The master of Aqua Tinta has turned 80!

On the occasion of Ebrahim Ehrari’s 80th birthday we, the Gallery Berlin-Baku & qgallery are dedicating him a jubilee exhibition from May 27 to July 27, 2018, that gives very good insights into his comprehensive artistic life's work.
 
The exhibition shows the wide range of his artistic work from the beginning of the seventies until today. The main focus of the show is primarily graphics with seemingly surrealistic and metaphorical imagery in addition to colorful paintings and early optical illusions. The artworks reflect the rich and diverse life experiences of the artist, show many motifs enriched with symbols and also hints at critical debates with society and politics.
 
Many years Ebrahim Ehrari’s artistic work focused on graphics (especially Aqua Tinta) - and he was a master of his trade. His metaphorical encrypted imagery contains elements of surrealism, the game with perspectives and spaces, picking up proportions and bringing together different levels of reality. The balance between European and Oriental pictorial tradition, between iconic/ descriptive and poetic symbolic results in a new visual world full of rich allusions. The explanations of the symbolism actually is not required. Quite clearly the frame stands for bondage, the tip for threat, the water for life and the horse for power.
 
Yet he did not leave it at that. The artist Ehrari went into an experimental phase and over the years he acquired various changing techniques. For three years, he created computer art, and finally he concentrated on painting. This is also his present focus. He is remained notwithstanding true to himself, he continues to use not only his old but also new symbols, indeterminate forms, socio-critical themes and fantasy games. This exciting mixture can be found in his new paintings again, colourful moments with intense colors and tremendous forms.
 
Biography in short:
Ebrahim Ehrari was born in 1938 in Urmia (West Azerbaijan, Iran). In 1966 he moved to Europe and studied in 1969 at the HdK (University of Fine Arts) with professors Wolfgang Ludwig and Hans Förtsch. After completing his studies, Ehrari returned to Iran with his family and took a lectureship at the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Academy of Applied Arts (Graphic Arts) in Tehran. But in 1976 he came back to Berlin for good and took over the direction of the etching workshop of the BBK (Federal Association of Visual Artists) at Künstlerhaus Bethanien, which he held until 2003.
Since 1993, Ebrahim Ehrari has been actively involved in cultural exchange between Azerbaijan and Germany. He has initiated, supported and implemented many projects.
 
His artistic work comprises about 3000 works. It contains about 2500 graphic works.
 
Ebrahim Ehrari has been involved in numerous exhibition projects in Germany and abroad and his works are represented in numerous collections around the world, like in Afghanistan, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Germany, France, Greece, Great Britain, India, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Sweden, South Korea, the Czech Republic and the USA.