Mohammad Ehsaei

Mohammed Ehsaei (b. 1939, Qazvin, Iran) attended College of Fine Arts at University of Tehran in 1966 to study fine art and traditional calligraphy before obtaining a teaching position at the same institution in 1971. Ehsaei is a master calligrapher turned artist who uses dense, interlaced texts to provide a contemplative space for language that does not rely on direct translation. 

His works are inspired by Western abstraction and Chinese brush painting. Large in scale and often brightly colored on black backgrounds, his compositions require perceptive silence rather than reading skills, and seek to convey the heavenly power that calligraphy has traditionally possessed in Iranian heritage. By experimenting with proportion, ratio, and scale, his works visualize a distinct mysticism in their interpretation and take on the utopian ideals of modern art. The artist has created illustrious murals and private commissions, using his own unique style to transform the ways in which this seemingly rigid text might be distilled.

Ehsaei’s murals can be found on the Iranian Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the Natural Museum of Iran in Tehran. He has exhibited extensively in Iran, his work is housed in institutional collections such as the British Museum, London; Hermitage Museum; St. Petersburg; Leighton House Museum; London; and Beirut Exhibition Center, among others. He received the National Award or Art and Culture in Iran in 2005.