Rokni Haerizadeh

(Iranian, b. 1978) Rokni Haerizadeh is known for his practice of painting directly onto photographs, creating stop-motion animations that often satirize contemporary politics and interrogate the voyeuristic role of the spectator. Haerizadeh frequently collaborates with his brother Ramin Haerizadeh and their friend Hesam Rahmanian to create works that transform found materials in order to critically examine contemporary history-in-the-making. The three artists have lived together in self-imposed exile in Dubai since Rokni and Ramin’s artworks were confiscated from Tehran collections in 2009.

Rokni Haerizadeh attended clandestine art and philosophy classes in the early 1990s while simultaneously working toward a degree from the University of Tehran. His work was featured at the Frye Art Museum in the 2019 exhibition, The Rain Doesn’t Know Friend From Foes: Ramin Haerizadeh, Rokni Haerizadeh, Hesam Rahmanian (Jan. 26 – April 28, 2019) and in Recent Acquisitions in Contemporary Art (Sept. 11, 2021 – Jan. 23, 2022).