Darvish Fakhr

Darvish Fakhr is a half-Iranian, half-American artist whose work ranges from painting to movement art. In his practice, he amalgamates disparate cultures by overlaying various concepts and aesthetics through interference, which can take the form of movement, paint, or text.

Darvish’s work straddles the line between beauty and destruction. Known for his classical style and meticulous technique, his paintings are then desecrated by his alterego, The Urban Sufi.

In a series of ritualistic performance pieces, Darvish pushes his work into a spiritual direction by writing Eastern inspired poetry over finished oil paintings. This uncomfortable act of artistic expression aims to merge notions of the spiritual and the physical as well as the the divine and the mortal.

At the core, his works is a tribute to both the classical tradition of Western painting and the timeless Eastern wisdom of Sufi poetry, inviting the viewer to reflect on their intersection.

He has exhibited and performed internationally, included at The Armory Show in New York, and is in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery in London. He currently lives and works in Brighton, UK.

Exhibitions

2026 “Enrapture” Solo show at Leila Heller Gallery, Dubai

2025 “Between States” Solo show at Leila Heller Gallery, New York City

2022 “Traveling Light” Solo show at Leila Heller Gallery, Dubai

2020 “From Tehran with Love” group show with Magic of Persia, Los Angeles

2018 “No Man’s Land” solo show at Asia House in collaboration with Akram Khan, London

2015 “The Armory Show”, selected as “most photographed and hardest to miss” by Voice of America, New York

2014 “Palimpsest” Edge of Arabia, New York

2013 “Farce” Aun Gallery, London

2011 “Safar” Aun Gallery, Tehran

2007 "Embodiment" group show at Signal Gallery, Hoxton

2005 BP Travel Award Show, London and Aberdeen

2004 National Portrait Gallery, London and Edinburgh

2003 Mall Galleries, Quoad Art Gallery, Brighton

2003 Royal Society of Portrait Painters, London

2002 Chelsea Art Fair

2001 Medici Gallery, Piccadilly, London

2001 “Discerning Eye” at Mall Galleries, London

1998 Exhibition of portraits at Blue Gallery, Chelsea

1997 Degree Show, Slade School of Fine Art

1993 Annual Boit Competition, Museum School, Boston

Awards

2007 BP Award, National Portrait Gallery, London

2006 BP Award, National Portrait Gallery, London and Ediburgh

2001 Royal West of England Academy, 3rd Place, Bristol

2000 BP Award, National Portrait Gallery, London and Aberdeen

1999 BP Award, National Portrait Gallery, London and Aberdeen

1998 BP Award, National Portrait Gallery, London and Aberdeen

1993 Annual Boit Competition, Museum School, Boston

Education

M.F.A. Slade School of Fine Art, London, 1997

B.F.A. Museum School of Fine Arts, Boston, 1994