October marks Long Beach Arts Month, and the Long Beach Post has partnered with the Arts Council for Long Beach to celebrate the image makers, the painters, the dancers, the designers, the musicians, and the countless other artists who make our city vibrant and cultured. Our homepage will feature an artist’s own unique interpretation of Long Beach daily, so make sure to check back every weekday to discover or rediscover a local talent.
Baktaash Sorkhabi is a CSULB graduate who received his BFA in Graphic Design. For Sorkhabi, design and art go hand-in-hand—especially when it comes to the city and idea of urbanism.
“The city is my church,” Sorkhabi said. “I like to take the power and impact that design can have and use it in persuading the perceptions we have on public space and how we as a community can better embrace our built environment.”
That sentiment is reflected in his art, which always borders the line between illustrative creativity and photographic reality. From brand positioning and advertising campaigns to developing case studies for domestic as well as international cities, Sorkhabi feels that—be it the private or public sector—design is key to growth and livability. His love for cities coupled with his belief that good design can change the world demonstrates Sorkhabi’s commitment to a better physical environment.
He helped create the local, impact-journalism site Longeachize and his work with local non-profit urban design studio City Fabrick has fused his profession of graphic design with making better cities—namely Long Beach. From advocating for the first freeway removal in Southern California to helping create Park[d] Plaza, an urban intervention that took an underutilized parking lot and transformed it with a little bit of punchy yellow paint into a people space with tetherballs and comfortable Adirondack chairs.