Artist Statemenet

Arezoo Bharthania is an Iranian-American multi-disciplinary artist based in Los Angeles, CA. Her works reflects the experience of creating a home while existing in a state of in-between. It is a narrative formed through layers and gestures that blends her childhood and early adulthood in Iran with her current life in Los Angeles. The space she occupies is navigated through the bodily experience of womanhood and a balance of dichotomies: public and private, psychological and physical environments, here and there.

The homes that she has inhabited across geographies represent a multilayered construction of identity influenced by interdependent forces that define roles, govern behaviors, and order power relationships. The Iranian identity she carries in the United States relies heavily on her history as an immigrant. Utilizing her personal history as a filter, her work honors the common experiences and materials of everyday life from which people build a home. This includes personal human experiences of love, work, observation, memory, emotion, sensation, nostalgia and desire; and the universal struggle to pull forth vivid memories that have been reduced to flashing glimpses as time creates distance between past experience and current life.

She makes mixed-media work to communicate, mutate, and abstract layers of memory along with elements of the home with the knowledge that both are inextricable from political and social contexts.

As Gayatri Spivak wrote, using the displacing gesture as a reversal is a way to reclaim the dubious privilege of having a voice. She aims to build a ground from which she can speak.

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Arezoobharthania.com

[email protected]

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Education

2015   MFA in Visual Art, California State University, Long Beach, CA

2012   MA in Painting, California State University, Northridge, CA

2004  BA in Painting, Tehran Azad University, Tehran, Iran

 

Exhibitions

Solo Exhibitions

2023   A Home In the In-Between, Curated by Jason Jenn, LA Artcore Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2015   Escape The Gaze of The Blind Censor, Gatov Gallery, Long Beach, CA

2012   Shed Gallery, California State University, Northridge, CA

2005   The City, Arasbaran Cultural Center, Tehran, Iran

 

Selected Group Exhibitions

2024   UPCOMING Small Pleasures, Curated by Alex Barrister, ARB Gallery, Cambridge, UK

2023   Paper Route, Curated by Baha Danesh, Art Share LA Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2023   Nomad, Torrance Art Museum sponsored, Torrance, CA

2023   Adaptation, Ruimte Caesuur Gallery, Middleburg, The Netherlands

2023   Dis Connection, Curated by Elana Kundell , Studio Channel Islands Art Center Gallery, Camarillo, CA

2023   Zimmer Frei, Curated by Snezana Petrovic , Wonzimer Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2022   Widerhall/Reverberations, BERLIN/LA CONNECT, collaboration with Axel Obiger gallery from Berlin, Durden and Ray, CA

2022    Studio System, Closing reception of Art residency at the Museum, Torrance Art Museum, CA

2022    Media Art Exhibition, jurors Mika Cho, Heather Bowling and Mike Che,  MOAH:CEDAR, Lancaster, CA

2022    Supermarket 2022 Art Fair,  Stockholm, Sweden

2022    Displacement and Resilience, Curated by Elana Kundell,  Studio Channel Islands Gallery, Camarillo, CA

2021    Blooming in The Whirlwind, Curated by Arezoo Bharthania, Sean Noyce, and Ismael de Anda III, Collaboration with Level Ground Collective,

Durden and Ray, CA

2021   Wall Hangings, Curated by Tina Linville and Sarah Cabigas, Four Fourteen Gallery, Marysville, CA

2021   Nomad, Pop-up Show, Part of TAM show at Del Amo Crossing, CA

2021   All Media, Curated by Taylor Bythewood-Porter, Irvine Fine Art Center, CA

2020   Archive Machines, Curated by Olivian Cha, Kerstin Erdmann, and Rita Gonzalez, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, CA

2020   Personal Contacts, Durden and Ray, Virtual Exhibition, Los Angeles, CA

2020   Mine and Yours, Curated by Renae Bernard, Virtual Exhibition, Los Angeles, CA

2020   We Are Here, Here We Are, LA county-wide exhibition, Los Angeles, CA

2020   QIPO Fair 2, International contemporary art event organized by QIPO curatorial collective in partnership with Reurbano, Mexico City

2020   How Long Do You Mean To Be, curated by Jennifer Celio, Laundromat Art Space, Miami, FL

2020   Intersections, Durden and Ray Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2019   Through Places, Kamikaze- PØST, MiM Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2019   Outside US, Seaver gallery, Marlborough School, Los Angeles, CA

2018   Dragnet, Durden and Ray, Los Angeles, CA

2018   Mothers, Eggshells, curated by Kim Abeles, Keystone Art Space, Los Angeles, CA

2018   Senses, “Other People” installation, Pacific Court Apartments window display, Long Beach, CA

2017   LAndscape, curated by Rebecca Bennett Duke, Monte Vista Projects, Los Angeles, CA

2017   No Restraint, curated by Kristine Schomaker, Ark Gallery, Altadena, CA

2017   Brand 45 Works on Paper, curated by Leslie Jones, Brand Library, Glendale, CA

2017  Ivanka Loves Refugees, along with Lara Salmon’s performance, Pøst Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2016   Shift and Fade, BLAM Los Angeles, LA, CA

2016   Suites, Groundspace Project, Curated by Susan Joseph, Los Angeles, CA

2015   MASque Attack, Temporary Space, Los Angeles, CA

2015   An Odyssey– 10th Anniversary for TAM, CA

2015   Insight, University Art Museum of Long Beach, CA

2015   MAS Attack 8, San Diego Art Institute in Balboa Park, San Diego, CA

2014   MAS Attack 7, Santa Monica Art Studios, Santa Monica, CA

2014   Best of Possible Worlds, curated by Kio Griffith, Art Baboo146, Yokohama, Japan

2014   Park Exhibition Center, Idyllwild, CA

2014   Insight, University Art Museum of Long Beach, CA

2013   Crossing Borders, SOMARTS, San Francisco, CA

2012   CSUN Thesis Show, Main Gallery, CSUN, CA

2012   CSUN Annual Juried Art Student Exhibition, Main Gallery, CSUN, CA

2012   In Search of Clarity: Three Perspectives on Iran, Antelope Valley College, CA

2011   Concealed, West Gallery, California State University, Northridge, CA

2011   CSUN Annual Juried Art Student Exhibition, Main Gallery, CSUN, CA

2010   Inside, West Gallery, Juried by Peter Frank, University Gallery, CSUN, CA

2010   March Madness, Shed gallery, CSUN, CA

2008   The Iranian-American Art Expo, Reseda, CA

2006   Group show, Mehrin Gallery, Tehran, Iran

 

Two Person Exhibitions

2014    Paneless, Werby Gallery, CSULB, Los Angeles, CA

2006   Desert, Mehrin Gallery, Tehran, Iran

 

Curatorial Projects

2021     Blooming in The Whirlwind, Curated by Arezoo Bharthania, Sean Noyce, Ismael de Anda III, Collaboration with Level Ground collective, Durden and Ray, CA

2020   Personal Contacts #3, Curated by Arezoo Bharthania, Valerie Wilcox, Alison Woods, Joe Davidson, Durden and Ray, CA

2020   We Are Here, Here We Are, Co-Curated the show, LA county-wide exhibition, CA

2020   Intersections, Curators: Arezoo Bharthania, Gul Cagin, Alanna Marcelletti, Durden and Ray Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2019   Through Places, Curators: Arezoo Bharthania, Diane Williams, Kamikaze- PØST, MiM Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2019   Outside US, Marlborough School, Los Angeles, CA

2018   Making Lightly: A Communal Residency, Atche Art Space, Los Angeles, CA

 

Residencies

2022   Studio System, Torrance Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA

2018   Making Lightly: A Communal Residency, Atche Art Space, Los Angeles, CA

 

Awards and Grants

2022   Museum Manager Award, Art Exhibition 2022, MOAH:CEDAR, Lancaster, CA

2021   Vibrant Cities Arts Grants, West Los Angeles, CA

2014   COTA Dean purchase Award, Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Museum, Long Beach, CA

2014   John and Flora Olsen Graduate Scholarship, CSULB, Long Beach, CA

2011   Graduate Association Thesis Support Research award, CSUN, Northridge, CA

 

Publications

2023      LA Art Documents documantion of “A Home in the In-Between” by LA Art Documents

2023     Displacement, Disconnection & Disruption: Alternate Perceptions of the Diasporic Experiences By Betty Ann Brown

2023    Artist Arezoo Bharthania welcomes Viewers to A Home In the InBetween, Written by Genie Davis, DiversionsLA

2022   https://artandcakela.com/2022/07/27/b-la-connect/, Written by Genie Davis, Art and Cake LA

2021   http://www.diversionsla.com/blooming-in-the-whirlwind-whirls-away/, Written by Genie Davis, DiversionsLA

2020   An Exhibition Across Los Angeles Takes on New Meanings in Times of Protest, written by Jennifer Remenchik, Hyperallergic Magazine

2020   Review: 100 artists come to the rescue with work in public view across L.A., written by Christopher Knight, LA Times

2020   2020 Vision, Written by Genie Davis, Artillery Magazine

2020   Intersection, ArtDaily Magazine

2019  Outside Us, Written by Genie Davis, Artillary Magazine

2018  Making Lightly at Atche Art Space, Written by Genie Davis, Art and Cake

2018  Voyage LA Magazine, Meet with Arezoo Bharthania

2012  Daily Sundial, Cal State Northridge, MFA’s explore culture

 

Artist Talks, Presentations, Workshops

2021    Curators walk-through: Blooming in The Whirlwind, Curated by Arezoo Bharthania, Sean Noyce, Ismael de Anda III, Collaboration with Level Ground collective, Durden and Ray, CA

2020   Workshop and artist lecture:  Los Angeles Municipal Arts Gallery artist talk and workshop

2020  Personal Contacts 3, Durden and Ray, Virtual Exhibition, Los Angeles, CA / Artist talk

2020   Mine and Yours, Curated by Renae Bernard, Virtual Exhibition, Los Angeles, CA / Artist talk

2019   Outside US, Marlborough School, Los Angeles, CA / Artist talk

2016   Shift and Fade, BLAM Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA / Artist talk

2012   In Search of Clarity: Three Perspectives on Iran, Antelope Valley College, CA / Artist talk

 

Public Collections

COTA, California State University, Long Beach, CA

University Student Union art collection, California State University, Northridge, CA

 

Teaching Experience

2020   Instructor, Foundation Painting I, LMU, CA

2018   Instructor, Foundation Painting, LMU, CA

2017   Teacher Assistant, Foundation Painting, LMU, CA

2015   Teacher Assistant, Color Crush, Idyllwild Arts Summer Program, CA

2014   Teacher Assistant, Color Theory, California State University, Long Beach, CA

2012   Teacher Assistant, Computer Graphics, LMU, CA