Maryam Shirinlou: An inspiring and warm hearted painter

05/29/09

By Syma Sayyah & Paul Sanford, Tehran

 

 

Maryam Shirinlou has for a long time been one of our favorite artists currently working in Iran.  Born in Tehran, after the revolution she moved with her parents, first to France, and then to the US, where she trained in Art in California.   She later moved back to Tehran and became interested in yoga and healing, and her work today blends the different facets of healing and her art with a most interesting and symbolic form of Persian writing.  In her early works Maryam Shirinlou developed an expressive figurative style incorporating portraits and nudes, which emerged from a love and fascination with human body.

 

 

After her return to Iran she became fascinated with the Persian style of lettering and calligraphy which coincided with the discovery of the plays and poems of the Persian mystics.  She started to develop an art form using the bold uncontrolled script to convey her understanding of the fundamental truths latent in the mysticism, although she stresses that it is not calligraphy, rather a form of expression, often without specific meaning, yet most capturing and imaginative.

 

 

Maryam's work today takes the form of mixed media collage, which she likes to use because 'it has its own surprises allowing for multitudes of layer, texture and fun'  She uses different types of paper, paint,  glue and other materials.

 

 

Her art is at once refreshingly therapeutic and complex.  She is internationally acclaimed and has had many exhibitions inside and outside Iran at well known galleries, and her recent exhibition at the Day Gallery in Tehran displayed some of her best work that we have seen.  Here are a few photographs for you to see for yourself.

 

http://www.maryamshirinlou.com

 

http://www.dayartgallery.com/En/ArtistArtistics.aspx?ar_id=228

 

Day Gallery: 3, Taraneh, Naz 1 Alley, Tangestan 4 St., Pasdaran St., Niavaran. Tehran, Iran.