Saba Farhoudnia

Saba Farhoudnia (b. 1987, Tehran, Iran)

Saba Farhoudnia was born in Tehran, Iran in 1987, in the midst of war. She currently lives and works in New York. Saba’s paintings are monumental in scale and explore the challenges facing the human condition. Saba merges the art of drawing, painting, language, and verse, through brushstrokes, geometric forms, calligraphy, and gestural marks to evoke drama, pain, humor, and beauty. The forms are intended to plumb the depths of the grotesque and elevate the humor in beauty. Her work explores humanity poised on a precipice: facing an insecure present and an uncertain future. Saba Farhoudnia honed her skills by earning B.F.A. and M.A. from the University of Science and Culture in Tehran, Iran. Saba also received a second M.F.A. from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. She is an alumna of the Artist In the Marketplace fellowship program at the Bronx Museum of the Arts (New York, 2020), an awardee of the Queens Arts Fund Grant (New York, 2022) and an Artist in Residence at the Fashion Institute Technology of Art (New York, 2023). Saba’s work has been seen worldwide, including Make Room (Los Angeles, 2024), Fou Gallery (New York, 2024), Bronx Museum (New York, 2024), Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning (New York, 2022), Dominico-American Cultural Institute (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 2015), Reza Abbasi Museum (Tehran, Iran, 2002) and upcoming shows at Art Market Budapest (2024) and Art021 Shanghai Art Fair (2024) Her work can also be found in such periodicals as Widewalls, Dovetail, BoldJourney, Tussle, Studio International, Art Spiel, Thalia Magazine, and Words Without Borders among others.