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Mahdieh Abolhasan

15.75″ x 23.5″ x 4″ metal, cardboard, mirror $5,500

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Mahdieh Abolhasan began her artistic journey as a child at Tehran’s Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, where she first discovered her love for drawing and sculpture. Over the years, she honed her skills through rigorous study, eventually joining the renowned Drawing House under the mentorship of artist Farhad Gavzan. This foundation led her to develop a distinct style that blurs the boundary between two-dimensional drawing and three-dimensional sculpture. By layering dense cardboard, gluing the sheets together, and meticulously carving into them, Abolhasan creates intricate topographies filled with deep cavities and hidden structures. Her breakthrough came in 2020 when she won the prestigious KHOR Art Initiative, earning international acclaim for the layered, historical resonance of her work. She has since exhibited globally, including appearances at Volta Art Basel in Switzerland and Spazio NOU in Milan.

At the heart of Abolhasan’s practice is a belief in the creative potential of destruction. Rather than building a sculpture in the traditional sense, she constructs a solid mass only to attack it in a controlled, deliberate manner. As she cuts away the top layers to reveal what lies beneath, she reflects a process of making and unmaking that echoes the realities of modern life. In her own words, her sculptures represent a volume that has survived the wounds of destruction. She often incorporates tiny mirrors deep within these carved spaces. These mirrors are deliberately kept small, offering viewers a brief, subtle glimpse of their own reflection. The goal is not self-absorption, but a quick moment of pause, a quiet invitation to look inward and reflect before turning back to the world.

Living and working in Tehran, Abolhasan’s artistic philosophy carries a poignant weight given the complexities of modern urban life. Her physical process of carving, wounding, and revealing resilience in paper serves as a quiet metaphor for survival against the odds. Beyond her studio work, she expands her practice through performance art and land art, continually exploring how physical presence and environment interact. For collectors and gallery visitors, her pieces offer more than visual depth; they present a deeply human narrative about memory, critical self-examination, and finding enduring strength within fragmented layers.