Ali Saeedi Kenari (b. 1971, Iran) is a self-taught Iranian artist who only started painting in his 40s. He left his job in the hopes of perusing this childhood dream of his. His works often consist of a muted color palette, and eerie, apocalyptic landscapes born out of his own imagination. Ali's complex and detailed compositions, which are improvised swiftly, blur the lines between the abstract and the figurative. What our eyes see among the ancient buildings and otherworldly landscapes as a group of humans, winged creatures, or angels at a distance, are only compacted patches of color at a close range which were often created by removing paint. Recently, Ali Saeedi was announced as the winner of the Khor Art Initiative 2021 with the jurors praising him for his contemporary visual language and his skill in execution. Ali's crowded composition and theatrical staging, which is reminiscent of Baroque artists, was another point of interest for the jurors considering his unfamiliarity with art history.