TEHRAN – Artibition Gallery in Tehran is scheduled to showcase a collection by Afghan sculptor Alikhan Abdollahi in an exhibition opening on Friday.

Abdollahi was born in a village in the central Afghan province of Uruzgan in the neighborhood of Bamyan, home to the huge 6th-century monumental statues of Gautama Buddha carved into the side of a cliff.

In 1988, he migrated to Iran where he met Iranian sculptor Hassan Hazer-Moshar and his fellow cartoonist Kambiz Derambakhsh, who influenced him to take up sculpture.  

In his search to find a suitable material to use in actualizing his art in sculpture, he stumbled upon paper pulp egg trays, from which he began making papier-mache sculptures.

His artworks gradually found buyers, and he found the enthusiasm sufficiently inspiring to organize exhibitions in Iran and other countries. 

The Tehran exhibition will run until July August 9 at the gallery located at 6 Qandi Alley, Sasanipur St., Golnabi St., off Shariati Ave.  

The exhibit will also be available on Artibition.net. 

Photo: Afghan sculptor Alikhan Abdollahi poses with a number of his works in an undated photo. 

MMS/YAW