My practice as a painter for more than twenty years is inspired by that mysterious space between order and chaos; opposites universally found both in the natural world and of human experience.
Influenced early on by the writings of Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner, I began painting representative motifs from nature such as the hexagon or a tree root which I intermingled with abstracted shapes and lines. With no horizon lines or perspective to give order or focus, I seek to convey beauty and discord; or alternately, calm and refuge, found in varying degrees in nature and in things man-made.
In 2008, I began to incorporate fragments of photographs into the paintings, which come from a variety of sources such as family archives, my own photography and appropriated magazine images. Some are manipulated, but all resonate on a personal level. My work attempts to confuse the viewer by placing arbitrary images without connections next to each other; some layered beneath others or obscured by paint.
I am thinking about how individuals perceive what is real or fake, what is true or false. Overloaded with information, yet not cohesive or clear, my paintings become a kind of visual recording of perceived recollections. Beliefs based on media, memory, and experience shape one's reality, individual truth, or creed.
Mally Khorasantchi
2021