Ali Banisadr

Ali Banisadr, born in Tehran in 1976, is a prominent Iranian-American artist based in New York City. His artistic work primarily focuses on oil painting, with occasional ventures into printmaking. Banisadr's distinctive style blends abstraction and figuration, often exploring themes of conflict, chaos, and displacement. His synesthesia—an ability to perceive sounds as colors—significantly shapes the sensory depth of his paintings.

After moving to San Diego with his family at the age of twelve, Banisadr later relocated to New York in 2000, where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the School of Visual Arts and a Master of Fine Arts at the New York Academy of Art. His unique vision earned him the top spot in Flash Art magazine’s Top 100 Artists list in 2011.

Banisadr's work has been exhibited globally, including solo shows at major institutions like the Het Noordbrabants Museum, the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, the Benaki Museum, and the Wadsworth Atheneum. Drawing inspiration from Persian miniature painting, the Renaissance, and Abstract Expressionism, his art reflects a complex interplay of personal and collective histories.