Painting is a vocation for me. I believe the art which we produce becomes part of our physical, emotional and intellectual reality. This puts a huge responsibility on my shoulders when I am creating, to make sure I give the best of me to my environment as I ‘immortalize’ a part of reality in the painting. I meditate, pray, and dance to get in touch with depths of beauty and strength in life.
Tell us about your nominated art piece for the Global Art Awards?
The nominated painting is called “Waterfall of the Soul”, it is 150 x 120 cm, oil on canvas. It expresses the elegance of a soul, and the experience of flow. All the little flowers you see in it are the fuschia flower (f.Corymbifera is the scientific botanic name of it). In flower essence remedies the fuschia flower helps one release entanglements from the past which are preventing the flow in one’s life. So the prayer with which I have painted this painting is for the viewer to experience a release of entanglements which block their flow of life. The shape of waterfall is to accentuate the sensation of flow. At the same time the painting is meant to mirror the elegance of the soul.
I have to say though, that I managed to bring out the elegance thanks to the fact that I got to know an amazing person during the period that I was painting this piece. This person has the most elegant soul I have ever witnessed in my life. So I felt compelled to paint the beauty that I see in this person, to let the world see it too. Most often the most amazing people are not those like me who are in the spotlight, but the ones reserved and hidden away from the public eye. I feel like a gemologist in a way; when a gemologist discovers a rare gem, he wants to show the world his discovery. I did that with this painting; I saw a rare elegance of a soul and expressed its beauty for the world to see. And wherever in life I notice a beauty which is not visible to the general physical eye I try to express it through my paintings. I feel that as my function in society as a painter.
How would you describe yourself? And your artwork?
As a person I’m rather engaged with life and enthusiastic about many things in the universe around us. I try to be as authentic as possible to myself and through that authenticity contribute what I feel is missing in the external environment around me in society as a painter- since with a painting one creates something physical which remains in our environment.
Regarding my art work, as many might already know, ‘florescencism’ is the term I use to encapsulate both the visual and the philosophy in it. Well, ‘flor’ (Latin word for flower) refers to the fact that flowers are what the images are made of . Flower as a verb -to flower- is a metaphor used in many cultures and languages to symbolize the flourishing of an individual or a civilization. Having studied international relations at university with the intention of enriching my art and making it more concrete in its stance in society, I make use of peace/conflict theories to pass on knowledge on human nature. After finishing my Masters in international Relations, I submitted a PhD proposal which was accepted by Keele University in the UK, but I decided to continue my art exhibitions and come back to that in a few years time in order to be able to write from my direct experience interacting with different societies through my art.
Where do you see your art going in ten years?
I intend to interact with more and more societies of different countries through my art and learn along the way, as well as connect to people’s hearts.
Two more precise projects though which I intend to realize before the next 10 years pass are:
A duet exhibition with Damien Hirst, to be followed by a face-to-face public debate with both Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons. This is due to the sharp difference in our approaches to beauty in art; not because I undervalue their approach to beauty in any way, nor do I find their approach wrong, but because I think after a century of mainstream conceptual art, it is important to allow space for a different approach to beauty too. I use a neurobiological theory of aesthetics which appeals to our inborn sense of beauty regardless educational levels. This is to keep us in touch and close to nature. So I would love to have a discussion on it with these prominent figures in the mainstream who have been influencing our ideas of beauty today.
The second project is a ballet interpretation of my paintings. The flowers in my paintings are like dancers on stage in my imagination. So I have prepared a concept story for my ‘internal worlds’ painting series which describes the different states of human nature inside and how they influence our interaction with the outside world. I would like this story board to be performed as a ballet piece which of course only a choreographer can compose. I am currently having talks with the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg about it, and do hope to realize such project way before 10 years time in fact.
Can you tell us what you have going on right now?
At the moment I am preparing a new collection to be exhibited the Asia Art Funds gallery in New York in March 2018. Master Mahmoud Farshchian the great Iranian master of Persian miniature painting will open the exhibition, and I am very much honoured by that because I admire his art very much. I only met him once, but luckily he appreciates my work enough to be honouring me by opening the exhibition there. I hope your committee members from Global Art Awards would be able to attend too.
Best Commissioned artwork ever done was…?
I have been invited by the China National Academy of Painting in Beijing to create a painting with my own style of painting, on the silk road. The painting is rather large, 3.6 x 2.5 meters, and although my sketches of it are still to reach final approval, but this would be then the best commission I have ever had. I am immensely joyed to have received this invitation because I consider their academy of a very high standing.
Artist Name: Lida Sherafatmand
Born: Iran
Live: Malta
Website : www.lida.gallery
Facebook : @lidasherafatmand
Instagram : @lidasherafatmand