Statement:

The paintings of Fatemeh Bahman Siyahmard move on the border between poetry and image, paintings that are neither representational nor merely abstract, but rather an arena of constant dialogue between the body, city, nature and the collective unconsciousness.

She constructs her world not through linear narrative but by fragmentation and reassembly of signs, a world that is more like a dream than reality.

For this set of works the seed of her narrative is the story of Omelas; a child’s imprisonment in a basement which allows for a city to live in happiness.///

Raising the questions: what is the price of collective happiness and well-being? What must be hidden or sacrificed in order for a world to remain seemingly peaceful.

The complex and detailed compositions are a vital part of her visual experience. She uses diverse materials and visual language, from precise pencil and ink drawings to brilliant splashes of color and scratchy lines; all to create a world that refers to both past and future, pain and hope.

This juxtaposition of time and elements and languages make her the polyphonic artist that she is.

Over all the series refers to connectivity of all things and cycle of life. She neither offers the final answer nor completes the narrative, but rather engages the audience in a game in which they must pause repeatedly between beauty and suffering, between the city and nature, the body and the world, and ask again at what cost what we have was obtained?