Born in Rasht, Iran, in 1944, Farideh Lashai has practiced painting since the late 1960s. A graduate of Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna she has worked as a crystal designer at Riedel Studios in southern Austria, and then Studio Rosenthal in Selb, Germany. Crystal design became her basis for practicing sculpting later in her career alongside her main discipline of painting. Ever since she has had thirty-three solo shows in Iran, Europe and the USA and has been involved in over sixty collective exhibitions such as Iranian Contemporary, Christie’s King Street, London, UK and exhibitions in Liu- Haisu Art Museum, Shanghai; Ludwig Museum, Koblenz; Rome Expo, Rome; and Art Basel, Basel.
Prior to going to Academy of Fine Arts, she studied German literature in Frankfurt. While painting and visual arts are her main practices, Lyricism is the central characteristic in her works, whether it is painting, sculpture, installation art or recently a combination of video art and painting. In 2003 her novel “The Jackal Came” was published in Iran, telling the tale of three generation of women against the socio-political scene in Iran. Critics described it as being a genra between writing and painting.