ArtDayMe : We examine "Centaur", a wooden sculpture by Shadi Habib (1986, Tehran), created in 2017 from walnut wood and measuring approximately 45–50 cm in height.

In 2022, Habib’s "Centaur" received the " Best in Show" award at the 10th Annual "ALL Figurative/Portrait"  International Art Competition, organized by Contemporary Art Gallery Online in the United States.

The competition featured several artistic categories, with Shadi Habib’s work entered in the "Mixed Media and Three-Dimensional Art"  category. The results were announced on September 28, 2022, and details of this achievement can be verified on the organizer’s website.

_ An Analysis of Shadi Habib’s "Centaur"

CENTAUR;  On the Threshold of Liberation

Centaur explores the threshold between instinct and consciousness, force and will, stillness and release. It considers the moment in which movement, before becoming action, gathers within the totality of being.

Drawing inspiration from the mythological centaur, a creature born of the union between human and horse, Shadi Habib approaches one of the most complex conditions of human existence: the coexistence of forces that, despite their different origins, remain inseparable in shaping identity and lived experience.

Here, the human–equine figure is not a symbol of an irreconcilable duality, but an embodiment of the possibility of coexistence between instinct and awareness—a union in which the forces of nature meet the capacity for thought, choice, and intentional direction.

The centaur is suspended at the moment of drawing the bow, a moment charged with energy that has not yet culminated in release.

_ Prices of Shadi Habib’s Works

Shadi Habib (born 1986, Tehran) is an academically trained artist who has developed her professional practice at the intersection of graphic design, handicrafts, and wood art.

She holds a degree in graphic design from Shariati University, a bachelor’s degree in handicrafts from Alzahra University, and a master’s degree in handicrafts from Isfahan University of Art. She also works as a university lecturer.

From an art-market perspective, Shadi Habib’s wooden sculptures have been attracting growing interest, and the development of her career can be traced through the inclusion of her works in museum and private collections, as well as their appearance at auctions.

A major milestone in this trajectory was her participation in the 25th Tehran Auction in 2026 with *The Bird of Heaven*, a wooden sculpture created in collaboration with Mohamadali Vadood. The work achieved a hammer price of 1.65 billion tomans, approximately US$9,700. In 2017, the sculpture had received recognition at the prestigious international Italian design competition, the A’ Design Award. The Abbasi Museum Gallery in Arak also acquired one of Habib’s works in 2023 (1402 in the Iranian calendar) and put it on display.

In addition to these sales, Shadi Habib’s works are held in several collections, including the digital collection of an Italian museum, the museum of the Research Institute of National Arts under Iran’s Ministry of Cultural Heritage, the museum of Tabriz University of Art, and various private collections.

In recent years, Shadi Habib has received international awards and distinctions at art events in the United States and Italy.

In 2022, her work *Centaur* received the **Best in Show** award in the international *ALL Figurative/Portrait* competition organized by Contemporary Art Gallery Online in the United States.

In January 2025, her work *BIRDS’ BATTLEFIELD* won **Third Place** in the *3 Dimensional* category at the 14th Annual *All Women Art Exhibition*, organized by Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery in the United States.

Her achievement of third place in the prestigious Italian A’ Design Award competition in two consecutive years, 2018 and 2019, further underscores the international recognition of her artistic practice.

Shadi Habib holds a First-Grade Artistic Certificate in Sculpture and serves on the policy council of Iran’s National Handicrafts Olympiad. Her achievements in Iran also include winning first place and receiving the First-Grade Certificate in Wood Arts at the Shamseh Festival.