ARTIST’S STATEMENT

SUSAN VARJAVAND

January 5, 2003

Searching for the “real” – I train my eyes and hands to tell what I find – to connect with ineffable reality and get beyond my small world.  Whether fun or hard work, I must draw & paint.  Now even more, it’s my way of working towards truth, my offering for peace and for sanity amidst the chaos of world affairs.  If I’m fortunate, sometimes beauty may come…

My husband Parviz and I operated Zarvan Gallery in Tehran before the revolution.  We enjoyed friendships with Iranian artists before they became well known, and their studios, their work, and the work of Zarvan’s art students provided a golden atmosphere of inspiration that I miss.  We all benefited from the cultural warmth towards art that is lacking here. 

After coming back to the San Francisco Bay Area where I grew up, I expanded my media from oil painting to include pastel work and printmaking.  My current subjects now are chairs and trees, as well as dream images, still life, and general landscape.  Many times, especially in tree images, I bring in vertical and horizontal elements in an almost symmetrical way.  I want to express “presence” – a lush rooting and spreading out; I seek a truth that home is right here (or wherever one can take root and be solid).  To further develop this theme in an abstractly human way, images of chairs with personality and history have also become important.  Simple earthy subjects, nudes in particular, pull my interest; even rocks and rolling hills hold great mystery, and doing artwork helps me carry the passion I feel.