Three works in progress by Kamrooz Aram in his Academy studio
Photograph by Emily B. Frank
The Brooklyn-based artist Kamrooz Aram is the 2024 Carla Fendi Rome Prize Fellow. His Rome Prize project at the Academy, Renegotiating Ornament, emphasizes research in architectural and decorative painting traditions on the Italian peninsula, from fresco to faux marble, along with decorative practices using mosaics, terrazzo, marble, and other materials. Some of these traditions were influenced by Islamic art and architecture, and Aram is interested in how this influence disrupts a Eurocentric understanding of the art-historical canon.
Born in Shiraz, Iran, Aram has had work exhibited internationally, including at Peter Blum Gallery, the Arts Club of Chicago, FLAG Art Foundation, Green Art Gallery, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, the Atlanta Contemporary, and the Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, among other venues. This summer, Aram has work in Expodemic: Festival of Foreign Academies and Cultural Institutes at Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome.