Shahram Karimi, an Iranian painter and filmmaker, was born in 1957 in Shiraz, Iran. He learned the fundamentals of drawing and painting from his brother, Jamshid Karimi, and later began studying painting at the School of Decorative Arts, though he left his studies unfinished in 1980. In 1988, he emigrated to Germany and has since lived and worked between Berlin and New York.

Karimi held his first solo exhibition in 1977 at Tarh Gallery in Shiraz. Since then, his works have been presented in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Iran, Germany, the United States, Italy, India, the former Yugoslavia, and other countries. Among the most notable venues and events featuring his work are Art Basel, the Istanbul Biennial, the Iranian Cultural Center in Los Angeles, Brigitte Schenk Gallery in Cologne, Leila Heller Gallery in New York, the International Art Fair in New York, the Contemporary Art Gallery in Pančevo, and exhibitions curated by artists and curators such as Shirin Neshat and Beth Rubin DeWoody.

In addition to painting, Karimi has been active in film and video art in recent years, receiving several international awards for his work in these fields. He was also awarded the Reinhold- or Rheinsberg-type (Reinsiek) Prize in 1997.