Ali Beheshti

Ali Beheshti is an Iranian artist born in Qom in 1988. He trained at Azad University in Tehran, taking a BA in Graphic Design in 2013 and an MFA in Painting in 2016. His drawings lay down fine coats of graphite powder, ink and pencil and add print transfer, so that flat sheets look like solid objects. His newer works are paintings in automotive paint, acrylic, ink, charcoal and conté, cut and marked with laser and direct heat.

Dastan's Basement in Tehran has given him four solo exhibitions: Insensible in 2017, Interpretation in 2019, Opaque in 2021 and Sector in 2025. For Sector he sprayed black pigment, acrylic and ink with an airbrush and spray gun. He then cut the surfaces with a laser and burned them with a handmade pyrography tool, adding natural charcoal to match the soot along the cuts. Placed side by side, the surfaces build architectural shapes not planned in advance.

His group exhibitions include Agog at V-Cafe in 2016 and Encircle the Apple or Shadowlessness at V-Gallery in 2019, both curated by Aidin Xankeshipour. In 2021 he joined I draw, therefore I think, an online South South project curated by Jitish Kallat. With Dastan he has shown at Art Dubai, Editions Dubai and Frieze Seoul, where he had a solo booth in 2022.