Ali Jahanshahi

By LatAm ARTE

He was born in 1966 in Tehran. He studied Industrial Design at the Faculty of Fine Arts of “Tehran University”. “After 1979, a second generation of Iranian cartoonists had more opportunities to develop, not in terms of expressing their ideas, but by having the opportunity to learn new techniques and methods. Kassni, the first official club or group of cartoonists, was created in 1989 by graduate students from various faculties of “Tehran University”: industrial design, painting and graphic design. One thing we all had in common was the desire to hold a cartoon exhibition for the first time in Iran. Our first exhibition was held in 1990. The Kassni exhibition also eventually led to the institution of the International Cartoon Biennale in Tehran - first held in 1993 - the most famous in this field. In this way, my professional career also took off. I had some solo and group exhibitions on social issues, which led to jobs in newspapers and magazines, then led me to work as a children's book illustrator. I also designed cartoon characters used in advertisements for various products. My works won some prizes abroad. “Keyhan Caricature”, the first Iranian magazine specializing in cartoons and caricatures, was launched and our group helped establish “Tehran Cartoon House”, a teaching center and meeting place for artists”.