Habib Hastaie was born in Iran, where he lived through young adulthood. He is a graduate of Tehran University’s Faculty of Fine Arts, which was modeled after the Beaux-Arts de Paris and Bauhaus traditions. Hastaie studied art and design under renowned artists from near and far in the 1970s, an era often referred to as Iran’s “golden age of contemporary art.”
Influenced by his Fulbright professors from the United States, Hastaie sought to continue his studies abroad. His quest brought him to the US, where he pursued a Master of Fine Arts in Visual Communications, University of Kansas. His MFA thesis focused on Persian calligraphy and typography. His thesis research drew him to the unparalleled holdings of the Library of Congress, so he relocated to the Washington, DC area. After completing graduate school, he remained in the area and worked as an illustrator, art director, and creative director for some of the nation’s leading educational and non-profit organizations. He won numerous awards and his artwork has been published in a range of journals, magazines, and books.
In 2006, Hastaie took up residence in Baku, Republic of Azerbaijan, where he joined and worked with a circle of artists and sculptors. In subsequent years, he returned stateside but continued to travel to, and sojourn in, the Middle East, Central, South and East Asia, and Europe. During his journeys, he met and interacted with artists, leaving mutually lasting impressions. Hastaie relocated from the Washington, DC metro area to the San Francisco Bay area in 2019.