Parviz Tanavoli
Vancouver 49° 15' 39.14" N, 123° 6' 50.23" W Arts Visual Arts Person
Parviz Tanavoli is an Iranian sculptor, painter, scholar and art collector. He has lived in Vancouver, Canada since 1989.
Tanavoli's work has been auctioned around the world leading to overall sales of over $6.7 million dollars, making him the most expensive living Iranian artist.
He belongs to Saqqakhana group of artists who, according to the scholar Karim Emami, share a common popular aesthetic. He has been influenced heavily by his country's history and culture and traditions, (he was once cultural advisor to the Queen of Iran and has always been fascinated with locksmithing.
In 2005, he created a small piece of sculpture called Heech in a Cage to protest the conditions of the American-held prisoners at Guantanamo Bay detainment camp and in 2006 began work on his piece to honour the victims of the Israeli-Lebanon war.