Hassanzadeh was born on 21 December 1963 in Tehran, to a working-class Azerbaijani family who were fruit-sellers.[1] He was just 17 years old when the Iran-Iraq war broke out, and he dropped out of school and enlisted in the Basiji militia, but was subsequently obliged to remain as a conscript.[2] When he returned from the war, he chose to work on themes that reflected his experiences of war.[3]
Following his return to civilian life, he studied art, enrolling in the Mojtama-e-Honar University (1989–1991) where he studied painting and later at the Persian LiteratureatAzad University (1995–99), both in Tehran.[4] His art teachers advised him to "draw small" so that his work would be marketable, but he ignored this advice. From the outset, he was determined to paint large murals and posters.[5]
Hassanzadeh first exhibited in the 1980s, but only gained international recognition with War (1998), a grim and trenchant diary of his own experiences as a volunteer soldier during the Iran-Iraq war (1980–1988). In Ashura (2000) a 'women-friendly' interpretation of the most revered Shiite religious ceremony, he depicted chador-clad women engulfed by religious iconography. Chador (2001) and Prostitutes (2002) continued his exploration of sociological themes particular to Iran's hyper-gendered urban landscape.[6] The latter paintings used police mug shots to pay tribute to sixteen prostitutes murdered by a serial killerinMashhad, a religious capital of Iran. The paintings were created after filmmaker Maziar Bahari commissioned Hassanzadeh to create a poster for his film, And Along Came a Spider. In Terrorist (2004) the artist questioned the concept of 'terrorism' in international politics by portraying himself, his mother, and sisters as 'terrorists'.
Unlike many of his contemporaries who have left Iran, Hassanzadeh chose to continue to live and work as an artist in Iran.[7] He was based in Tehran, where he worked as an actor, visual artist, and ceramist. His work featured in many exhibitions in Europe and the Middle East. Time magazine once described him as one of the country's "hottest" artists.[8]
Hassanzadeh's works often deal with issues that are considered sensitive in Iranian society and therefore he was frequently referred to as a 'political' artist or 'pop' artist. Scholars have described his style as somewhere between dissident and regime art.[11] The artist, himself, called his work "people's art" because it deals with social issues that affect everyday people.[12] His work is influenced by the Saqqa Kaneh movement and traditional Iranian art.
^Issa, R., Pākbāz, R. and Shayegan, D., Iranian Contemporary Art, Booth-Clibborn Editions, 2001, p. 26; Daragahi, B., "Iranian Artists Inspired by Adversity," Los Angeles Times, 27 March 2011, Online:
^Clare, C., Subversive Ceramics, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016, p. 148-149
^Daragahi, B., "Iranian Artists Inspired by Adversity," Los Angeles Times, 27 March 2011, Online:
^Behiery, C., "The Veiled Muslim Woman as Subject in Contemporary Art: The Role of Location, Autobiography, and the Documentary Image," Implicit Religion, Vol. 16, no. 4, 2013, pp 417–442, doi:10.1558/imre.v16i4.417
^Behiery, C., "The Veiled Muslim Woman as Subject in Contemporary Art: The Role of Location, Autobiography, and the Documentary Image," Implicit Religion, Vol. 16, no. 4, 2013, pp 417–442, doi:10.1558/imre.v16i4.417
^Issa, R., Pākbāz, R. and Shayegan, D., Iranian Contemporary Art, Booth-Clibborn Editions, 2001, p. 94
^Gumpert, L. and Balaghi, S., Picturing Iran: Art, Society and Revolution, I.B.Tauris, 2002, p. 86
^Shatanawi, M., "The Disquieting Art of Khosrow Hassanzadeh," ISIM Review, vol. 18,, no. 1, 2006, pp 55-56
^"In the Mood for Paper,Art and AsiaPacific Quarterly Journal, No. 64-65, p. 51
^Eigner, S., Art of the Middle East: Modern and Contemporary Art of the Arab World and Iran, Merrell, 2010, p. 120
^Clare, C., Subversive Ceramics, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016, p. 149
^"Khosrow Hassanzadeh Celebratres Traditional Murals and Figures," Art Observer, 2 April 2012, Online:
