Statement

Pantea Karimi’s multidisciplinary work focuses on the interconnectivity of art and science by exploring select historical objects and scientific manuscripts of medicinal botany and mathematics from Iran, Arab regions, and Europe. These subjects define her ancestral and cultural heritage and unify her work. Growing up in post-revolutionary Iran and later emigrating to the UK and then the US, her life and sensibilities have been intensely influenced by war, religion, and politics. Utilizing multimedia and installation and balancing harmony and tension, Karimi creates syncretic imagery and narratives to claim female agency and highlight her cultural heritage as it intertwines with geopolitical tensions.

Karimi’s interest in botany and geometry, two foundational sciences, is deeply connected to her family and birthplace, Shiraz, Iran, known for its gardens, herbal medicine practices, and abundant geometrical architecture. Her early science education and two Master’s Degrees in Design and Fine Arts inform her practice and influence her multimedia work. She utilizes a range of 2-D and 3-D media including virtual reality, animation, sound, drawing, print, performative video, and installation. Boundaries between these media often blur, traditional techniques merge with digital practices and each medium informs the other.

Bio

Pantea Karimi is a multidisciplinary artist, researcher, and educator based in San Jose, California. She worked and studied in Iran and the UK before settling in the US in 2005. Karimi’s works have been exhibited in solo, group, and traveling exhibitions in Iran, Algeria, Germany, Croatia, Mexico, the UK, and the United States, including San Jose City Hall, San Jose Tech Interactive, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, New Bedford Art Museum, San Diego Museum of Art, Montefiore Einstein in NY, McMullen Museum of Art in Boston, and Rotch Library at MIT. Karimi’s works are held in private and public collections at YouTube HQ, Stanford University, University of California San Francisco, and University of California Davis. KQED Arts & Culture published an article on Karimi’s 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom work followed by a live interview on KQED Forum, aired on April 26, 2023

Karimi is a 2024 City of San Jose Creative Ambassador, a 2023 Kala Art Institute Honoree, and a 2019 Silicon Valley Artist Laureate. She is the recipient of Pollock-Krasner Foundation Artist Grant (2022), City of San Jose Arts and Cultural Exchange Grant (2019) and Artist Residencies at MASS MoCA (2022 and 2024), Santa Fe Art Institute (2024), Montalvo Art Center’s Lucas Program (2024-2026), University of California San Francisco Library (2021-2022) and Kala Art Institute Fellowship (2017).

Karimi holds Master’s Degrees in both Graphic Design and Fine Arts and is a member of the international discussion group Substantial Motion Research Network (SMRN), affiliated with Simon Fraser University in Canada.

Photos by Carolina Porras Monroy, Studios at MASS MoCA, May 2022.