Born in 1956, in Tehran, Iran. Lives and works in New York.

Education:

1982 Conservatoire Libre du Cinema, Paris.
1976–81 BA and MA, University of Paris-Sorbonne, Paris.

1974–75 University of California, Berkeley.
1973 Holy Name College, Oakland, CA.

Selected Solo Exhibitions:

2025 Y.Z. Kami: The Domes. Gagosian, Beverly Hills.
2023 Y.Z. Kami: Night and Day. Gagosian, 555 West 24th Street, New York.

Y.Z. Kami: Light, Gaze, Presence. Museo Novecento; Museo di Palazzo Vecchio; Museo degli Innocenti; Abbazia di San Miniato al Monte, Florence, Italy.

2022 Y.Z. Kami: De forma silenciosa/In a Silent Way. MUSAC, León, Spain.
2020 Y.Z. Kami: Night Paintings. Gagosian, Rome.
2018 Y.Z. Kami: Geometry of Light. Gagosian, Paris.
2016 Y.Z. Kami: Endless Prayers. Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
2015 Y.Z. Kami: Paintings. Gagosian Gallery, Britannia Street, London.
2014 Y.Z. Kami: Paintings. Gagosian Gallery, Madison Avenue, New York.
2009 Y.Z. Kami: Beyond Silence. National Museum of Contemporary Art, EMST, Athens.

2008 Y.Z. Kami: Endless Prayers. Parasol Unit Foundation for Contemporary Art, London.

Perspectives: Y.Z. Kami. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.

Y.Z. Kami. John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco.

Y.Z. Kami. Gagosian Gallery, Beverly Hills, CA.
2003 The Watchful Portraits of Y.Z. Kami. Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.
2002 Y.Z. Kami. Martin Weinstein, Minneapolis.

2001 Y.Z. Kami. Deitch Projects, New York.
1999 Y.Z. Kami: Dry Land. Deitch Projects, New York. 1998 Y.Z. Kami. Deitch Projects, New York.
1996 Y.Z. Kami. Holly Solomon Gallery, New York. 1993 Y.Z. Kami. Barbara Toll Fine Arts, New York. 1992 Y.Z. Kami. Long Beach Museum of Art, CA.

Y.Z. Kami. Barbara Toll Fine Arts, New York. 1984 Y.Z. Kami. L.T.M. Gallery, New York.

Selected Group Exhibitions:

2025 Copyists. Centre Pompidou-Metz, France.
Out of focus, another vision of art from 1945 to the present day. Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris. Traveling to: CaixaForum Madrid; CaixaForum Barcelona, Spain, 2026.
2023 Realism. Dastan Gallery, London.

2022 Burning at the Edges. Longlati Foundation, Shanghai.
Rebel, Jester, Mystic, Poet: Contemporary Persians—The Mohammed Afkhami Collection. Asia Society Museum, New York. 2020 Blanc sur Blanc. Gagosian, Paris.

2019 The Spark Is You: Parasol unit in Venice. Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello, Venice.

2017 The Garden of Mystery. Asia House, London.
Rebel, Jester, Mystic, Poet: Contemporary Persians. Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, Canada. Traveled to Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
A Closer Look: Portraits from the Paul G. Allen Family Collection . Pivot Art + Culture, Seattle.
2016 Mass Individualism: A Form of Multitude. Ab-Anbar Gallery, Tehran, Iran.

Échos. Presented by Kering from the collection of Francois-Henri Pinault on the occasion of Journées Européenes du Patrimoine, Paris.

2015 The Rainbow Serpent. Gagosian, Athens.
2014 One Way: Peter Marino. Bass Museum of Art, Miami.

Seeing Through Light: Selections from the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Collection. Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.

Horror Vacui. Gagosian Gallery, Geneva.
2013 Safar/Voyage: Contemporary Works by Arab, Iranian and Turkish Artists. Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
2012 Contemporary Iranian Art from the Permanent Collection. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
2011 The Mask and the Mirror: Curated by Shirin Neshat. Leila Heller Gallery, New York.

2010 Be Blue. Laleh June Galerie, Basel.
2009 A Certain State of the World? Works from the Francois Pinault Foundation. Garage Center for Contemporary Culture, Moscow.
Raad O Bargh, 17 Artists from Iran, Group Show. Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris.

2008 Mobile Art: Chanel Contemporary Art Container by Zaha Hadid. Hong Kong; Tokyo; New York; Paris.

2007 All the More Real (curated by Eric Fischl & Merrill Falkenberg). Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY.

52nd International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia: Think with the Senses, Feel with the Mind. Campo della Tana, Venice.

2006 The Grand Promenade. National Museum of Contemporary Arts, Athens. Eye to Eye. Cornell Fine Arts Museum, Winter Park, FL.

Without Boundary: Seventeen Ways of Looking. Museum of Modern Art, New York. 2005 9th International Istanbul Biennial. Istanbul.

After the Revolution. Kunstforeningen, Copenhagen.
2004 Beyond East and West. Krannert Art Museum, Champaign, IL.

1997 Architecture as Metaphor. Museum of Modern Art, New York.

1996 The Inaugural Exhibition. Hosfelt Gallery, San Francisco.

Portraits. James Graham & Sons, New York. Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, New York.

1995 Cargo, Marseilles, France.

1994 It’s How to Play the Game. Exit Art, New York / White Columns, New York.

1992 Barbara Toll Fine Arts, New York.
1991 Barbara Toll Fine Arts, New York.
1986 Center Culturel Boulogne-Brillancourt, Paris.

1985 Pasadena Museum of Art, CA.