Interconnection

Shoh Abdolrahimi was the Grand Prize Winner in International Artist magazine’s Challenge No. 126, Abstract/Experimental Art.

Persian artist Shohreh Abdolrahimi builds vivid abstractions born out of a variety of materials—broken pieces of recycled wood, alcohol ink, gold leaves, buttons, fibers, acrylic paints and more. Her highly expressive artwork teeters on the line of expressionism and impressionism, employing elements of both styles. “The difficulty in characterization does not arise from the visual similarities. Normally, the two art forms are diametric opposites: a modernist yin and yang,” the artist reflects. “However, as seen in quantum theory and the wave-particle dualities, the opposites can merge into one form at times. Thus, I would describe my art style as abstract expressionism/impressionism. My paintings start from an expressed emotion in a dream image formed in the state of hypnagogic or hypnopompic at a subconscious level. However, during the process of painting, I go back and forth between depicting the visual impression of the dream image and expressing the emotional experience that the expressed subconscious emotion has created in my mind.” Sunset over the hills, alcohol ink on wood panels, 18 x 24"

Dream, acrylic on wood panel, 24 x 18"

Aurora Over the Lake, alcohol ink over wood panel, 18 x 24"

Abdolrahimi, who currently lives in Claremont, California, has a Ph.D. in theoretical physics, tinting the lens through which she views and creates her artwork. She’s also a wife, a mother and a cancer survivor. “All these life experiences and travels had paved the way and formed a unique soul that could not be contained any further,” she says. Free in wind, acrylic on stretched canvas, 16 x 16"The artist creates her abstract, mixed media works through a combination of brushes, knives and paper on canvas or wood panel. Most of her paintings, however, are finger painted. “I finger paint, as I feel a more intimate relation with the work using my fingers,” she says. When working with acrylic, she often employs thick, impasto applications of color, and when working with inks, she’ll blow at the ink to create a sense of flow.

The artist says she is always working on three connected series: Fundamental Elements reflects on all the things that bring us joy and happiness; Free in Wind is “inspired by a sense of freedom one experiences when we connect to nature and the universe”; and Seasons of Life explores the various transformations human beings undergo throughout their lives, like birth, aging and death.Free to dance, acrylic on stretched canvas, 36 x 24"

Home, plaster, wood, buttons, fiber, threads, beads and acrylic on canvas, 14 x 14"

“I view myself as a sculpture, where life experiences and my connection to nature gradually transformed my shape [into] who I am today,” says Abdolrahimi. “I am also in awe of the complexity and beauty of our universe enhanced by my physics education. I wish to re-create this beauty and to [capture] the healing energy of the universe, its passion and love, with the perception of the interconnectedness of all things into our personal lives.” Fire and water, acrylic, plaster, fiber and gold leaves on stretched canvas, 16 x 16"She is represented by the online-based Plogix Gallery, Art Number 23 Gallery in Athens, Greece, and Californiia based Grace Galleries and Laguna Art Gallery. —