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Kurosch has lived and worked in Austria since 2023. In his studio, he continuously develops his series of works, combining personal experiences with cultural memories, nature, and traditional narratives.
Today, Kurosch works across media, using wood, papier-mâché, ceramics, and drawing. He understands the material not as a starting point, but as a means to give an idea its appropriate form. His figures often move between human and animal, between the familiar and the foreign, between reality and imagination.
His intensive engagement with myths, folklore, and the visual traditions of the Orient became a defining element of his artistic development. He understands cultural heritage not as something of the past, but as a living source from which new images and contemporary narratives can emerge.
Early on, he developed an interest in form, material, and visual storytelling. Over the years, he increasingly sought his own artistic language—a language that not only describes the visible but can also make memories, inner states, and cultural experiences tangible.
Iman Ali Akbar, known by his artist name Kurosch, was born in Tehran in 1986. His artistic training began at an art school and subsequently led him to study graphic design, graduating with a bachelor's degree in 2010.
biography
In my works, the faces are characterized by a unique style and specific design principles that follow particular forms. To create this atmosphere of nobility, body shapes, headdresses, and clothing are also subject to their own rites and traditions. Strong yet gentle lines, unique and subtle colors, simple yet refined forms, unified and coherent faces—all of this expresses a spiritual and complete life.
Myths, folklore, and traditional imagery form important starting points for my work. However, I am not interested in their mere repetition, but rather in their capacity to take on new meanings in the present. Therefore, my characters often move between the familiar and the foreign, between humanity and nature, between reality and imagination.
For me, material is not merely a tool, but a vehicle for memory and expression. Wood, papier-mâché, ceramics, and drawing each possess their own language and influence the path by which an idea takes form. The traces of the material are deliberately left visible and become part of the artwork.
My work focuses not on the human being as a true-to-life representation, but as a bearer of memory, change, and inner states. Distortion, exaggeration, and the deliberate deviation from familiar proportions allow me to translate the invisible into a visible form.
Not everything that makes a person who they are is visible. Behind the outward appearance lie memories, experiences, fears, desires, and traces of a personal and cultural past. My work begins with the search for these hidden layers.
Artistic statement
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