Born in Mashhad, a sacred shrine city in Iran, Jinchi became attuned early in life to the ways architecture, objects, decoration, and the written word can be imbued with symbolic power. This awareness is threaded throughout her body of work, which explores the dense intersectionality of literary and pictorial narratives.
As a student at George Washington University, Pouran earned a degree in civil engineering. Though her studies honed her analytical mind, she ultimately decided to pursue a career in the creative field. Trained as a classical calligrapher in Iran, Pouran went on to study art at UCLA and the Art Students League of New York. Drawing on this varied training, Pouran developed her own artistic approach. Her attention to methodology stems from a background as a mathematician; her formal approach reflects a creative tension between the rigid control of traditional Islamic calligraphy and the fluid spontaneity of Western abstract painting.
COLLECTIONS:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA
Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY, USA
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, USA
San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, CA, USA
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian, Washington, DC, USA
Newport Art Museum, Newport, RI, USA
Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH, USA
Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithica, NY, USA
Pratt Institute, New York, NY, USA
Jameel Art Centre, Dubai, UAE
Zayed National Museum, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Federal Reserve Bank, New York, NY, USA
Sprint Corporation, Kansas City, MO, USA
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2017
The Line of March, The Third Line, Dubai, UAE
2016
Ravaged Gardens, NYU Abu Dhabi Institute, New York, NY, USA
2015
Black and Blue, Leila Heller Gallery, NY, USA
2013
The Blind Owl, The Third Line, Dubai, UAE
2012
Dawn, Noon and Night, Art Projects International, New York, NY, USA
2010
Entropy, Leila Heller Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Ritual Imprint, The Third Line, Dubai, UAE
2008
The Vilcek Foundation, New York, NY, USA
A Survey, Art Projects International, New York, NY, USA
Fabricated, The Third Line, Dubai, UAE
2007
Recitation, Miyako Yoshinaga Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2005
Alef, Miyako Yoshinaga Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2003
Derakht, 511 Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2002
Entangled Thoughts, Macy Gallery, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
2001
Antworks, Miyako Yoshinaga Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Shibata Etsuko Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2000
Rubaâiyat Series, Miyako Yoshinaga Gallery, New York, NY, USA
Recent Paintings, Art Projects International, New York, NY, USA
1999
Nikolai Fine Arts, New York, NY, USA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023
Unfinished Business, Newport Art Museum, Newport, RI, USA
Another Birth, Jossa by Alserkal Avenue, Dubai, UAE
Perpetual Inventory, Volume 1: An Exercise in Looking, The Third Line, Dubai, UAE
2022
Stories of Paper, Louvre Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE
2021
Epic Iran, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
A Boundless Drop in a Boundless Ocean, Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando, FL, USA
2020
Glitch, Tahrir Cultural Center, American University in Cairo, Cairo, Egypt
2018
The Shapes of Birds, Newport Art Museum, Newport, RI, USA
Collecting Calligraphy, Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, OH, USA
Long, Winding Journeys, Katonah Museum of Art, NY, USA
2015
The Great Game, Iran Pavilion, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
Accented, Maraya Art Center, Sharjah, UAE
Deceptively Simple, Art Projects International, New York, NY, USA
2014
Artists in Exile, Dr. M. T. Geoffrey Yeh Art Gallery, St Johns University, Queens, NY, USA
Persepolis: Word and Image, William Benton Museum of Art, Univeristy of Connecticut - Storrs, USA
2013
New Blue and White, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, USA
2012
Phantoms of Asia: Contemporary Awakens the Past, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA, USA
2011
Two Person Show, Frieze Art Fair, London, England
The Bravery of Being out of Range, Athr Gallery, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Third Eye / I: Iranian Contemporary Art, Other Gallery, Shanghai, China
2010
Tarjama/Translation, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
Light of the Sufis: The Mystical Arts of Islam, Museum of Fine Art, Houston, TX, USA
2009
Iran Inside Out, Chelsea Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA
Light of the Sufis: The Mystical Arts of Islam, curated by Ladan Akbarnia, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn NY, USA
Tarjama/Translation, curated by Leeza Ahmady and Iftikhar Dadi, Queens Museum of Art, Queens, NY, USA
Selseleh/Zelzeleh: Movers & Shakers in Contemporary Iranian Art, LTMH, New York, NY, USA
Unknown Territory - New Work: IL Lee · Pouran Jinchi · Filipe Rocha da Silva, Art Projects International, New York, NY, USA
2008
East West Dialogues, Mysticism, Satire and the Legendary Past, curated by Layla Diba, LTMH, New York, NY, USA
Artparis, The Third Line, Abu Dhabi, UAE
2007
Contemporary Calligraphics: Three Artists Image the Word, Binghamton University Art Museum, Binghamton, NY, USA
Gulf Art Fair, The Third Line, Dubai, UAE
Cultural Village, Flashback/Forward, Dubai Properties, Dubai, UAE
2002
Routes of Influence: International Artists from Asia, Art Projects International, New York, NY, USA
Poetry of the Winds, 2002 Flag Art Festival, 2002 FIFA World Cup, Seoul/Japan.
2000
The Rose and the Nightingale, Macy Gallery, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
1999
Visions of the Millennium, Greenwich Arts Center, Greenwich, CT, USA
United Nations Millennium Day, Benefit Exhibition, The United Nations, New York, NY, USA
The Cambodia Trust, Benefit Exhibition, The New York Academy of Science, New York, NY, USA
The Learning Project, Benefit Exhibition, The Craft Museum, New York, NY, USA
1998
Artists for Gardens, Benefit Exhibition, The Puck Building, New York, NY, USA
1997
Two Person Show, Gallery Stendhal, New York, NY, USA
Two Person Show, Gallerie Ott, Dusseldorf, Germany
1996
Annual Contemporary Art Exhibition, curated by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, New York, NY, USA