Ali Banisadr: Temple of the Mind Solo exhibition at Buffalo AKG Art Museum
Ali Banisadr: Temple of the Mind will take place in the museum’s Hemicycle Gallery, as well as throughout the Wilmers Galleries—the first time an artist has been invited to host interventions in the AKG’s permanent collection galleries—and will be on view from Friday, June 26, to Sunday, November 8, 2026.
The title of the exhibition, borrowed from Albert Pinkham Ryder’s enigmatic painting, The Temple of the Mind, serves as a conceptual framework for the project, suggesting a space where perception, memory, and imagination converge. While the Romantic painter was admired for his pioneering, semi-abstract style, for Banisadr, Ryder holds a space for contemplation amid rising uncertainties.
In addition to the installation in the Hemicycle Gallery, a focused selection of Banisadr’s work will be installed throughout the Robert and Elisabeth Wilmers Building, among the dreamlike imaginings of the Surrealists and the unbridled energy of the Abstract Expressionists.
The presentation in the Hemicycle Gallery will also feature an installation that delves deeply into the artist’s influences and process through materials from his studio and an artist-curated selection of works from the museum’s collection. From Andō Hiroshige’s evocative woodcuts and Francisco de Goya’s intense, sometimes nightmarish, depictions of violence and superstition to the artist’s sketchbooks and other visual cues, visitors are invited to immerse themselves in Banisadr’s curious, fantastical world.
The exhibition will be accompanied by an audio journey voiced by Banisadr and will debut a new etching created with the team at Mirabo Press in Buffalo, New York. A short-documentary film on the artist is also in development.
