Dana Nehdaran, a contemporary painter, was born in Isfahan in an artistic family. His parents' interest in collecting antiques and artworks and trips to visit complexes worldwide profoundly affected Dana. He was encouraged to pursue painting after finding a box belonging to his uncle with painting tools. He passed the basics of art course with an artist called Hasanpour and then went to Sooreh Art University in Shiraz. In 2003 he won the special prize for drawing in the Hafezieh Shiraz competition and the Persian new year photography competition in Isfahan the following year. In 2007, his photographs were showcased in a group exhibition, "Eternal Papers," at Isfahan Contemporary Art museum. His first international show was in 2009 in a group exhibition, "1001 colors," in the Canvas Gallery of New York. After a year, his first solo exhibition, "My Mona Lisa," was held at Nar Gallery in Tehran. In 2011, Nehadaran was Selected for the short list of MOP CAP, Dubai, and a year later, in 2012 participated in 2 group exhibitions in Dubai. Years later, Advocartsy Gallery in Los Angeles showed some of his artworks in group shows.
Nehdaran has had different experiences during his career. In his early career, his figurative paintings had an expressive tone. Human bodies, some of which organs (like the head) had been deformed exaggeratedly. He used limited color options in these paintings created between 2005 and 2008. In this period, representational aspects are as important as abstract ones; an abstract characteristic with appeal for colored textures and actions reveals itself. These works of art resemble the fact that the painting is conceptual in nature. In 2009, in "My Mona Lisa" collection, he presented a personal interpretation of Da Vinci's legendary painting. In these works, Mona Lisa's face is painted in a blurred and monochrome way on canvas. The textures in tiny dots or colored halos dominate the representative aspect and place the painting at a threshold between objectivity and subjectivity. Nehdaran started rebuilding old and historical photographs in 2010. He intervened in some parts of these photos by blurring their faces. An act that can be interpreted as an intrusive recall of collective memories, as any form of recall follows the same logic. In 2013, he painted the faces of literature celebrities on round surfaces like coins. His most distinct experiences were gained in 2015 with the collection "Fi26". His residence in New York was affected by rusty walls of subway tunnels, and he tried to achieve similar visual qualities by recreating the logic of these materials on canvas, building lime support, covering it with plaster, and exposing it to water. The natural reaction of these materials and producing the rust on the plaster surface is a combination of natural and human actions. In fact, by leading the natural process of the reaction to his desired paths, the artist puts the artwork at a threshold of human choice/free will and natural determinism and leaves fate to the conflict between these two forces. In the following collections, he tried to connect the achievements of this collection and his previous practice. The result was paintings based on Qajar photos showing rust and decay on their surface.
This desire for the past and creating effects of oldness, whether in color choices, painting techniques that fake a form of antiquity, or selected subjects, has remained in all of Nehdaran's artistic periods. A trait may have been imprinted in the depth of his being from his father's house experiences and the cultivation of his soul in contact with antiques and historical manuscripts.