Shahin Sharafaldin (b. 1995, Vancouver) is a young artist with Romanian - Iranian heritage . He holds a Fine Arts degree from Emily Carr University of Art and Design, finished in 2018, with a Minor in Curatorial Practices.
The works presented in the Young Art Section at Art Rotterdam, curated by Övül Ö. Durmuşoğlu, are part of his residency at the annexed space of our gallery, marking a point of development in his artistic journey.
Sharafaldin’s practice focuses on figurative oil painting, exploring themes of queerness and the male body. Through vibrant colors and compositions that embrace classical painting traditions, the artist creates environments suspended between past and present. Many of these spaces are born from his imagination and fantasy, nourished by his cultural references, where the gaze becomes touch and intimacy dissolves from a carnal act to a vivid transmission of feeling. In Sharafaldin’s paintings, these spaces are not merely physical interiors but emotional landscapes, where the male body becomes an object of admiration and curiosity. Navigating multiple cultural and artistic contexts, continuously reshaping his sense of identity and home, his work carries the echoes of this movement, where painting becomes both a refuge and a way of mapping identity across time, place, and memory.
Among recent exhibitions he took part in: 2024 – “Soft Focus” at Bradley Ertaskiran, Montreal (group show); 2023 – Art Toronto with Unit 17, Metro Toronto Convention Centre; Foire Plural with Unit 17, Montreal; 2021 – “Scorpio Rising” at Unit 17, Vancouver (solo show); “It’s Much Louder Than Before” at Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles (group show).