Mahmood Sabzi

SABZI

Mamood Sabzi was born in Ahwaz, Iran and began painting at the age of twelve. His love
and talent for the arts was encouraged at an early age by an inspirational teacher and,
more importantly, the enthusiastic support of his parents. Graduating from high school,
he attended the University of Jundi Shapoor completing a Bachelor of Science degree in
Agricultural Engineering. Like Joseph Beuys, whose works he studied in Germany, he
believed that nature and its extended connections to man was most relevant to the arts and
the concept of creativity. “The best part of agriculture," he says, "is the purity of its
primal spaces”.
In 1984 the ravages of the war caused his move to Hamburg , Germany. For Sabzi, exile
and freedom from his traditional muses represented a challenge which he assumed joyfully
and enthusiastically. In 1991 Sabzi moved his family to Southern California, where he was
excited by the dynamism of American Culture.
Sabzi's paintings are lit by both eastern and western lanterns and philosophies. Persian
miniatures, themselves inspired by metaphysical aspirations, serve as precursors for many
of his forms. .