I have always wanted my paintings to represent the things I’ve seen and grown with, A world full of my dreams and visions and mysteries. It’s like I’m walking in my father’s garden, reminiscing the trees and houses of that bright world and its dreadful nights and whispers that still sound in my ears. When I’m inspired to start a new painting, it feels like déjà vu is happening.

Along with the environment of my daily life, spending my childhood in a house in a garden, watching the comedy-horror movies of the 70s to 90s, which were combining the fears of human and everyday events with humor and parody and presenting the inner thrill, Persian Miniatures and their complicated delicacy and details, Medieval allegorical paintings, ancient Egyptian art , Biblical scenes from works of Gustave Doré, the landscapes of the French paintings of the 18th and 19th century and on the other hand, The paintings of the surrealists especially René Magritte, these experiences have formed my déjà vu and my memories.

However among the surrealists, I’m personally interested in Rene Magritte’s paintings, but more generally the main idea of surrealism is what that attracts me the most. An attempt to create an idea beyond the reality that seems possible and actual. As a general idea, the thing that I always have in my mind is that how can I add to “the possibilities” and “facts” of this world and somewhat the means to achieve this goal for me are poems, odd visions of daily life and dreams. I somehow try to use the history of surrealism to get to a contemporary language.

On the other hand, if there are signs of symbolism in my works, I want them to serve a romantic fantasy. Although I know that symbolism was formed in response to romanticism. In addition to symbolism, I really like to analogize and I think the process of analogizing an imaginary picture to a character and a detail on painting paper is so attractive and close to the definition of contemporary painting that I have in mind.

Despite I’m very interested in eastern mythology specifically the legends of One Thousand and One Nights, I have decisively avoided any form of depiction of legendary and mythological characters, but since there are usually mixtures of slivers of humor and grotesque in my works, they probably suggest a mythical atmosphere to the viewer. My paintings also have narratives that do not refer to anything nor they contain a story with beginning, middle and end. They only project what is depicted in my paintings.
A wide range of topics, from humor and horror to nature and history of art, which could create a meaningful field of energy and lead it to the beginning of a new image. It’s like I’m building a new stove to burn the woods of the very old trees.

Maryam Hoseini, 2013