Kamran Khavarani

Kamran Khavarani (born 1941) is an Iranian-American architect and painter. He has won multiple awards for his residential and commercial designs and a painter trained in the classical style. What may be his most notable achievement is the creation of a new style of painting called Abstract Romanticism, accredited to him by art historian Albert Boime of UCLA in 2005. His paintings have gained recognition from the Library of Congress and have been researched for their therapeutic effects.

Khavarani took painting more seriously after arriving in the States. In the 1990s, he started studying philosophy and found inspiration in the works of the Persian poet Rumi. Khavarani's painting style was discovered by the late Professor Albert Boime, a Social Art Historian from UCLA. Boime wrote The Birth of Abstract Romanticism, Art for a New Humanity, Rumi and the Paintings of Kamran Khavarani, dedicating the entire volume to the works of Kamran Khavarani. Professor Albert Boime credited Khavarani for the creation of an artistic movement through his new style of painting, "Abstract Romanticism," and called it a "one-person movement"

In 2010, Khavarani's drawing, titled "The Bird of Freedom" was presented by Nowruz Commission to the spirit of Thomas Jefferson and accepted into the Library of Congress by James Hadley Billington. This presentation was officially noted in the Congressional Records and became part of the United States history. In 2011, the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations awarded Khavarani the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in recognition of his contributions to America.

In 2013, the potential therapeutic effect of his artwork was undergoing academic research.

Selected works