Nazafarin Lotfi
Chicago and Tuscon, AZ
Born 1984 (Mashhad, Iran)
EDUCATION
2011
MFA, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
2009
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
2007
BA, University of Tehran, Iran
SELECTED SOLO AND DUO EXHIBITIONS
2022
A Garden to Build, Illinois State University Galleries, Bloomington, IL
Contours of Imagination, with Azadeh Gholizadeh, stop-gap projects, Columbia, MO
2021
Maps of No Return, Regards, Chicago
4×4, Tuscon Museum of Art, Arizona
Nazafarin Lotfi, Phoenix Art Museum, Arizona
all things that grow, Artpace San Antonio
Open Cover, with Lindsey Dorr-Niro, Ditch Projects
2018
Become Ocean, Soon.tw, Montreal, Canada
Negative Capability, Regards, Chicago
2014
Poiesis, Fernwey Gallery, Chicago
White Light, with Fatima Haider, Andrew Rafacz Gallery, Chicago
2013
Love at Last Sight, Brand New Gallery, Milan, Italy
2012
Circles, Tony Wight Gallery, Chicago
2011
inbetween, Autumn Space, Chicago
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2020
Working From Home, Tuscon Museum of Contemporary Art, Tuscon, AZ
2019
With a Capital P, Elmhurst Museum of Art, Elmhurst, IL
2018
Waving, Unisex Salon, Brooklyn
Drawings, paintings, maybe a sculpture 2, Everybody Gallery, Tucson, AZ
Under Influence, Ralph Arnold Gallery, Curated by Edra Soto, Chicago
Elsewhere, Joseph Gross Gallery, Tucson, AZ
2017
The Shortest Distance Between Two Points, Chicago Artists Coalition, Curated by Caroline Picard, Chicago
Group Portrait, Unisex Salon, Brooklyn
Sedentary Fragmentation, Heaven Gallery, Curated by Kimia Maleki, Chicago
Finger Flowers, organized by Sean Ward, Yellow Compound, Oak Park, IL
The Dangerous Professor, Triumph Gallery, Chicago, IL
This here, Regards Gallery, Chicago, IL
2016
The Particular Poetics of Things, curated by Anastasia Karpova Tinari, Goldfinch Gallery, Chicago, IL
Welcome to the End, Franklin, Chicago, IL
Forms of Exchange, Yellow Compound, Oak Park, IL
The Annual, Chicago Artists Coalition, Chicago, IL
This Room is a Work Made Up of People, Museum Education, Art Institute of Chicago
Resonant Objects, Logan Center Exhibitions, Chicago, IL
Resonant Objects, Arts Incubator, Chicago, IL
Messages in the Street, curated by Allison Glen, Chicago, IL
Century Safe, Roman Suzan Gallery, curated by Jessica Cochran, Chicago, IL
2015
Found/Made, Cleve Carney Art Gallery, Glen Ellyn, IL
Works on Floor, Heaven Gallery, curated by Aron Gent, Chicago, IL
2013
Slow Read, Glass Curtain Gallery, Chicago, IL
Reading Room, Julius Caesar, Chicago, IL
Psychosexual, Curated by Scott Hunter, Andrew Rafacz Gallery, Chicago, IL
Pattern Recognition, Ana Cristea Gallery, New York, NY
2012
Eclectic Coherence, Curated by Dawoud Bey, Chicago Expo, Chicago, IL
Not Safe for Work, DUVE Berlin, Berlin, Germany
SELECTED PRESS and BIBLIOGRAPHY
2022
The Garden and the Desert and all that Flows Between, essay by Caroline Picard, The Democracy Chain
Newcity Art Top 5: Nazafarin Lotfi, A Garden to Build, Illinois State University Galleries
2020
Nazafarin Lotfi: The Distance to the Horizon, interview by Greg Ruffing, Southwest Contemporary
2018
Haynes Riley Interviews Nazafarin Lotfi, TEN interview series at Regards
Nazafarin Lotfi at Regards, Chicago, Review by Kimia Maleki, Temporary Art Review
Starting from Malevich: a conversation with Nazafarin Lotfi, exhibition interview by Rossella Farinotti
2017
Interview with Inside Within: Nazafarin Lotfi’s Interior Landscapes
Sedentary Fragmentation: Toward a Genealogy of Chicago’s Iranian Art Scene, Review by Alex Shams, Ajam Media Collective
Quiet Revolution, Review by J. Howard Rosier, F Newsmagazine
Mapping Out Chicago’s Legacy of Iranian-American Art, Chicago Tribune
Mistaken Identity, Conversation between Hadi Fallahpisheh and George Olken, Edited by Lise McKean
Nazafarin Lotfi Ventures Beyond the Horizon, Interview with Lise McKean, Bad at Sports
At Triumph Gallery More Than 150 Artists Counteract a GOP Watch List, Review by Kate Sierzputowski, Chicago Reader
Welcome to the End, Review by Annette LePique, Sixty Inches from Center
Chaos Reigns in a Chorus of Final Wails, Review of “Welcome to the End” at The Franklin, Newcity Art
Art Top 5, Welcome to the End, Newcity Art
2016
Review “Messages in the Streets,” SAIC Magazine
Top Weekend Picks, “This Room is a Work Made Up of People,” Bad at Sports
Nazafarin Lotfi, Featured artist, ZH Magazine, Online
Featured in LocateIran, Project Locate, Organized by Jeff Ko, Online
2015
Complex Online, By Kyle Chayka
2014
Review “Portrait of the Artist: Nazafarin Lotfi,” Annette Elliot, Newcity Art
Review “Spectral Explorations,” Lise McKean, Bad at Sports
“The Thingness of Air,” essay by Michelle Grabner, Fernwey Gallery, Chicago, IL (Exhibition Catalogue), Nazafarin Lotfi
“Cataloguex,” essay by Sean Ward, Andrew Rafacz Gallery, Chicago, IL (Exhibition Catalogue)
2013
Top 5 Art Exhibitions, Jason Foumberg, Newcity Art
Review “Slow Read,” Robin Dluzen, Visual Art Source
Chicago Magazine, Named in “Chicago’s Next Art Star”
Review “Solo Exhibition at Brand New Gallery: Love at Last Sight,” Mousse Magazine
“Slow Read: A Conversation,” edited by Justin Witte, designed by Sonnenzimmer,
Center for Books and Paper Arts and Department of Exhibition and Performance Spaces, Columbia College, Chicago (Exhibition Catalogue)
“Psychosexual, an Exploration of an Abstracted Gesture,” essays by Scott Hunter, Jason Foumberg and Elijah Bergher (Exhibition Catalogue)