 in Fakhr al-din Asad Gorgani hall. Since then, she has had several individual and group exhibitions of illustrative and impressionist paintings and sculptures in Gorgan and Tehran, in Kamal o-din Behzad, Kapri and White gallery. 
If you are supposed to put your whole life in a suitcase, what would you grab? 
What would you pick to remind you of your family, your childhood, and your all sweet and bitter memories, thousands of kilometers away from home, so you can withstand separation?
Two years ago, Pardis packed her past and the history of the place she belonged, and now she is going to unpack them here, in this frames, ten thousand kilometers away. She invites us to seat beside “Poorandokht” and “Shahrzad” and “Tahmineh” and “Montazer ol-Moluk” and… to hear their stories from “Shahnameh” and “one thousand and one nights”. Stories so familiar that looks like our own, regardless of nationality or race. This storyteller frames are companions to seat beside, drink tea, knit our narratives to theirs, cross borders and finally found ourselves in that familiar childhood house.

پردیس برزعلی در سال 1363 در شهر گرگان به دنیا آمد. او در دانشگاه به تحصیل در رشته تکنولوژی معماری پرداخت و اولین نمایشگاه انفرادی خود را در سال 1386 در تالار فخرالدین‌اسعد گرگانی و از آن پس چندین نمایشگاه انفرادی و گروهی نقاشی و مجسمه اغلب به سبک های امپرسیونیسم و تصویر گری ،در گرگان و تهران در گالری‌ کمال الدین بهزاد، کاپری و سفید برگزار کرد.
اگر قرار باشد زندگی‌تان را تنها در 46 کیلوگرم جای دهید چه چیزهایی را برمی‌دارید؟
چه چیزهایی را برمی‌دارید تا کیلومترها دورتر از آن زندگی آشنایی که داشتید، خانواده، کودکی و تجربه‌های تلخ و شیرینی را برایتان تداعی کند تا بتوانید دوری را تاب آورید؟
پردیس گذشته‌ی خودش و تاریخ مکانی که به آن تعلق داشته را دو سال پیش جمع کرد و همه را ده هزار کیلومتر دورتر، اینجا و در این قاب‌ها پهن کرد. حال ما را دعوت می‌کند تا کنار پوراندخت و شهرزاد و تهمینه و منتظرالملوک و ... بنشینیم تا آنها قصه‌هایشان را از شاهنامه تا هزار و یک شب برای ما نقل کنند. قصه‌هایی آنچنان آشنا که فارغ از هر ملیت و نژاد، به خاطرات خودمان می‌مانند. این قاب‌های قصه‌گو برای ما هم‌نشینانی هستند که می‌توانیم هر روز عصر کنارشان نشسته، چای بنوشیم و روایت‌های خودمان و آنها را در هم ببافیم، از مرزها عبور کنیم و خود را در همان خانه‌ی آشنای کودکی بازیابیم.

Opening: September 04  at 4 pm to 7 pm 
Where: Koja Café at 239 St Georges Ave, North Vancouver BC, V7L 4T4

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(August 2022) 

Artist Biography:

Nazanin Yousefian

Born in Iran in 1997, she completed a Bachelor of Painting at the University of Bu_Ali Sina, Hamedan, Iran in 2019 and went on to obtain a Fine Arts degree at Langara College, Vancouver, Canada in 2022. She has exhibited consistently for the past 10 years both nationally and internationally.
Her first solo exhibition was in 2013 at the Arman gallery in Hamedan, and her first group exhibition was in 2019 in Gallery Athens, Greece. Since then, Nazanin has exhibited in various countries individually and collectively. Moreover, she had an experience in teaching painting since 2016. She can make sculptures and photography to perfection.

Opening: July 31  at 4 pm to 6:30 pm 
Where: Koja Café at 239 St Georges Ave, North Vancouver BC, V7L 4T4

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Nature (July 2022) 

Artist Biography:

Maryam Esmaeily

Is an impressionist living in Port Moody, BC.

She started her painting journey over 22 years ago. She was living in Iran and was working at University of Tehran while completing her MBA. Painting brought her so much joy in her busy life that she could never give it up.

During her life journey from Iran to Canada or while travelling around the globe, painting spirit was present. 

In her current career as a business owner and a financial consultant, Art has always been a passion & hobby that helps her to expand her level of imagination and creativity.

 

She likes to see her paintings with more than one impression and loves to know what others can see in her abstract paintings.  Her goal is to reflect beauty, peace, joy and happiness through her art.

Her inspiration comes from nature, especially from the magical beauty of landscape and seascape of British Colombia.

Opening: July 10 at 2 pm to 7 pm 
Where: Koja Café at 239 St Georges Ave, North Vancouver BC, V7L 4T4

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(June 2022) 

Artist Biography:

Kian Jafari is an Iranian-Canadian, Vancouver-based performer, Jazz pianist, piano teacher, award-winning composer and abstract artist. Born and educated in Iran, he received early training in Iranian and Western classical music. He is currently completing his Bachelor’s degree in jazz and contemporary piano at Vancouver community College. He also holds a Master’s degree in English Language teaching. 

 

His passion for poetry, Jazz music and improvisation has inspired other creative expressions as well. His artwork is all improvised, similar to how a jazz musician develops ideas spontaneously to create beauty. The presence of the moment is captured on his canvases. Moreover, he often creates art using his fingers - feeling the paintings and the textures helps him to evolve his creations. Kian tries to express his respect for animals, nature, humanity, diversity, and more importantly, music in his artwork.

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Opening: June 05 at 2 pm to 7 pm 
Where: Koja Café at 239 St Georges Ave, North Vancouver BC, V7L 4T4

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Human (May 2022) 

Artist Biography:

Thea Fahimivala is a poet and a creative writer who has an exceptional appetite for looking into the world in search of the human being concept. Bodies and souls- physically and spiritually- are embedded in her works as metaphors for the spectrum of human existence.
“In this journey, there are moments when silence dominates, so the painting would be a remedy!”

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It’s a tree roots into the sky.

It’s a tree, surrounded but wants to fly!

A tree! A creature has been praised over millenniums and has many symbolic features of physical and spiritual power, transformation, liberation, and fertility.
What distinguishes my trees is that these are rather metaphorical silhouettes of human existence with its own paradoxes: ambitions and limits, burdens and weaknesses, being attached but not belonged, mortality and infinity, certainties and doubts.
Is it a battle between positivity and negativity and we are its worriers, or it is just the way we exist?

 

There must be a plain.

There must be wind and the sun going down again.

There must be a herd pounding hard the plain!

Bovine has always had a strong presence in mythologies, ancient cultures, and religions; a symbol of power, fertility, the origin of life, and serenity.
In my works, these giant figures represent the physicality of human existence in its solid sense, a one-dimensional living which seems to focus only on one direction and is unaware of anything else outside that narrow perspective.
It draws a controversial landscape of our perception about ‘ourselves’ in relationship with the world and others.

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Opening: May 1st at 2 pm to 4 pm 
Where: Koja Café at 239 St Georges Ave, North Vancouver BC, V7L 4T4

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​The Spring (April 2022) 

Artist Biography:

Mostafa Purmehdi, Parvin Sarabadani

Two Vancouver-based artists display their collaborative works of calligraphy and painting in 14 different art pieces. Mostafa Purmehdi, the calligrapher, has over 20 years of experience in Persian style calligraphy. Parvin Sarabadani is an artist who experiments with pouring painting and alcohol ink techniques. The theme of their collaborative works is Spring and the dance and poems and colours.

​(March 2022) 

Artist Biography:

Mona Kia

was born in Tehran and graduated in computer engineering; since she was passionate about art, continued her education and earned her master’s in art, so involved in various traditional and modern art research; 
She was horned to refine her skills under Master Jamalpour's mentor-ship and during the past 23 years & demonstrate the Ancient and classic Persian arts in various art exhibitions.
She has a personal interest in miniature and fine arts (Conte, pastel, oil color); she is also passionate about mixed media, innovated by combining traditional and modern techniques and methods.  
She loves to work with youths and offers unique art training programs for talented kids and children.
Mona looks forward to interact with the community by sharing her vantage points reflected in her artworks.

Exhibition 

(From 20 to 27 of Feb,2022) 

Artist Biographies:

Rayan and Radan Mulaei Tari started painting in 2019. They learned to paint inspired by nature and environment. After experimenting with pencil crayons, oil painting, and acrylic, oil painting was chosen. Painting has given so much color and glaze in their life. Rayan and Radan have learned from a professional art teacher, Monika Kaviani, different styles of painting. They are interested to be creative. They determined to learn different techniques and styles like realism, abstract, and modern. They came up with the idea of having an exhibition at Koja Café.

Blue Sky (From 1st to 19th of Feb,2022) 

Artist Biography:

Ferry Chehrzad is a retired elementary & middle school Teacher. She has worked for 26 years in Iran Tehran. Also, she is teaching Farsi to students and adult as a second language since she moved to Vancouver. 

Her passion for drawing started in elementary school, then she took painting classes in 6th grade and continued throughout high school and college years.   Although she has learned from a professional great artist teacher Monika Kaviani different style of painting such as abstract, realism, impasto, and impressionism, but she gravitated towards conceptualism. That is why all her painting (watercolor or oil painting) are inspired by nature. 

The subjects of Ms. Chehrzad artwork are mostly driven by her own imagination and beauty of the nature.  

She accepts commissioned work. Her contact information will be provided upon request.  

The Mirror Of Beauty (Jan,2022) 

Artist Biography:

Afsar Paidar believes painting passion had been always a part of her from childhood and even in the busiest time of her life as a mother of two kids and working outside, he was searching to find some times to follow her dreams.

About ten years ago, she continued seriously with her teacher ''Banafsheh" in Calgary to improve her skills in Watercolor. After moving to North Vancouver, 5 years ago, with the beautiful sceneries in this city, she was more inspired to put these beauties on her works. She got acquainted with a lovely mentor ''Monika Kaviani" and took her painting to a more professional level.

She got more improved with learning oil and acrylic painting techniques in the real and modern style. Lots of her artworks are based on conceptual and are original.     

You can visit her Instagram page:

http://www.instagram.com/boomandbanoo

Vibrant Village (Dec 2021)

Artist Biography:

Roya Ghahramani has 20 years experience of Mechanical Engineering in oil & gas and chemical industries. She started painting from an early age in her home city, Shiraz. Her interests included sketching portraits, sculptures and miniature (Iranian painting style). She was honored the first award in Miniature from educational board of Shiraz, Iran when she was in 3rd grade high school.

She is passionate about painting in both realist and modern styles, as well as painting portraits. She has also teaching painting experience in her resume. You can visit her Instagram page:

http://www.instagram.com/roya_painting_artist

Red Flowers (Dec 2021)

Artist Biography:

Born Farokh Vahabzadeh in Iran in 1975, Vabzy is a Persian-Canadian artist, painter and photographer. Vabzy is a very well-educated academician in the area of ethnomusicology, a former co-chair at Musée de l'Homme in Paris, speaks several languages, and currently he teaches philosophy and ethnomusicology at a university in south of France. His artistic skills are largely innate and supernatural. At a young age, he  pursued to be an electrical engineer, when his artistic nature sparked in the format of photography and then in later years he turned to the art of painting. In this collection, he is sharing some of his minimal and abstract paintings. You can browse his other collections on his Instagram www.instagram.com/vabzy. 

Geranium Pot (Nov 2021)

In the "Geranium Pot" exhibition, a selection of water ink artworks by a Vancouver-based artist Azadeh Parsi M. are displayed. Azadeh quit her successful engineering job to pursue a career in arts as a painting artist. Today her paintings have been displayed at different art galleries including the Federation of Canadian Artists. You can visit her works on Instagram: www.instagram.com/azadeh_18b  

Geranium Pot (Nov 2021)

Parvin Sarabadani returns with another selection of her painting pieces and displays different fluid painting techniques on large canvases. Parvin is a Vancouver-based artist. She picked up painting as a way of meditation to stay sane, and each of her works narrate a glimpse of what happened in her life during 2020-2021.

"T" (Oct 2021)

Three Vancourver-based artists displayed their collaborative works of calligraphy, painting and illustration in 20 different art pieces. Viktor Mascot, the calligrapher, has over 20 years of experience in Persian style calligraphy. Parvin Sarabadani is an artist who experiments with pouring painting and alcohol ink techniques. Maryam Amiri is an illustrator with several years of professional experience. The theme of their collaborative works are the poems of Iranian literaries such as Forough Farrokhzad, Sohrab Sepehri, Nizami, Hafez, etc.

Reminiscence (Aug-Sep 2021)

in the "Reminiscence" exhibition, Vancouver-based artist Parvin Sarabadani, displayed a selection of her artworks. In this show, she reflects on the ups and downs of her experience through the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic. She picked up painting as a way of meditation to stay sane, and each of her works narrate a glimpse of what happened in her life during 2020-2021.