Elham Etemadi
Animals, everyday objects, toys, and decorative motifs around us are present in many of my compositions.
They are like “verbs” in my “visual riddles” that are “conjugated” based on the story that’s being told. Sometimes they connect other forms as the main subject and at other times they work as a guiding element. Although the visual purity of them becomes hidden under the colorful layers and get merged at the borders, we can’t ignore its existence. This aspect prompts the audience to explore further and adds to the metaphorical and inspirational value of the work.
My paintings are adventurous and follow their path, no limitation cripples them in their organic revisualization of nature. Geometry seeks to give them structure as if they are children’s Lego toys. The flowing lines that are placed between layers upon layers give rhythm to this unification.
In these paintings, the composition tries to assert a distinct boundary between its elements. A boundary that will break visual planes as much as it breaks the distance between a flower petal and a personage, meaning each shape in the process keeps its bounds open for accepting and absorbing other shapes so that the whole frame is kept as a balanced incident.
Karel Appel explains this matter, “I don’t want distinct boundaries between a bird, a cat, and a tiger. I start an animal as a cat and, then it becomes a bird. But that is still too direct. I always work in ambiguity and the result becomes a morph between a tiger and a bird. I decline all limits.”