Farah Ossouli (b. 1953, Zanjan, Iran) is a Tehran-based painter renowned for her groundbreaking interpretation of Persian miniature art. Graduating with a diploma in painting in 1971 from the Girls' School of Fine Arts, Tehran, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in graphic design in 1977 from Tehran University, Ossouli embarked on a career that reshaped traditional artistic norms.
From an early age, she found solace in crafting characters for her imaginative stories, replacing dolls with meticulously drawn, painted, and cut-out figures. This childhood passion evolved into a profound love for literature and painting, ultimately converging in her artwork. Ossouli's paintings, often executed in gouache and watercolor, seamlessly blend contemporary themes with Persian miniature subjects, addressing women's lives, Persian poetry, and classical Western art.
As a pioneering figure, she has chaired the 6th Tehran Contemporary Painting Biennial in 2003 and has exhibited her work globally. Ossouli's pieces, featuring manipulated scales and vibrant color blocks, have found homes in prestigious collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, and more. Her enduring commitment to expressing life's intricacies through symbolic characters and stories defines her remarkable artistic journey.
Ossouli says " I realized quite early on in my childhood that dolls were not capable of embodying all the tails and personalities I lovingly nurtured in my active imagination. So I started creating my own characters out of paper and paint, specific to each one of my fantastic stories. I drew them, painted them, cut them out of cardboard, and played with them for hours and days. After a while, I needed new stories, with new actors. The old cut outs were all thrown away along with the old sagas, only to be replaced by totally new ones. I would start all over again, recreating, redrawing, and repainting bran new characters, in accordance to my new scenarios. My fondness and fascination for literature and painting grew daily. I felt that these two interests were pulling me in two separate directions.<br /> I was spell bound by the fascinating game of narration mixed with images. My inner paradise came to a completion when I was capable of uniting these two interests of mine in my work, as a painter, just as I had done so as a child. The sweet game initiated so joyfully and innocently in my early years continues to live on in me today, expressing itself through my paintings. I enjoy expressing my personal understanding and interpretation of life and existence through the symbolic characters and stories which I use in my works."
![“Our world” from “Gereft-o-Gir [Push and Pull]” Series,](/Images/Gallery/ArtFairWorkT_39550.jpg "“Our world” from “Gereft-o-Gir [Push and Pull]” Series,")
