Iranian artist Kia Eshghi will have his work featured in a new exhibition at the Queens Museum of Art that is set to open on Sunday, April 5.
Eshghi, the husband of North Shore Towers vendor Pouran, has been creating art since he was a high school student. While in his native Iran, he was able to attend the government-supported Art Institute of Tehran.
Although he was a drummer taking music classes, Eshghi started studying art and found himself drawn into that world. As things progressed, he started to create theater set designs and then started painting and sculpting. He also has done interior design work.
After eventually moving to the United States, Eshghi began showing his art and went on to develop his own technique. He said that caused more people to look at his work.
“I worked on different things and I changed my style until I came up with a lot of ideas,” Eshghi, who lives in Long Island, said in 2008. He also said, “I’m a painter so I don’t wait to get inspired. I always have an idea.”
In creating his art, Eshghi uses free-form and vibrant colors. Some of his pieces can be seen in Pouran’s salon in Building One on the arcade level.
This marks the first time that Eshghi has displayed his work at the Queens Museum of Art. The exhibition, entitled “Kia: Organic Abstract,” features 12 major pieces, including one sculpture and 11 paintings.
“It’s really nice,” Eshghi said of the exhibit. “It’s good exposure.”
In the past, Eshghi also said that the museum was “a beautiful setting for my kind of work.”
Eshghi said that he hopes people like the work, adding that the pieces will raise questions since many have probably not seen his particular technique before. He explained that in the past people have mistakenly thought he did the paintings first and then put a silkscreen over them. However, he does not use any machinery, instead doing the entire work, including all of the details, by hand.
There will be an opening reception for Eshghi’s exhibit at the museum from 7 to 9 p.m. on Sunday, April 5. It will remain on display through April 29.
The Queens Museum of Art is located in the New York City Building of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. For more information, visit www.queensmuseum.org or call 718-592-9700.
