Mojé Assefjah

Artist Biography

Mojé Assefjah was born in Teheran in 1970.

She lives and works in Munich, Germany.

Her family moved to Germany in 1986. She studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich from 1992 -1998, and was a master student under Prof. Jerry Zeniuk from 1997 on. In 1999, she was awarded the Advancement Award for Fine Arts of the Federal Ministry for Education and Research, as well as the annual scholarship of the DAAD for a residency in Rome. In 2000, grant of the GOLART-STIFTUNG: Mural painting in Wetterau-Museum, Friedberg, Germany. In 2013, she continued her work in New York, within the framework of the residency program at the International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP), New York.

Since 1999 Assefjah’s works have been shown regularly in solo and group exhibitions in Europe and the Near East.

Her works are included in numerous private and public collections in Germany, Switzerland, China, Dubai, Lebanon, and Spain, such as:

Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Munich; Gabriele Münter- and Johannes Eichner Foundation, Munich; Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich; Guangdong Art Museum, China; Colección olorVISUAL, Barcelona; Apt Dubai; KICO Sammlung, Allianz Versicherungen, Münchner Rück, Munich; BIZ, Bank für Internationale Zahlungsausgleich, Basel, Switzerland.

Mojé Assejah is represented by Galerie Tanit Beirut/Munich.

As well as, Galerie Graf & Schelble, Basel, Switzerland, Ana Mas Projects, Barcelona and San Juan, Puerto Rico, Galerie Nanna Preußners, Hamburg, Germany, Gallery Etemad, Tehran, Iran and Toxic gallery, Luxembourg.

Each painting is to me a vision, a scene, a view. They are an invitation for the eye to look through a window opened to a nostalgic space. I use the traditional egg-tempera medium. My interest for the Italian Renaissance, be it technical and theoretical, is infused with the mystical beauty of the visual productions of Ancient Persia. The free gesture inscribes itself through wide ribbons that vary between dark and light colours. The flexibility of the movements and the strokes call to mind Persian calligraphy. The spectator might sometimes see vegetal, floral, plant forms, which are quite visible in bold floral pattern of early carpet design and other times might see baroque drapery. The spaces are built by the dialectic between opacity and transparency, closeness and distance, putting layers over layers to construct the depth. I would like to tell stories of dreamed landscapes between abstraction and figuration.” – Mojé Assefjah

Exhibitions
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ART PARIS 2024

From April 4, 2024 to April 7, 2024

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ART DUBAI 2024

From Februrary 28, 2024 to March 3, 2024

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My Song of Love for You
Mojé Assefjah

From September 8, 2023 to October 14, 2023

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Coups de Cœur
Collective Exhibition

From August 31, 2023 to September 22, 2023

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MENART 2023

From February 3, 2023 to February 5, 2023

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Paper Trail
50 years
Collective Exhibition

From November 23, 2022 to December 23, 2022

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MENART FAIR 2022

From May 18, 2022 to May 22, 2022 

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ART PARIS 2021

From September 9, 2021 to September 12, 2021

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The River’s Whisper
Mojé Assefjah

From March 17, 2020 to April 24, 2020

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You Will Rise Up Again
Mojé Assefjah

From September 11, 2020 to November 14, 2020

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There Are Birds Here Again
Mojé Assefjah

From April 6, 2021 to June 23, 2021

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L’Espace de la Feuille
Collective Exhibition

From November 25, 2015 to January 29, 2016

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On the other side of the grape garden
Mojé Assefjah

From March 12, 2015 to April 18, 2015

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Art Cologne 2018

From April 19, 2018 to April 22, 2018

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Nostalgia, blue like the color of your wing
Mojé Assefjah

From November 5, 2014 to January 10, 2015

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Something Blue
Collective Exhibition

From September 1, 2021 to September 12, 2021

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Water For My Flower, Wind For My Tree
Mojé Assefjah

From May 19, 2010, until June 26 2010, Galerie Tanit, Beirut

Selected Works
There Are Birds Here

Following her exhibition at Galerie Tanit, Munich “You Will Rise Up Again,” dedicated to Beirut, Mojé Assefjah prepares for a new intervention in our Beirut’s hors-les-murs space with the same message; Hope.

Hope and a peaceful longing to a future you aspire to is what you feel when standing in front of Assefjah’s work; “The paintings are an invitation for the eye to look through a window opened to a nostalgic space,” the artist says.

The delicateness of the medium is reflected in her meticulous brush strokes as diaphanous drapes and ribbons float and follow a natural flow and an organic layering of her chosen egg tempera paint. Influenced by Renaissance painting, Iranian calligraphy, and Japanese tradition, Mojé Assefjah revives the egg tempera technique and mixes pigment with egg, water and oil to modelize colours, their consistency, translucency, and opacity. Use of this particular technique gives her control over nuances and allows her to manipulate the pigment. Even the choice of which egg affects the end result; “Michelangelo used eggs from the village for the complexion of women from the village and eggs from the city for city women because of the colour of the yolk” says Assefjah. Egg tempera allows her to experiment and achieve the scene and story conceived in her mind’s eye. She prepares her sketches, her paint, and then lets the brush lead her in graceful movements towards a layered three-dimensional composition.

She achieves varying levels of depth starting with transparent layers and coming forward towards more opaque ones. She forms the colours, constructs the shapes, and shapes the movement to create. In her creations you can see nature, you can see a ballroom with its hanging drapery and you can see a bazaar of multicoloured twirling fabrics and oriental narratives. The paintings hang between abstraction and figuration where the eye sees and the mind perceives what it longs for.

There Are Birds Here Again features a collection of large and small egg tempera paintings on canvas, wood, and paper.

The exhibition will open on Tuesday, April 6, 2021 at Galerie Tanit, hors-les-murs, Starco Center, Beirut and will remain until Wednesday, June 23, 2021.

Text by Elige Abou Youness

There Are Birds Here
Moje Assefjah
Gerdbad
Egg Tempera on Canvas
2020
70 cm x 50 cm

Moje Assefjah
Whisper
Egg Tempera on Canvas
2014
160 cm x 125 cm

Following her exhibition at Galerie Tanit, Munich “You Will Rise Up Again,” dedicated to Beirut, Mojé Assefjah prepares for a new intervention in our Beirut’s hors-les-murs space with the same message; Hope.

Hope and a peaceful longing to a future you aspire to is what you feel when standing in front of Assefjah’s work; “The paintings are an invitation for the eye to look through a window opened to a nostalgic space,” the artist says.

The delicateness of the medium is reflected in her meticulous brush strokes as diaphanous drapes and ribbons float and follow a natural flow and an organic layering of her chosen egg tempera paint. Influenced by Renaissance painting, Iranian calligraphy, and Japanese tradition, Mojé Assefjah revives the egg tempera technique and mixes pigment with egg, water and oil to modelize colours, their consistency, translucency, and opacity. Use of this particular technique gives her control over nuances and allows her to manipulate the pigment. Even the choice of which egg affects the end result; “Michelangelo used eggs from the village for the complexion of women from the village and eggs from the city for city women because of the colour of the yolk” says Assefjah. Egg tempera allows her to experiment and achieve the scene and story conceived in her mind’s eye. She prepares her sketches, her paint, and then lets the brush lead her in graceful movements towards a layered three-dimensional composition.

She achieves varying levels of depth starting with transparent layers and coming forward towards more opaque ones. She forms the colours, constructs the shapes, and shapes the movement to create. In her creations you can see nature, you can see a ballroom with its hanging drapery and you can see a bazaar of multicoloured twirling fabrics and oriental narratives. The paintings hang between abstraction and figuration where the eye sees and the mind perceives what it longs for.

There Are Birds Here Again features a collection of large and small egg tempera paintings on canvas, wood, and paper.

The exhibition will open on Tuesday, April 6, 2021 at Galerie Tanit, hors-les-murs, Starco Center, Beirut and will remain until Wednesday, June 23, 2021.

Text by Elige Abou Youness

Mojé Assefjah News
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Mojé Assefjah at Galerie Tanit Munich
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Die “Sterne des Jahres”: Kulturelle Lieblinge der AZ
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"The Lebanese Embassy in Greece in collaboration with the Female Artists of the Middle East Association – F.A.M.E is organizing Women of Resilience Exhibition from 18 to 20 October 2019. Location: The Tsichritzis Visual Arts Foundation in Kifisiá, Greece Showcasing works by Mojé Assefjah Rania Matar Atelier Nada Sehnaoui More info  "
Women of Resilience
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Mojé Assefjah | Neue Galerie Dachau
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"2nd March – 8th May 2018 “I Cover The Waterfront” – New Paintings Mojé Assefjah will be exhibiting her works at Graf  & Schelble Galerie in Basel more infos here"
Mojé Assefjah – Graf & Schelble Galerie
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