A1one

A1one ( /əˈloʊn/ alone; Persian: تنها‎, Tanhâ) is the pseudonym of Karan Reshad, an Iranian visual artist who pioneered graffiti and street art in Iran. His career as a street artist began in his hometown, Tehran.

A1one grew up in Iran during a period of war and the Khatami reform era (1997-2005). A1one studied for 5 years at the Art and architecture university in Tehran. While still a student, he began using graffiti around the university campus, as a protest against student conditions.He was eventually expelled by the School's President following a disagreement over artistic restrictions.

After being expelled from University, his graffiti activities in the city of Tehran increased. A1one was the first person to start painting on the city walls. His name can be interpreted as "Alone" or "First One". A1one started painting walls in the late 1990s. He is the pioneer of the urban art scene in Middle East. When he began, it was a time when nobody knew what graffiti was in his country. He had a very influential role in the rise of street art and stenciling within Iran.

Already involved in urban arts in general, he met in 2005 the rapper Nima who told him everything about the graffiti culture which triggered A1one's desire to grow in that direction. His first significant work was a painting under the Tehran-Karaj expressway called Searching for Friends.

He started his street art project in 2003 and inspired his close friends at that time to also begin painting on the streets. Artists such as Elle, isba, K.T. and Magoi were the first people to join him in Tehran. With his public space art, he describes his view on the Iranian society and puts himself regularly in danger.

"When I decided to do my painting on walls I bought some spray cans - at that time we had just some very low quality colors in Iran. My first work was a very simple work titled “searching for friends” painted on a wall right next to the Tehran-Karaj expressway late at night. It was a really frightening night for me… The next morning I got three calls from friends who recognized my style of painting. They were shocked to see my work on a public wall. My first stencil was a Munch's Scream Print on Art University walls and after that , experimented with many techniques and methods, but I continue with stencils, graffiti and sticker art."

In 2007, he was invited to illustrate the cover of a book, Young and Defiant in Iran; a contempary ethnographic work by Shahram Khosravi. In 2008, he was invited to show his work at the annual Melbourne Stencil Festival, taking 40 pieces of work with him to his first trip in a non-dictatorship country, thus experimenting exhibiting his artwork without the fear of reprisals for the first time.

By 2010, A1One was an established name within Tehran's youth culture and a key figure in the emergence of Iranian street art.

A1one Spray painted wall in Tehran 2006

A1one's art world is dynamic and made of many different styles, from portraits to calligraphy and funky characters which he mostly uses for his stickers. A1one's art combines Persian calligraphy and Western graffiti. His art has been documented by many photographers and featured in Art Asia Pacific Magazine.

The artist has been working on a distinctly Iranian style of calligraffiti, which is "a fusion of hip-hop graffiti and Persian typography." His style is recognised across the Islamic graffiti world. He has made a handful of the greatest Style walls with Arabic letter graffiti since 2004.

He has been arrested several times and signed agreements with police not to work in streets. He attacked the Iranian Artist Forum with his paintings, while its management did not understand his aim, stopped him and called the police. In 2012 A1one was kidnapped by the Ministry of Intelligence and National Security, under the charge of social and political reasons and was held in Evin Prison for 10 days at Ward 209.

Group shows (selected)

• 2005 "Portrait and Expression", Behzad Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran
• 2006 "Start Propaganda II", Los Angeles, USA
• 2007 "Process Invisible", Street Level Gallery, Portland, USA
• 2007 "Resist", La Condition Pablique, Roubaix, France
• 2007 "Spray 2007", Mehrin Art Gallery, Tehran, IRAN
• 2008 "Iranian Contemporary Artists Expo", Molavi Organization Hall, Tehran, IRAN
• 2008 "Visual Slang", Henry Art Settlement, NY, USA
• 2008 "400 ML", Paris, France
• 2008 "Melbourne Stencil Festival 08", Yarra Sculpture Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
• 2008 "Spray1387", Arete Gallery, Tehran, IRAN
• 2008 12 Inch Art, Winnipeg Canada
• 2008 Vinyl Killers, Portland, USA
• 2009 Your Kid Can't Do this / Group show Touring Australia
• 2009 Visual Slang III / NewYork
• 2009 Urban Art Agenda / Melbourne / Brisbane, Australia
• 2009 Brot And Kunst / Famous when Dead Gallery /Melbourne
• 2009 Group Show/ Seyhoun ArtGallery / Tehran
• 2010 "Public Provocations", Carhartt Gallery - Weil am Rhein, Germany
• 2015 " Urban Art Biennale 2015" , Voelklingen , Germany
• 2017 Signs of the Time , Gold Coast City Gallery , Australia

Solo shows

• 2005"Alone / Pain Things", Seyhoun Art Gallery, Tehran, IRAN
• 2006"October 1385", Mehrin Art Gallery, Tehran, IRAN
• 2007"I am Not Political" (private Solo show), Kolahstudio, Tehran, IRAN
• 2008"Spray it to the nation", Mehrin Art Gallery, Tehran, IRAN
• 2010Ishq, Mathgoth Galerie, Paris, France
• 2010Solo Show, Seyhoun Gallery, Tehran, IRAN
• 2013The First Sign, Mathgoth Galerie, Paris, France
• 2017From another world , S.F. Gallery, Essen, Germany

• 2002 Turn the Night / As Author and Translator / The most credible book about story of Rock and heavy metal music in Persian language / ISBN 964-7380-10-0 / Mess Publications IRAN
• 2007 Street Art and the War on Terror ISBN 978-0-9553398-8-2 / Rebellion Books/ UK
• 2008 Young and Defiant in Tehran ISBN 0-8122-4039-1 /University of Pennsylvania Press (PENN)
• 2008 Arabesque / Die Gestalten Verlag / ISBN 978-3-89955-206-5 / Germany
• 2008 Stencil Nation / ISBN 978-1-933149-22-6 / ManicdPress USA
• 2008 400ml ISBN 978-2-85980-011-6 / Kitchen93
• 2009 Stickers2 ISBN 978-3-89955-262-1 / Die Gestalten verlag /Germany
• 2009 The ArkISBN 978-988-18-4701-0 / Systems-Design Limited (IDN)/HongKong
• 2009 Urban IRAN ISBN 978-0-9799666-1-3 /Markbatty Publisher/USA
• 2010 Street Knowledge by King Adz ISBN 978-0007318698 Collins UK/Overlook Press (US)
• 2011 Graffiti 365 by JaySon Eddin ISBN 0810997444 Abrams (October 1, 2011) (US)