"Chloe" by Farnaz Mobayyen. Oil, 16” x 20”. Copyright © by Farnaz Mobayyen; reprinted here by permission of the artist.

Artist’s Statement and Bio

I have always been passionate about the arts. This deep passion in me manifests itself into love for painting. Painting is like breathing air to me, without it, I don’t feel alive. With paint, I can free my creative energy onto the canvas. When I look at colors, lines and shapes that I create, I see a portrait of my soul. Each active brush stroke shows a corner of the world inside me, the world that is energetic, bold and passionate.

My journey to be creative started with a pencil in my crib! As a child by allowing me to draw on the walls, my parents encouraged me to enjoy being creative. As I was growing up I never stopped drawing and later on I took private drawing lessons when I was in high school. But, it was more as a hobby than anything else until I took painting classes in college. At that time, I realized that I have to take this one step further and give it my full attention. That led me to get my BFA in painting and drawing at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

I’m a spontaneous painter and usually paint from my imagination. But, sometimes I paint things that are in my surroundings. It can be someone’s face or body, a landscape, a corner of a room or it can even be a stain on the floor! My approach to paint an object is more abstract than realistic rendering of it. I think capturing realism is the work of a camera. For me, I like to capture the soul and the spirit of the world outside and inside me.

—Farnaz Mobayyen
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