Hossein Maher’s painting is deeply rooted in the landscapes, cultural histories, and visual traditions of Iran. Born in Abadan in southern Iran, Maher initially drew extensively on the people, architecture, vegetation, and everyday life of the region, developing a distinctive visual language shaped by its particular atmosphere and cultural richness. Over the course of his career, his work has gradually moved from the physical landscape toward more inward and imaginative territories.

Maher’s paintings bring together elements of myth, folklore, memory, and personal experience. Figures, plants, masks, animals, and other recurring forms emerge within compositions that balance representation with abstraction, often carrying a sense of ambiguity and transformation. His approach is characterized by a strong sensitivity to texture, colour, and the expressive potential of the painted surface. Rather than illustrating a fixed narrative, Maher allows forms and symbols to shift between the tangible and the imagined, creating works that draw equally on cultural memory and the inner world.

Maher graduated in painting from Tehran’s Faculty of Decorative Arts in 1979 and continued his studies in France. He has taught painting extensively in Iran and has played an influential role in the education of several generations of artists. He has held numerous solo and group exhibitions in Iran and internationally, and his work has been presented at institutions and galleries including the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art.