Iman Maleki (born 1976 in Tehran) is an Iranian painter associated with Realism and Hyperrealism. His fascination with painting began in childhood, and at around fifteen he started lessons with Mortezā Kātouziān, a celebrated Iranian painter who was his first and only teacher in the discipline. His meticulous technique, with an almost photographic finish, is the trait most often noted in his work.
Maleki studied at the Fine Arts Faculty of the University of Tehran from 1995 and graduated in graphic design in 1999. He has shown his paintings in exhibitions since 1998. In 2000 he founded the Ārā Painting Studio, where he also teaches. At the Second International Art Renewal Center Salon Competition in 2005 he received the William Bouguereau Award for Omens of Hafez and a Chairman's Choice Award for A Girl by the Window.
His paintings depict the simplicity of ordinary Iranian people and the harshness of their everyday reality, with occasional poetic and surrealist touches. Some critics regard him as one of the finest realist painters working today, though his wider legacy is still taking shape.