A Breath Of AirPersian mythology, graffiti and hip-hop culture, Western military iconography, and comic book art might seem like quite disparate elements, but  Ala Ebtekar combines these influences in his textual works in what he calls a “synthesis” of cultures.  Inspired heavily by his upbringing by Iranian parents, his works use the merging of these elements to explore Iran past and present.

Education:
2006 Master of Fine Arts, Stanford University, CA
2002 Bachelor of Fine Arts, San Francisco Art Institute, CA

Solo Exhibitions:
2009 1388, The Third Line, Dubai, UAE.
2009 A Breath of Air, Townsend Center for the Humanities, University of California Berkeley, CA.
2008 Epic Verse, Community School of Music and Arts / Finn Center, Mountain View, CA.
2007 Ala Ebtekar, Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA.
2006 Emergence: Elements, Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco, CA.
2006 Emergence, Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA.
2004 Elemental, Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco, CA.
1999 9-9-99, Blake Street House Project, Berkeley, CA.

Selected Group Exhibitions:

2010 In Translation, Holster Projects, London
2009 Hampah, Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles
2009 Out of Bounds: Art from the Collection of Driek and Michael Zirinsky, Whatcom Museum, Bellingham
2009 Iran Inside Out, DePaul University Art Museum, Chicago
2009 Iran Inside Out, Chelsea Art Museum, New York
2009 Balla-Drama, Paradise Row, London
2009 Summer 7, The Third Line, Doha
2009 Selseleh /Zelzeleh: Movers & Shakers in Contemporary Iranian Art, Leila
2009 Taghinia-Milani Heller Gallery, New York
2009 San Francisco Art Institute Faculty & Alumni: A Thin Slice, Baer Ridgway
2009 Exhibitions, San Francisco
2009 Beautiful / Decay: A-Z, Kopeiken Gallery, Los Angeles
2009 Faces and Letters: Through the Eyes of Collectors in Qatar, Gallery VCU
2008 Qatar, Doha, Qatar
2008 Descriptive Verse, FIFTY24SF Gallery, San Francisco
2008 Conference of the Birds, Flawless Gallery, London
2008 Banned and Recovered: Artists Respond to Censorship, The San Francisco Center for the Book, San Francisco
2008 Bay Area Now 5, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco
2008 Summer Solos 2008, Pro Arts, Oakland, CA
2008 One way or Another: Asian American Art Now, Honolulu Academy of Arts, Honolulu, Hawaii
2008 Pacific Light: California Watercolour Refracted 1907 -2007, Nordiska Akvarellmuseet, Skarhamn, Sweden
2008 East of the West, SomArts, San Francisco
2008 The Alternative Philosophy, Leonard Street Gallery, London
2008 One Way or Another: Asian American Art Now, Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles
2008 Make the Art You Need: The UC Berkeley Department of Art Faculty Show,
2008 Worth Ryder Gallery, University of California Berkeley
2007 Under The Indigo Dome, The Third Line, Dubai
2007 The Diane and Sandy Besser Collection, De Young Museum, San Francisco
2007 One Way or Another: Asian American Art Now, Berkeley Art Museum,
2007 Feel The Difference: Cultural Branding Remix, Works/San Jose, San Jose
2007 One Way or Another: Asian American Art Now, Blaffer Gallery, University of Houston
2007 Graphic: New Bay Area Drawing, di Rosa Preserve, Napa
2006 2006 California Biennial, Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach
2006 California Calligraphy Summit: Cali/Graffi, Fine Arts Gallery, San Francisco State University, San Francisco
2006 10 Curatorial Perspectives, Haven Arts, Bronx, NY
2006 One Way or Another: Asian American Art Now, Asia Society Museum, New York
2006 Asia Alive, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco
2006 2006 MFA Thesis Exhibition, at the Thomas Welton Stanford Art Gallery
2005 Ala Ebtekar & Jeong-Im Yi, Lisa Dent Gallery, San Francisco
2005 Do’Ka, La Condition Publique, Roubaix, France
2005 Paper Cuts (again), Fetterly Gallery, Vallejo
2005 The Murphy and Cadogan Fellowship in the Fine Arts Exhibition, SF Art Commission Gallery, San Francisco
2005 rePresent, Oliver Art Center, CCA, Oakland
2005 CrossConnections: Of Past and Present, Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco
2004 A Look Forward and Back: Gallery 16’s Ten Year Anniversary, Gallery 16, San Francisco
2004 The Wild Bunch 2, THE ANNEX, New York State of the Nation, Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco
2004 REBUS, Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco
2003 Global Elegies: Art and Ofrendas for the Dead, Oakland Museum of California, Oakland
2003 Pachanga!, Galeria de la Raza, San Francisco
2003 War of the Worlds, in collaboration with Tim Rollins + K.O.S., White Box, New York
2003 Purple with Love’s Wound, in collaboration with Tim Rollins + K.O.S., University of Virginia Art Museum, Charlottesville
2003 The Wild Bunch, THE ANNEX, New York
2003 Mark: Contemporary Drawings, Gallery 16, San Francisco
2003 No War, The Luggage Store Gallery, San Francisco
2002 In The Name of God: Works on Paper, Nexus Gallery, Berkeley
2002 Emerging Bay Area Artists, San Francisco Design Center, San Francisco
2001 Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute
2001 War: What is it Good For?, Asian Resource Center Gallery, Oakland
2000 In collaboration with Tim Rollins + K.O.S. The De Young Memorial Art
2000 Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute Four Artists,
2000 Blake Street Studio, Berkeley Artists’ Books, Walter / McBean Gallery, San Francisco
1998 In collaboration with Tim Rollins + K.O.S. ZEUM, San Francisco
1998 In collaboration with Tim Rollins + K.O.S., Berkeley Art Museum, University of California at Berkeley
1998 In collaboration with Tim Rollins + K.O.S., Gallery Paule Anglim, San Francisco

Bibliography:
2009 Meredith, Emily, “Open to Interpretation”, Khaleej Times, October 23
2009 Good, Oliver, “Bold Embellishments”, The National, October 21
2009 Harouni, Shadi, “Ala Ebtekar & Taravat Talepasand”, THE Mag LA, June
2009 Fischer, Jack, “All the Identities He Can Paint”, Stanford Magazine, May/June
2009 Vilayphonh, Catzie, Theme Magazine Issue 19, May/June
2009 Nakasone, Marisa, “ A Sampling SFAI’s Visionary Alums at Baer Ridgway Exhibitions”, Examiner.com, May
2009 Cheng, DeWitt, “Critic’s Choice: A Breath of Air”, East Bay Express, May
2009 Meredith, Emily, “Art Work Removed from Gallery”, Khaleej Times, March 23
2009 Catching, Rebecca, “Art Dubai Buoyant Despite Crash and Clash”, ARTINFO, March
2008 Cheng, DeWitt, “ We Are All Together”, East Bay Express, July
2008 Chun, Kimberly, “You’re going to myth me, baby”, San Francisco Bay Guardian, July 6.
2008 Riggott, Julie, “Asian Art, by Way of Blondie” Los Angeles Downtown News, 2010-05-09
2008 Chun, Kimberly, “Ala Ebtekar”, The SF Bay Guardian, January 30- February 5
2008 Houng, Cynthia, “Al Ebtekar Interview”, Fecal Face.com, December 18
2007 Leong, Lisa, “One of These Things Is Not Like the Other”, Asia Pacific Arts, December
2007 Bing, Alison, “One Way or Another: Asian American Art Now” Artweek December/January 2008.
2007 Kimball, Jill, “Past, meet the present”, Palo Alto Weekly, September 5, pg 9-10.
2007 Spicer, Jakki, “Boxed in”, East Bay Express, November 21
2007 Melrod, George, “Pulse” Art LTD September, pg 100
2007 Baker, Kenneth, San Francisco Chronicle, August 11
2007 Swanhuyser, Hiya, “Ala King”, SF Weekly, August 8, pg 21
2007 Kendallm Hynam, “A Meeting of Minds” InsideOut (United Arab Emirates, May, pg. 118-124
2007 Klassen, Rebecca, “Featured Artist – Ala Ebtekar” Hyphen Issue 11, Spring, pg 38-43.
2007 Ascarelli, Brett, “Art Imitates Design”, Bohemian, January 31-February 6
2007 Mohammad, Arsalan, “Under The Indigo Dome (part 2)” Time Out: Dubai, January 25-February 1, pg 49.
2007 Mohammad, Arsalan, “Under The Indigo Dome” Time Out: Dubai, January 18-25, pg 50.
2007 Muchnic, Suzanne, “The state’s just a state of mind”, Los Angeles Times 2010-10-07
2007 Patel, Vibhuti, “Insiders Looking Out”, Newsweek, October 2 Budick, Ariella, “Ranging as far and wide as the Asian continent”, Newsday
2007 Kunitz, Daniel, “Defying the Definitive”, The New York Sun, September 14
2007 Berwick, Carly, “Stripteases, Sheikhs, Sneakers Are Today’s Asian-American Art”, Bloomberg September 12
2007 Smith, Roberta, “A Melange of Asian Roots and Shifting Identities”, New York Times, September 8
2007 Talebi, Niloufar, “Emergence of an Artist: Ala Ebtekar reassembles cultural legacy” Namak Spring 2007, pg 22.
2007 “Artist Profile – Ala Ebtekar” KQED TV, May Rios, Natalie,”From animal heads to Zoetropes” The Stanford Daily May 16,pg3
2007 KQED TV, “Artist Profile – Ala Ebtekar”, KQED Spark, May
2007 Buuck, David, “Ala Ebtekar at the Richmond Art Center” Artweek April, pg 13-14 2005 Deparis, Marie, “Do’Ka, c’est tout de suite, a la Condition Publique”, Art
2007 Mortaigne, Véronique, “Artistes d’Orient au festival Do’Ka”, Le Monde (France)
2007 Esso, Jordan, “Paper Cuts (again) at Fetterly Gallery” Artweek Vol.36, Issue 9,
2007 Whiteside, Amber, “Ala Ebtekar” Sculpture Vol.24, No.3, pg 68-69
2004 Lidgus, Sarah, “Ala Ebtekar” Contemporary Issue 66, pg 67
2004 Bing, Alison, “Elemental”, Bidoun, Fall, pg 102.
2004 “Hard Knock Radio”, KPFA 94.1, July 15
2004 Avila, Robert, “Eight Days a Week” The SF Bay Guardian June 16, pg. 71
2004 Snyder, Jason, Fourteen Hills: The SFSU Review Summer/Fall, pg 154-161
2004 Chlala, Youmna, “A Breath of Air”, Eleven Eleven: CCA Literary Arts Journal,
2004 Bing, Alison, “‘REBUS’ and Barry McGee at Gallery Paule Anglim”, Artweek,
2004 Buuck, David, “Mark: Contemporary Drawings”, Artweek July/August, pg.12
2004 Bing, Alison, “Mark: Contemporary Drawings” SF Gate 5
2004 Lewallen, Constance, “Rollins + K.O.S., A Survey of Works on Paper” Berkeley
2004 Ganahl, Jane, “Opening Young Minds to Art” San Francisco Examiner 13

Teaching and Community-Based Projects:
2009 Stanford University, Art and Art History Department, Visiting Faculty.
2008 University of Berkeley California, Department of Art Practice, Visiting Lecturer.
2007 Stanford University, Art and Art History Department, Visiting Faculty.
2006 Asia Society Museum, New York, NY, Workshop with NY public school teachers.
2006 Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA, “AsiaAlive” Visiting Artist.
2006 Stanford University, Art and Art History Department, Instructor.
2003 Events and Public Relations Coordinator, Celebrating Culture and Community, San Pablo, CA.
2003 Coronado YMCA, Richmond, CA, Art workshop with K-3 graders, Art Instructor.
2002 Grant Elementary School, Richmond, CA, Art workshop with K-3 graders, Art Instructor.
1998 Zeum Art and Technology Center, San Francisco, Program Assistant and Team Leader for teen workshops.