Zende -Mahmoud Zenderoudi- was born in Iran in 1943 and lived in Tehran during the first part of his life. He came from a modest, cultivated background and was the 4th child of a family of eight. His mother's artistic sensibility greatly influenced him as a painter and the rest of his brothers and sisters. After leaving college, Zende became a journalist but never abandoned his early passion for painting. At first a radio chronicler, he then produced various radio programmes before becoming a well-known journalist on TV in 1969. However, in 1962, he had already exposed some of his work during the 2nd Biennal Event in Tehran and in 1970 at the International Exhibition. The "Tehran Gallery" organized his first private exhibition in 1969. 

In 1978, Zende left Iran to settle in the south of France. After his exile and from this moment on, he was to begin as a full-time painter. His own discovery of a new way of painting with raised designs led him to use 'collage' as a technique which has set him apart from more conventional Iranian artistic movements. It would be hard to put his artworks into a single category. He uses various materials and techniques, such as collage, painting and sculpting wood pulp, etc.

He has had many private exhibitions throughout the world: in Hong Kong, the USA and Europe, and many patrons of the arts have purchased his paintings to form private collections in Cyprus, Canada, France, Iran, Germany, Switzerland, the United state and Dubaï. His work also holds a prominent place in collections of limited editions of beautifully illustrated books published by "Fata Morgana" and "La bibliothèque du Lion."