Aabee Bleue Project is a contemporary art platform based in Los Angeles, built around a simple but open-ended idea: creating a space where artists connected to Iran can be encountered through their work, ideas, and practices. Iranian contemporary art is at the heart of the project, but Aabee Bleue does not see nationality as the only way to understand an artist or their work. Instead, it is interested in the wider context around contemporary art, and in the ways artists, collectors, and audiences can come together across different places and experiences.
Founded by Sabrina Younesi and Narges Hamzianpour, Aabee Bleue brings together two different paths through the art world. Sabrina has been a collector for more than 25 years, alongside a background in interior design and marketing. Her relationship with art has grown at the intersection of collecting, design, and the everyday experience of living with works. Her involvement has also extended beyond her own collection, including supporting local museums through acquisitions and donations. Narges came to Aabee Bleue from the professional side of the field, with more than 18 years of experience in gallery management and contemporary art. Her work has included international sales, exhibitions, artist and collector relations, appraisals, and international projects, often bringing her into contact with artists, collectors, galleries, and museums. She has also completed coursework in Contemporary Art at Sotheby’s Institute of Art in London.
The two first met when Sabrina became one of Narges’s collectors in Los Angeles. Over time, three major works were placed in Sabrina’s collection, and their shared involvement in the art community allowed their relationship to grow beyond individual acquisitions. The idea of building something together came naturally from there, bringing Sabrina’s experience as a collector and designer together with Narges’s years of working directly within the contemporary art world.
For Narges, Aabee Bleue also grew out of a longer experience of working through the changing economic and cultural conditions of the art world, including the 2008 financial crisis. Those years brought their own lessons about patience, resilience, and staying close to the work. Aabee Bleue grew from that experience rather than marking a complete departure from it, carrying forward many of the relationships, knowledge, and perspectives Narges had developed over the years.
Los Angeles became an important part of that story. The city is home to a significant Iranian community, while also offering a rich and active contemporary art scene. Having made Los Angeles home, Narges saw an opportunity to bring more attention to artists from Iran and the Iranian diaspora in a place where different artistic communities already meet. The Arts District felt like a natural setting for the project. With its concentration of galleries and contemporary art spaces, it allowed Aabee Bleue to become part of an existing art community and its ongoing conversations.
The project first took physical form with Unveiled, its inaugural exhibition. The show introduced Aabee Bleue to a Los Angeles audience and offered a first opportunity to spend time with the work, meet artists, collectors, and visitors, and begin building those relationships. It also gave shape to an idea that remains important to the project: creating an ongoing space where artists connected to Iran can be encountered within a wider contemporary art conversation.
That way of looking at art remains at the centre of Aabee Bleue. The project is attentive to the histories, experiences, and cultural references that can shape the practices of artists connected to Iran, while allowing the work itself to lead the conversation. Its programme brings together artists working across different countries, generations, mediums, and perspectives, with an interest in the many ways contemporary art can be experienced and understood.
After six months at the Greenhouse, in the back courtyard of 1700 S. Santa Fe Ave., Aabee Bleue is moving inside the building to the main floor, directly in front of Susanne Vielmetter Gallery and next to Nicodim Gallery. The new space is significantly larger and introduces a white-cube format with two distinct areas: a main gallery and a viewing room, which will also function as a second exhibition space.
The move also makes room for a more structured exhibition programme. Planned through mid-December, exhibitions will change approximately every month, with roughly a month and a week between presentations to prepare for the next project. The rhythm gives each exhibition time to take shape while allowing the programme to move between different artists, practices, and perspectives throughout the season.
The programme begins with Elika Hedayat’s Whispers: Women, Animals and Chimeras, running from September 26 to October 24, 2026. Hedayat, an Iranian artist based in France, will travel to Los Angeles for the exhibition, marking Aabee Bleue’s second solo presentation of her work in the city. The programme will continue with back-to-back exhibitions featuring artists based in Iran before closing the fall season in November with Makan Negahban, an Iranian artist based in Los Angeles.
For Aabee Bleue, the move is ultimately about having more room for a project that is still growing. Its story brings together collecting, gallery experience, relationships with artists and institutions, and a particular connection to Los Angeles. The new space gives those different threads more room to come together, while allowing Aabee Bleue to keep learning, building its programme, and seeing where the work leads.
