who you think I am Painting

Farnaz Zabetian the contemporary painter, creator of unique, and dreamlike portraits of women of her own generation. Her talent and artistic exploration beautifully reflect the concepts related to the inner and outer lives of today’s real women. Farnaz was born in Tehran, Iran, in 1976. She began painting and visual experimentation long before she graduated as a painting major from University of Art, Tehran. While her dedication was painting professionally, she also pursued her passion by teaching art in several universities in Tehran and close-by cities. Farnaz’s art is inspired by poetry, colors, in the context of everyday and real women. She is invested in finding a shared space between poetry/words and form/colors to illustrate in her work. Her work involves conversations between the realities of our lives and the poetry’s criticism of them, brought to a conclusion alleviated by paint. Farnaz’s painting creations are authentic, free from analysis, and predetermination. They are rather infinite roads with no set destinations. Her earlier work was abstract; later on, fish and naked women with long necks began to appear in her pieces. The later work aims to express the inner lives of women, and the long necks seem to represent the long, hard way these women have to go before they can arrive at self-expression. Surrounded by inevitable, painful realities, Zabetian’s dead brides and women cover up their faces with colors and scents of beauty, poetry, and happiness, showing off their love for life and creation, regardless of all limitations and sufferings. Zabetian left Iran for Paris, France in 2012. Soon after she moved to her current residence in San Francisco, Bay Area, where she once again dedicated her life solely to painting and poetry. Farnaz is an associate member of the Society of California Art Club and the Society of Iran’s Painters. In 2017, her work was showcased at San Francisco Art Fair; she had a solo exhibition in Peninsula Museum of Art in Burlingame, CA. A documentary about her artistic practice was aired from BBC Persian’s Tamasha program. Farnaz’s book of poetry in Farsi was published by Butimar Press, Tehran, in 2017. Throughout the years, her work has been featured on several Iranian media, including a coverage on Iran’s Channel 4 in 1997. Farnaz Zabetian also does many murals as a way to spread art in her community.