Alaleh Khatibi

Lives and works in Westlake Village, CA, USA

Artist statement

Reinventing abstraction of nature down to its most concise and succinct message has been my single interest in painting landscapes and seascapes since 2018. I found the essence of nature’s intent simple yet overwhelmingly powerful. I also found an ease and comfort, an irresistible beauty and ultimate order amidst a chaotic or ‘unkept’ landscape. Through more frequent travels I was able to immerse myself in my new momentum of delivering the ‘essence’ of nature. Coincidentally, my practice of meditations had deepened my ability to turn off the extraneous. My paintings have evolved into an even more abbreviated elixir of only the most relevant elements that define its purpose and meaning. My journey became even more intense when I arrived at painting the wondrous yet political landscapes of Iran. The juxtaposition of the joy within the painful landscapes gave way to the only color that can articulate and punctuate the intensity of its beauty and pain simultaneously - red. Paved with blood, I soon recognized I was only painting a human construct of fallibility. With Red, I was painting a spectrum of human emotions from its darkest moments like turmoil, pain, torture and fear into its most peaceful, beautiful and blissful moments of ecstasy, love and exultation.

Artwork