Upcoming: I Used To Be Able To Fly: Morteza Khakshoor

September 25 - October 28, 2026

  • Cactus Moon Studio is delighted to present I Used To Be Able To Fly, an online solo exhibition by Morteza Khakshoor. Launching on 25th September 2026, the exhibition brings together a new body of paintings on paper that stage solitary figures within scenes thick with quietly charged objects, offering fragments of narrative that resist any single reading.

     

    Khakshoor’s paintings refuse to be pinned down, defined or described. Subjects appear one by one across the series: sprawling, clothed, unclothed, curling, crouching, gripping flowers, turning their backs, marooned in rooms or forests. Around them, seemingly random objects hum with possibility. Khakshoor might equip his subjects with a tissue box, the moon, wedges of watermelon, a gaggle of black turkeys. Sited around his forlorn subjects and often ambiguous in purpose, his props might be clues to unlock a narrative – yet the artist is giving nothing away.

     
    To learn more about I Used To Be Able To Fly, please enquire via the link below:

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    • Morteza Khakshoor After Late-Lunch In Studio (Self-Portrait), 2026 Acrylic on paper, unframed 76 x 110 cm. / 29.9 x 43.3 in.
      Morteza Khakshoor
      After Late-Lunch In Studio (Self-Portrait), 2026
      Acrylic on paper, unframed
      76 x 110 cm. / 29.9 x 43.3 in.
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    • Morteza Khakshoor Obscure-Medieval Poet, 2026 Acrylic on paper, unframed 79.5 x 65 cm. / 31.3 x 25.6 in.
      Morteza Khakshoor
      Obscure-Medieval Poet, 2026
      Acrylic on paper, unframed
      79.5 x 65 cm. / 31.3 x 25.6 in.
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  • Morteza Khakshoor, b. 1984, Iran

    Morteza Khakshoor

    b. 1984, Iran

    Morteza Khakshoor’s work explores the complexities of selfhood through fragmented narratives and dreamlike figures. Themes of sexuality and manhood are persistent throughout Khakshoor’s body of work. Rather than presenting these ideas directly, he weaves them into the emotional and psychological texture of his images—surfacing in the tension between figures, in body language, and in the quiet spaces between action and expression. Across his works, there is an investigation into how men perform, conceal, or negotiate their emotional lives, uncovering the contradictions and emotional depth of masculinity.
     
    Morteza Khakshoor currently lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. He received his BFA from Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts in 2015 and completed his MFA at The Ohio State University in 2018. Solo exhibitions include ‘The Itch’, Solito Gallery, Naples, Italy (2024); Rapscallions, Lundgren Gallery, Palma de Mallorca, Spain (2024); ‘Pin-Drop’, Duane Thomas Gallery, NYC, USA (2023); ‘The Quiet Path To Otherwhere’, Online, Taymour Grahne Projects, London, UK (2023); and ‘Dirty Words And A Melody’, Wilder Gallery, London, UK (2022). Group exhibitions include, ‘Portrait of an Artist’, Cob Gallery, London, UK (2024); ‘Portrait of A Man’, X Museum, Beijing, China (2024); ‘Pour Some Sugar on Me’ Lundgren Gallery, Palma, Spain (2022); ‘It Was The Best Of Times, It Was The Worst Of Times’, Duane Thomas Gallery, NYC. His works are in several private and public collections, most notably X Museum, Beijing, China and The Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice in New York City.

     

    View the artist's CV here