Hiwa Pashaei

Hiwa Pashaei or Hiva Pashaei (; , August 1979, Eslamabad-e Gharb – ) is a Kurdish painter, photographer, calligrapher, graphist, curator and publisher from Iran, living in the United States. He is active in the fields of painting, graphic design, research and education of visual arts. Pashaei is known for his spearhead role in pixel art in Iran and Kurdistan. Pashaei is also renowned because of his innovative use of Kurdish culture themes, specially culture of Kermanshah region Kurds, creating figurative works with the subject of Kurdish women, and presenting these themes in the form of modern and post modern art. He is manager of Rouge Art Gallery and Founder of Jowan Visual Art School in Tehran, and also CEO & Founder of Art & Culture Center of California "ACCC" in Los Angeles. Pashaei has held several individual and group exhibitions in Iran and other countries like Iraq, Japan, Italy, France and United States.

Early life Hiwa Pashaei was born in August 1979, in Eslamabad-e Gharb, Kermanshah Province of Iranian Kurdistan. He graduated in graphic design in 1997 from Culture and Islamic Guidance Administration's Vocational School for Visual arts. Then he continued his education in Martyr Mofatteh Technical and Vocational University of Hamedan and graduated as associate of arts (A.A) in 2000.

Pashaei went to Tehran and studied graphic design in Soore University and received bachelor of fine arts (B.F.A) degree from there in 2003. He continued his education in Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch and defended his thesis Designing Logos in Iran: Desining Logo for Iranian Institutions under the supervision of Bahram Kalhornia and advisory of Manouchehr Rakhshan in 2006.

Hiwa Pashaei was interested in Middle-Eastern peoples' cultural semiology and did some researches on this field specially on Kurdish people. He went to France on behalf of Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art to workout and research on painting and graphic design, and subsequently be the resident of Cité internationale des arts in Paris in 2012.

Hiwa Pashaei established the Honarjoo arts news website in 2009 and started working in his personal art studio from that time. He also founded the Jouan School of Visual Arts in that year. Moreover he was the art director of Takhte Jamshid Cultural and Art Foundation from 2005, and a member of Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance Center for Expansion of Visual Arts from 2008.

He was the first Iranian artist which created artworks in the form of Pixel art and Textile art. He also has created many artworks in the manner of mixed media, installation art, conceptual art and digital art. Moreover he has held several workshops in Niavaran Cultural Center, Ariana Art Gallery and Museum of the Qasr Prison and has taught these techniques to at least 300 students.

He has collected photos and albums of Kurdish families for many years, and has researched them to present patterns of figurative forms which indicates Kurdish people personality. He could obtained a modern expression of pictorial identity of Kurdish people of Kermanshah region, with putting the personalities up in a mixture of traditional motifs and appearances of modern life, with preserving the historical and ethnological roots of them at the same time. Pashaei is perhaps the first Kurdish artist that represented Kurdish people and specially Kurdish women with a perceptual and research approach. Moreover Pashaei was jury president and director of Drawing and Calligraphy Festival of Art Graduates of Iranian Universities, and also member of jury and director of the First Azadegan Visual Arts Festival, both held in the Museum of the Qasr Prison in 2015. In this group exhibition musicians such as Shahram Nazeri, Keivan Saket and Shahrdad Rouhani were attended and Majid Derakhshani and Arsalan Kamkar debuted from their portraits together with the creator artists, and also Hana Kamkar debuted from Bijan Kamkar portrait.

Pashaei was director, instructor and juror of 100 Celebrities of Iranian Cinema and Theatre Exhibition which held in Ariana Art Gallery in 2017 with participation of 100 painter artists and attendance of prominent figures of Iranian cinema and theatre. Moreover he was director, instructor, curator and jury president in 100 Iranian Athletic Stars Exhibition which held in Museum of Fine Arts in Sa'dabad Complex in 2018 with participation of 100 painter artists and attendance of Minister of Sport and Youth, President of the International Olympic Committee on Iran and prominent Iranian athletic figures.

This exhibition was enthusiastically received by some prominent visitors such as Shahram Nazeri and Sadegh Zibakalam.

Pashaei has held a master class of Fine Arts in Tehran and Los Angeles in 2018.

Books Pashaei, Hiwa. 150 Young Iranian Designers (English-Persian), author and art director Hiwa Pashaei, Translator Sepideh Khalili, Tehran: Talaee Publishing, First Edition, 2009. Pashaei, Hiwa. The young Iranian designers (English-Persian), Compiling, Layout and Art Director Hiwa Pashaei, Tehran, 2010. Pashaei, Hiwa. Manuscript? Calligraphy? Calligram or Typographic Poster? (Persian), in Tandis biweekly, Number 63, 2005, Pp 12–13. Pashaei, Hiwa. Mural Paintings of California, Tehran: Ideh, 2018. Pashaei, Hiwa. Pixel art and It's Manipulation, Tehran, Ideh. 2018.

Exhibition Poster and Photography Exhibition, Visual Arts Exhibition Center of Culture and Islamic Guidance Administration, 1998, 1999, 2000. Noma Illustration Group Exhibition in Japan, Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, 2002. Visual Arts Group Exhibition, Niavaran Cultural Center, 2003. Exhibition of The First International Biennial of Islamic World Poster, Academy of Arts of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 2004. Exhibition of 5th Generation of Iranian Graphic Designers, Academy of Arts of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 2006. Exhibition of The Second International Biennial of Islamic World Poster, Academy of Arts of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 2007. First Exhibition of Kurdish Photography, Nikol Faridani Gallery, 2007. Spectacle of Soore Exhibition, Soore Gallery, 2007. "National Day of Altruism, Resistance and Victory" Poster Exhibition, Imam Ali Religious Arts Museum, 2008. Painting Exhibition of The First Fajr International Visual Arts Festival, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, 2008. Exhibition of The First Azadegan Visual Arts Festival, Academy of Arts of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 2010. Silver Cypress Exhibition, Special for members of Iranian Graphic Designers Society (IGDS), Iranian Artists Forum, 2010. Individual Exhibition of Mixed Media and Painting, Cité des arts Gallery of Paris and Iranian Cultural Center of Paris, 2011. "Henase" Exhibition, Mixed Media with subject of Kurdish culture, Middle East Gallery of Tehran, 2012. "Paint-ography" Individual Exhibition, Middle East Gallery of Tehran, 2012. "Paint-ography" Individual Exhibition, Cité internationale des arts, Paris, 2012. Participating in The First Exhibition of World Galleries in Iran, Tehran, Museum of the Qasr Prison, 2014. "Bawan" Individual Painting Exhibition, Tehran, Museum of the Qasr Prison, 2015. "Hawbeş" Individual Exhibition, Sanandaj Municipality Gallery, 2016. "Daye" Individual Exhibition, Kermanshah, Kalhor Gallery, 2016. Group Exhibition of Artworks, Art Department Gallery of Michigan State University, 2016. Portrait painting of Iranian Musicians Exhibition, Tehran, Niavaran Cultural Center, 2016. Group Exhibition of Painting, VEFA Art Gallery, Los Angeles, California, 2018. 100 Celebrities of Iranian Cinema and Theatre Exhibition, Tehran, Ariana Art Gallery, 2017. 100 Iranian Athletic Stars Exhibition, Museum of Fine Arts in Sa'dabad Complex, 2018.

Awards Third rate of photography part of the Nationwide Students Festival for Culture and art, 1999. First rate in graphic part of the 4th Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry Festival of Visual Arts, 2003. Third rate of Basmala Designing Symposium, Islamic Development Organization, 2003. Selected artist of The Second International Festival of Resistance Art, 2010. Resident in "Cité international Des Art, Paris, 2012. Selected artist of Tokyo designer's week, 2014. Participate in Venice biennial, 2015. Granted Residency in the USA Based on "Artistic Extraordinary Ability" category, 2016.