Aydin Aghdashloo has no ties to Astan Quds Razavi.
As an art expert, Aydin Aghdashloo has written hundreds of articles, book introductions and reviews. In 2013, Aghdashloo was asked by a former Artistic Associate of Artistic Creations Institution to write an introduction for a book of Qur’an of Ibrahim Sultan, which is a masterpiece of Iranian art belonging to the collection of Museum of Astan Quds Razavi. Mr. Aghdashloo was also asked to give a talk about the same artwork. It is worth noting that the Ibrahim Sultan masterpieces are also present at museums around the world including The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Mr. Aghdashloo also taught a 3-hour watercolour workshop for the same institution. For these short-lived and relatively small cultural activities he was paid the equivalent of $200. This is the extent of Aydin Aghdashloo’s “business ties” to the ruling regime.
Aydin Aghdashloo is widely known for his pro bono work — from free lectures to publications. The membership to his academy costs approximately $100 dollars per semester, and he often let students attend without payment if they couldn’t afford it. Mr. Aghdashloo has chosen a life of simplicity and art. He has rarely appeared at exhibitions or ceremonies, and over the past 20 years he lived and worked in his small basement studio in downtown Tehran. Any assertions implying connections between Aydin Aghdashloo to the “ruling elite” are categorically false.