The featured artist for March 2024’s BURN IT ALL DOWN issue is Reza Abedini (b. 1967, Tehran), an Iranian artist and graphic designer. He is a graduate of Graphic Design from the University of Tehran (1985) and Painting from Tehran University of Art (1992). He is also an art critic, independent art director with Reza Abedini Studio (1993) and art director at “Manzar” magazine in Iran. He lives and works between Iran, the Netherlands, and Lebanon.
Works of Reza Abedini maintain a modern theme as he blends traditional Islamic patterns, calligraphy and culture. He combines simple illustrations with poetic typography and elegant layouts, exploring the elaborate beauty of the Persian script and language. He is know for solving the layout problem of the Persian script using a technique to break the continuous and single leveled baseline of the font and to extend the height of every visual cluster to his preferred dimension.
Reza Abedini has been continuously working as an artist, designer, and researcher in typography, graphic design and visual arts since 1989. Living and working in Iran, Lebanon, and the Netherlands, Abedini taught graphic design at the American University of Beirut. In 2006, he received the Principal Prince Claus Award. His many achievements include the 1st prize for best film poster of Fajr International Film Festival, Iran (1993); first prize, Best Film Poster of Fajr International Film Festival, Iran (1996); first prize and gold medal, 8th International Poster Biennial of Mexico (2004); first prize, 9th Press Festival of Children & Young Adults, Iran (2005); first prize, Mexico International Poster Biennial, “Reve de Sable”, Mexico (2005). He participated in the 6th Biennial of Iranian Graphic Designers, Iran (1999) and the Isfahan Contemporary Art Museum show with Azad Art Gallery (2018). He also participated in Iran’s first art fair, Teer Art, represented by 009821 Projects, Tehran (2020). His last solo show, titled “Delimitation”, was with Dastan (+2, 2021). He is a member of the Iranian Graphic Designers Society since 1997. He was a member of jury at several biennials. His name is listed in Meggs History of Graphic Design, as one of the world’s outstanding post digital graphic designers (courtesy Dastan Gallery).
