Abol Atighetchi

Born in Teheran in 1948  from a well-known family, Abol Atighetchi finished his primary school in Tehran and was sent to complete higher education in Switzerland, and later to a boarding school in England, where he graduated with a B.S.C. degree as an aeronautical engineer from Queen Mary College ,University of London.

Abol lived in France from 1983 to 1992, in this period he painted a series of figurative paintings called “Nouvelle Figuration”. The artist preferred to keep the collection hidden, until he decided to bring them to light with the newly started collaboration with Oblong Contemporary Gallery in Dubai. The artworks from this period represented the artist’s interpretation of the different cultures around the world. Abol shows his vision of the ancient populations from North and South America, African tribes, Papua New Guinean and the far East.

In 1996 Abol’ s culture took him back from the Nouvelle Figuration to his roots and was induced to follow his love for calligraphy as the final stage of his artistic evolution inspired by the poet M Jalāl ad-Dīn Mohammad Rūmī.  The difficulties he faced when he took up calligraphy painting was primarily the composition and the coloring, how to find balance and harmony.

It is incredible how the artist combines the use colors with large dimensions and deep compositions. The color “black” is no more a predominant. Abol paints calligraphy also on wood, where he uses lines and dots to ornament the background.