© Azadeh Hussaini. All rights reserved.
Artist Statement
As an Iranian artist growing up in Iran, I've always had a desire to explore my culture through my art. As an abstract painter I concentrate on the cultural artifacts as the aesthetic aspects of the culture. In my paintings I derive my inspiration from my ethnic heritage of Persian rugs and textiles, made by nomadic women. They use weaving to create a wide range of containers and floor coverings, from salt bags to rugs, for their daily needs. Although these are functional tools, I am inspired by the rich colors and diverse designs, so I have used these cultural artifacts as a source of imagery in my abstract paintings.
In this series of work, I concentrate on the colors, and patterns. Weavers get the majority of their colors from plants found locally growing on mountains or farms. In different regions using color varies depending on the culture and the circumstances, but using warm colors is very popular and some other colors such as blue, gray and black are embedded in the rug or textile. My inspiration determines what colors I use. Complementary colors, often hues of red, form my palette.
There are ancient traditions of patterns designed from motifs in rugs and textiles. Typically motifs are repeated all over or placed in the center of the substrate on the basis of a symmetrical pre-designed pattern. Symmetry is a fundamental organizing principle, which is expected to be seen in the pattern design. Ultimately it creates predictable and repetitive patterns.
My ambition as an artist is to challenge traditional patterns design and transform them into the artistic abstract compositions with a sense of personality and individuality. In doing so, I combine motifs and colors and disturb the symmetrical patterns. I place the motifs anywhere as my desire. They might be overlapped, covered by colors or even be transformed in a new shape by removing its parts. Incorporating different materials, such as burlap strings and cheese cloth into my paintings lets me create textural compositions which represent the rugs and textiles textures.
Innovation in my paintings lets me break the typical pre-designed static patterns and freely express my inspiration to create dynamic abstract paintings.
Azadeh Hussaini
