Artist and UCLA Alumnus Amir H. Fallah To Deliver UCLA Arts 2024 Commencement Address
Artist and UCLA alumnus Amir H. Fallah M.F.A. ‘05 will deliver the commencement address at the 2024 UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture (UCLA Arts) commencement ceremony on Saturday, June 15 at 6:30 p.m. at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
“Attending UCLA Art’s M.F.A. program was my first foray into the art world,” said Fallah. “I had the privilege of working closely with some of my art heroes who expanded my horizons and fueled my aspirations. Now, I'm thrilled to return and celebrate the achievements of the Class of 2024 and share in the excitement as they start the next chapter of their careers.”
Fallah received his B.F.A. in Fine Art & Painting at the Maryland Institute College of Art and his M.F.A. in painting at UCLA. He has exhibited extensively in solo and group exhibitions across the United States and abroad. Selected solo exhibitions include the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tucson, South Dakota Art Museum, Schneider Museum of Art, San Diego ICA, and the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art.
In 2023, Fallah returned to UCLA for his critically acclaimed exhibition The Fallacy of Borders at the Fowler Museum. It was the first solo Los Angeles museum presentation of his work. The exhibition spanned painting, sculpture, stained glass, and textiles, all characterized by vivid and saturated colors, dense patterns, and layered imagery.
Born in Tehran, Fallah draws on a wide range of traditions and finds inspiration in intersections of cultures from around the globe in his adoptive city of Los Angeles. Working fluidly across genres and media, he contends with themes of inheritance and appropriation, personhood and objecthood, diaspora and homeland, challenging viewers to question and transcend boundaries and borders that separate people, cultures, geographies, and art practices.
In 2009, Fallah was chosen to participate in the 9th Sharjah Biennial. In 2015, Fallah received the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters and Sculptors Grant. In 2019, Fallah’s painting Calling On The Past received the Northern Trust Purchase Prize at EXPO Chicago. In 2020, Fallah was awarded the COLA Individual Artist Fellowship and the Artadia grant.
"Amir's work embodies the ethos of our school — to question, to innovate, and to provoke thoughtful discourse,” said Lionel Popkin, UCLA Arts interim dean. “His vibrant, intricate compositions reveal layers of meaning, inviting us to explore the complex connectivities within the human experience, inspiring new perspectives, and renewed hopes for our collective future. I have no doubt his address will resonate with the Class of 2024."
Details:
- Saturday, June 15 at 6:30 p.m.
- UCLA Campus, Los Angeles Tennis Center
- For more information about the UCLA Arts 2024 commencement, visit the school’s commencement website.
Header image: Portrait of Amir H. Fallah surrounded by some of his more recent works. (Joshua Flynn / UCLA Magazine)
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