Ahmad Haraji was born in Boroujerd, an old city in the western part of Iran, in 1969. I have been painting since the age of 14. In the beginning, I was not able to follow an education anywhere.
Later on, I met the most famous realistic painter of Iran, Rahim Navessi, by chance. He taught me how to paint. My painting technique improved a lot by his lessons and because of his influence I became aware I wanted to become a realistic painter. My themes in those days were landscapes, portraits and still life.
At the age of 18, I was admitted to the Academy of Fine Arts in Teheran, the capital of Iran. I chose not to study painting, but graphical design. After graduating, I followed a higher education, illustration, at the same Academy. At the same time, I worked in the biggest arts center of Iran as a graphical designer for a magazine. Through this, I became pretty well known.
With my second education I also got the chance to teach at the Academy. This lasted three years in total. ´After I got fired, because of circumstances, I started painting again. I co-operated with several art galleries and produced portraits and landscapes by order. This has been a good period to develop more painting techniques. I always felt the need for a realistic technique and tried to improve my own technique. I collected some books of western painters. Alma-Tadema, Adolphe William Bouguereau and the German painter Werner Weber were my favorites.
In Iran, I did not have the opportunity to look at real paintings of great painters, so I depended on those books. I copied their paintings to learn about their techniques and to understand them. ´My most favorite painting theme in Iran were the old walls of orchards. Owners built those walls of clay in combination with hay. The walls had a special color, ochre/grey, and they smelled nicely when they had become wet of the rain. The particular thing about these walls for me was the shifting play of light and shadow. Sunlight at the wall was divided by the shadow of the branches and leaves. It always touched me. Later, this limited and detailed light became the main theme of my paintings.
From then, I try to get this kind of light in all subjects I paint. I manipulate objects with such light and shadow. Sometimes as a fantasy. ´Since the year 2000, I have been living in The Netherlands. In 2003, I started a study drawing/painting at the art academy Minerva in Groningen. There, I graduated July 2006. ´I work with oil paint and also produce paintings by order. I try not to limit myself to a certain theme. I paint what I like at a given moment.
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