Mohammadreza Mirzaei received his Ph.D. from the History of Art and Architecture Department at UC Santa Barbara in 2024. He specializes in global postwar art with an emphasis on Iran. Dr. Mirzaei's dissertation examines the significance of the figurative practice of Iranian painter Bahman Mohassess in the 1960s through the utilization of unprecedented archival research. In this project, he provides an intellectual history of Iran contextualizing the reliance and opposition of its primary protagonists to Western modernism. His work recognizes the linkages between Iranian art and the postwar social context locally and globally.

Mirzaei's writings have appeared in numerous publications, including ARTMargins, Italian Modern Art, Herfeh: Honarmand and Kaarnamaa. Recently, Mirzaei published a book chapter titled "Where Is My Photo? A Study of the Representation of Tehran in the Work of Contemporary Iranian Photographers" in Ubiquity: Photography's Multitudes (Leuven University Press, 2021). Also, his translation work has received recognition, including the Persian translation of Stefano Benni's La Grammatica di Dio (Herfeh Honarmand Publications, 2012).