Keyvan Heydari-Shovir ( Persian:کیوان حیدری شویر; born September 1985), also known as CK1, is an Iranian-born contemporary artist, and

street art Street art is visual art created in public locations for public visibility. It has been associated with the terms "independent art", "post-graffiti", "neo-graffiti" and guerrilla art. Street art has evolved from the early forms of defiant graff ...

ist. His work combines Iranian traditional culture with contemporary

pop culture Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' ...

, and he is a pioneer of Iranian

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

art. He lives in Los Angeles, and previously lived in San Francisco and Tehran.

Early life and education

Keyvan Heydari-Shovir was born in 1985 in Tehran, Iran, during the

Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations Security Counci ...

. He obtained his BA degree (2009) in painting from the

University of Tabriz The University of Tabriz ( fa, دانشگاه تبريز, ''Danushgah-e Tebriz'') is a public university located in Tabriz, East Azerbaijan with the fundamental aim of creating a center of excellence in higher education and research. It is one ...

; and a

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts a ...

degree (2018) from the

California College of the Arts California College of the Arts (CCA) is a private art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded in Berkeley, California in 1907 and moved to a historic estate in Oakland, California in 1922. In 1996 it opened a second campus in San ...

. In 2011, following the

Green Revolution The Green Revolution, also known as the Third Agricultural Revolution, was a period of technology transfer initiatives that saw greatly increased crop yields and agricultural production. These changes in agriculture began in developed countrie ...

in 2009, he moved to the United States.

Career

Shovir was among the first artists that established the Iranian

movement that emerged in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the Capital city, capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is th ...

in 2002. He uses

Persian alphabet The Persian alphabet ( fa, الفبای فارسی, Alefbâye Fârsi) is a writing system that is a version of the Arabic script used for the Persian language spoken in Iran (Iranian Persian, Western Persian) and Afghanistan (Dari, Dari Persi ...

and

Islamic art Islamic art is a part of Islamic culture and encompasses the visual arts produced since the 7th century CE by people who lived within territories inhabited or ruled by Muslim populations. Referring to characteristic traditions across a wide r ...

motifs in his work, exploring Iranian poets like

Hafez Khwāje Shams-od-Dīn Moḥammad Ḥāfeẓ-e Shiraz, Shīrāzī ( fa, خواجه شمس‌‌الدین محمّد حافظ شیرازی), known by his pen name Hafez (, ''Ḥāfeẓ'', 'the memorizer; the (safe) keeper'; 1325–1390) and as "H ...

and

Rumi Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī ( fa, جلال‌الدین محمد رومی), also known as Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Balkhī (), Mevlânâ/Mawlānā ( fa, مولانا, lit= our master) and Mevlevî/Mawlawī ( fa, مولوی, lit= my ma ...

. His

stencil Stencilling produces an image or pattern on a surface, by applying pigment to a surface through an intermediate object, with designed holes in the intermediate object, to create a pattern or image on a surface, by allowing the pigment to reach ...

s are inspired by

Persian miniature A Persian miniature ( Persian: نگارگری ایرانی ''negârgari Irâni'') is a small Persian painting on paper, whether a book illustration or a separate work of art intended to be kept in an album of such works called a '' muraqqa''. Th ...

art. He was friends with the members of the band The Yellow Dogs in Iran, two of whom were killed in a shooting in Brooklyn in 2013. Shovir was featured in the film documentary, ''Mutiny of Colours'' (2016) as one of Iran's formative street artists.

Murals

He has done several

street A street is a public thoroughfare in a built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. A street can be as simple as a level patch of d ...

and

public art Public art is art in any media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and physically acce ...

projects in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. In 2015, in Clarion Alley, Shovir put up a mural with artist

Shaghayegh Cyrous Shaghayegh Cyrous (Persian:; is an American artist and curator based in Los Angeles. Her interactive time-based investigations, participatory projects, and video installations have been said to "create a poetic space for human connections." Earl ...

, "In Memory Of", was made in the memory of three female Iranian literary figures -

Forough Farrokhzad Forugh Farrokhzad ( fa, فروغ فرخزاد; 28 December 1934 – 14 February 1967) was an influential Iranian poet and film director. She was a controversial modernist poet and an iconoclast,* feminist author.Forugh Farrokhzad died at the ...

, Simin Behbahani, and

Simin Daneshvar Simin Dāneshvar ( fa, سیمین دانشور)‎ (28 April 1921 – 8 March 2012) was an Iranian academic, novelist, fiction writer and translator. She was largely regarded as the first major Iranian woman novelist. Her books dealt with the ...

. In 2020, Shovir painted "In Memory of George Floyd 1974–2020" in Clarion Alley in San Francisco. In 2022, Shovir painted a mural located at 19449 Ventura Blvd. in Tarzana, California; which depicts Mahsa Amini without a headscarf along with protestor, Nika Shakarami.

Exhibitions

*"Once at Present - Contemporary Art of the Iranian Diaspora", curated by Kevin B. Chen and Taraneh Hemami, Minnesota Street Project, March 29 - April 20, 2019 *"Bankgit Arise", an art residency and cultural exchange between Indonesia and the United States; Asian Art Museum, and

Clarion Alley Mural Project Clarion Alley Mural Project' (CAMP) is an artists' collective in San Francisco's Mission District. The mission of CAMP is to support and produce socially engaged and aesthetically innovative public art, locally and globally as a grassroots artist- ...

, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA, 2018 *"Art for Peace" at Temple Art Loft, Vallejo, CA, 2018 *"Commencement Exhibition", California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA, 2018 *"Betweenescapes", curated by Kathy Zarur and Roula Seikaly at SOMArts Cultural Center, San Francisco, CA, 2018 *"CCA MFA Thesis Exhibition" at Minnesota Street Project, 2018, San Francisco, CA *"A Conversation on Race & Identity", curated by Jan Marlese at LH Horton Jr Art Gallery at Delta College in Stockton, 2018 *"Seven Valleys" Exhibition by Artists-In-Residence Lauren Marie Taylor and Keyvan Shovir", Chandra Cerrito Contemporary, Oakland, CA, 2018 *"Collaboration & Connection, In Collaboration with Lauren Marie Taylor", the 4th Interfaith Art Exhibition Biennial Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California, Oakland, CA, 2018 *"Ascension Series", 7th Annual Misfit Maker Factory, Root Division Gallery,

, 2017 *"Ascension Series", Make Art/Work - 2017, College Avenue Galleries,

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

, 2017 *"Mihrab, Neighbors", Embark Gallery, San Francisco, 2017 *"Conversation of the Birds", the Murphy & Cadogan Art Awards Exhibition, SOMArts Cultural Center, San Francisco, 2017 *"Conversation of the Birds", Root Division Gallery, San Francisco, 2017 *"Fabrications, Theory of Survival Project", in collaboration with Taraneh Hemami, Southern Exposure (SoEx), San Francisco, 2014

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shovir, Keyvan Living people 1985 births Iranian graffiti artists Iranian contemporary artists Iranian emigrants to the United States California College of the Arts alumni University of Tabriz alumni 21st-century Iranian painters Street artists Artists from San Francisco Mahsa Amini protests Artists from Los Angeles