Statement:

For many long years, I have followed the ever-evolving body of work of Saman Khadem. Witnessing his long, eventful journey in search of his inner meaning has been both deeply rewarding and enlightening for me.

Like every young painter—though by now he can hardly be called young! —he explored every mode of expression, lingering with each for shorter or longer stretches, until he arrived at this remarkably fertile period: the era of his verdant cypress trees.

These are the most recent works in his oeuvre, though by no means its last. For such a vision marks the beginning of a long journey whose ultimate destination cannot be clearly be foreseen. ///

These cypress trees are allegories, symbols, and continuations of an ancient mythic tradition, through which the painter builds a bridge between the conscious mind and the collective unconscious of generations who once lived among towering, shade-giving cypresses, and who, through poetry and painting, carried their reverence and celebration of them across the millennia, sharing a sacred meaning.

As for his command of the medium—a mastery both complete and humble, at once effortless and unattainable—nothing is lacking in it. He knows well the extent of his freedom to soar, how far he can go, and where he must stand back to contemplate the fruits of his labor.

Prolific, gifted, and worthy of enduring, his presence is a genuine necessity.

Aydin Aghdashloo