A Div (Demon) with a Bell 2020
This piece is part my most recent body of work, Tea, Saffron, Talisman Zero | One, I used Saffron and tea as my medium. Inspired by the Persian miniatures, rugs, Asian paintings, old talismans, Islamic illuminations & manuscripts and Western Abstract art, I include modern codes, signs such as binary codes, 0101, or @ as my patterns together with images from memory, mythical, and historical pectoral pool, and our day to day images seen in our modern life.
Saffron has a deep connection to the meaning of home, with its aroma, taste, and color that I experienced in my childhood. Saffron was considered a sacred and protective color in the ancient Persian manuscripts and illuminations pieces.
Saffron, Tea, Malachite, Lapis Lazuli, Brazilwood, ink and gold on on paper sized with tea and rice starch, burnished with agate stone
Size: W:40 in x H:26 in
Mirrors 2019
This piece is part my most recent body of work, Tea, Saffron, Talisman Zero | One, I used Saffron and tea as my medium. Inspired by the Persian miniatures, rugs, Asian paintings, old talismans, Islamic illuminations & manuscripts and Western Abstract art, I include modern codes, signs such as binary codes, 0101, or @ as my patterns together with images from memory, mythical, and historical pectoral pool, and our day to day images seen in our modern life.
Saffron has a deep connection to the meaning of home, with its aroma, taste, and color that I experienced in my childhood. Saffron was considered a sacred and protective color in the ancient Persian manuscripts and illuminations pieces.
Saffron, Tea, Malachite, Lapis Lazuli, Brazilwood, ink and gold on on paper sized with tea and rice starch, burnished with agate stone
Size: W:40 in x H:26 in
Div (Demon) 2019
This piece is part my most recent body of work, Tea, Saffron, Talisman Zero | One, I used Saffron and tea as my medium. Inspired by the Persian miniatures, rugs, Asian paintings, old talismans, Islamic illuminations & manuscripts and Western Abstract art, I include modern codes, signs such as binary codes, 0101, or @ as my patterns together with images from memory, mythical, and historical pectoral pool, and our day to day images seen in our modern life.
Saffron has a deep connection to the meaning of home, with its aroma, taste, and color that I experienced in my childhood. Saffron was considered a sacred and protective color in the ancient Persian manuscripts and illuminations pieces.
Saffron, Tea, Malachite, Lapis Lazuli, Brazilwood, ink and gold on on paper sized with tea and rice starch, burnished with agate stone
Size: W:26 in x H:22 in
Note: The text above was written by the Artist. No modification was made by COCA.
Saya Behnam
United States
I am an Iranian-American artist born in Tehran-Iran, work and live in Washington DC for over 25 years.
My art practice encompasses the juxtaposition of the old and new, time and space, traditional and modern, of home and abroad. By creating my own colors and inks from fresh, dried flowers, spices, plants, earth stones and pigments —the material intelligence, an important aspect of my creative process—they aren’t just mediums; they are parts of places. Furthermore, like any other living thing, flowers produce different colors as a response to different weather, soil, and location. Since they are specific to the moment, time and environment they were created, each is unique and can never be replicated. They become singular visual aesthetic records of that unique location and time.
There is an unknown and uncertainty factor present in each time I extract tones from the natural pigments and substances I have acquired.