Mahmood Sabzi,Victoria Giraud
"A Painter in a Strange Land: Iranian Artist Living in Exile Lets Emotions Spill Onto Canvass.
''

Los Angeles Daily News The ''Los Angeles Daily News'' is the second-largest-circulating paid daily newspaper of Los Angeles, California, after the unrelated ''Los Angeles Times'', and the flagship newspaper of the Southern California News Group, a branch of Colorado ...

'', November 27, 1996. professionally known as Sabzi, is an Iranian artist known for his abstract impressionist paintings. Sabzi was born in

Ahvaz Ahvaz (; ) is a city in the Central District of Ahvaz County, Khuzestan province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. It is home to Persians, Arabs and other groups such as Qashqai and Kurds. Languages spok ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. He began painting when he was twelve years old,"First Impressions hosts romantic expressionist artist Sabzi"
'' Tampa Bay Newspapers'', November 17, 2005. but eventually earned a bachelor's degree in agricultural engineering at the University of Jundi Shapur. Initially, Sabzi made realistic paintings inspired by his country's history and culture. He went to exile during the regime of

Ruhollah Khomeini Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini (17 May 1900 or 24 September 19023 June 1989) was an Iranian revolutionary, politician, political theorist, and religious leader. He was the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the main leader of the Iranian ...

, settling in Germany and the United States. During this period, he experimented with figurative and abstract styles. He eventually settled in southern California. Each of his moves was reflected in changes in his style to reflect changes in his environment.Lauren LaRocca
"Sabzi: Romantic Expressionist following his feelings"
''

Frederick News-Post ''The Frederick News-Post'' is the local newspaper of Frederick County, Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its ...

'', September 20, 2007.

Inspiration

According to Sabzi, he draws inspiration from the

Persian rugs A Persian carpet ( ), Persian rug ( ),Savory, R., ''Carpets'',(Encyclopaedia Iranica); accessed 30 January 2007. or Iranian carpet is a heavy textile made for a wide variety of utilitarian and symbolic purposes and produced in Iran (histo ...

created by his mother. :My artistic inspiration, the very basis of form and color for my work, comes from my childhood memories of Persian rugs designed and weaned by my mother. As I watched her for hours creating gorgeous patterns, hues and textures, her fingers dancing across the loom, the designs and shapes of my current work took form. My creations flow from the same source of energy and creativity that inspired my mother. Sabzi's painting style is influenced by the

Modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

works of

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work introduced new modes of representation, influenced avant-garde artistic movements of the early 20th century a ...

and

Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual arts, visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a drawing, draughtsman, printmaking, printmaker, ...

, as well as by the poet

Rumi Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī (), or simply Rumi (30 September 1207 – 17 December 1273), was a 13th-century poet, Hanafi '' faqih'' (jurist), Maturidi theologian (''mutakallim''), and Sufi mystic born during the Khwarazmian Empire ...

. Majority of his works feature women in various moods and poses, implying internal conflict.

References

External links

Online gallery of Sabzi's paintings
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sabzi Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People from Ahvaz 21st-century Iranian painters Iranian emigrants to the United States

Inspiration

References

Further reading

External links