May 15-June 8, Reza Dolatabadi: “HAS ANYONE TOLD YOU YOU GOT ADHD?”
May 10, 2025 by admin
HAS ANYONE TOLD YOU YOU GOT ADHD?
A solo exhibition by Reza Dolatabadi (also known simply as REZA)
HAS ANYONE TOLD YOU YOU GOT ADHD? is the debut personal exhibition by REZA, the internationally acclaimed animation director known for his work with U2, Formula 1, Lionel Richie, Cyndi Lauper, and more. Born in Iran, trained in Scotland, and shaped by years in London, REZA now lives in Mexico City, where this body of personal work began to take shape. Shortly after arriving with a one-way ticket and a fresh divorce, he began therapy for the first time. Within minutes, his therapist asked the question that would unlock it all: “Has anyone told you you got ADHD?” She also noted something else—how REZA’s use of intense color and stark black-and-white wasn’t just aesthetic, but emotional. His visual language was doing what words couldn’t: expressing anxiety, urgency, overstimulation, and joy while also concealing vulnerability, self-doubt, and quiet internal battles.
The exhibition draws deeply from REZA’s lived experience with both ADHD and synesthesia—a condition that causes him to see music and sound as bursts of color. This sensory layering has long influenced his creative choices, from nightclub moments to quiet cafés. In this show, that instinct collides with introspection. The result is a collection of images that reflect the noise and rhythm of a mind in constant motion—images where colour shouts, contrast reveals, and every visual decision is loaded with psychological weight.
HAS ANYONE TOLD YOU YOU GOT ADHD? is more than a title—it’s a turning point. This exhibition is REZA’s attempt to strip away the filters of client work and confront the raw, uncommissioned self. It’s a portrait of identity shaped not just by diagnosis, but by curiosity, reinvention, and the refusal to stay still.

