Laguna College of Art + Design

This thesis work examines themes of family and marriage. In particular it explores domesticity with its associated anxiety, and the attempt to escape from such. For me this anxiety stems from the uncertainty that originates with the possibility of f…

My large-scale drawings investigate the beauty of femininity and inner strength through intricate designs that incorporate elements from nature. I depict female figures immersed in biophilic relationships, highlighting a harmonious bond between wome…

The subjects of my work are portraits of myself and people that I know, and still lifes composed of objects that have relevance to the individuals in the portraits. My purpose is simple yet challenging: to promote, through careful observation, an ho…

I address the range of human experience and emotion in watercolor paintings. Watercolor, much like emotions, is unpredictable and requires special care to harness its infinitely varied and nuanced complexities. Creating such works requires forgivene…

Mass media is the source of inspiration for my body of work, which I have titled Seen and Forgotten. Contemporary societies that have access to modern media formats are bombarded with photographic images. Newspapers, magazines, video, film and the I…

My work defines and explores the concept of floral life-cycles as a metaphor for human existence. I draw inspiration from my personal garden, which I cultivate for research purposes, as well as other natural spaces. This closeness to floral life-cyc…

Artistic evolution is highly personal and unique for each person. As a formally trained illustrator, I’m intrinsically afraid of change and desperately hold onto processes that feel familiar. However, I know that growth is full of risks and un…

Passive-Aggressive is a series of six drawings and six paintings that focus on voyeurism and repressed male fantasies. It should also be seen as a kind of visual diary that records two years of struggle, trial and error in a post-graduate painting p…

I think of my paintings as an extension of street photography. The photograph has had a long-standing tradition of being at war with the painting world; however, I found that it is used in my work beyond the traditional means of reference, and is so…

As a painter who hunts, my art concerns the dialectics of hunting. How can I say, “I love deer” while I am in pursuit to shoot one? Why is it that I am both remorseful and happy when I stand over an elk whose life I cut short? Where is t…

My paintings move through the shadow of my past life. I was born and grew up in post-revolutionary Iran, in a culture dominated by patriarchal governments and households. As a young woman in Iran, I saw wars, protest, and revolution. My early experi…

In this thesis, I question, reflect on, and navigate the cultural and societal challenges women face in Iran through my oil paintings. I create visual narratives with archetypal imagery depicting women's multifaceted experiences. Using symbolic imag…

My aim is to make strong, memorable images that invite the viewer to participate in a narrative. The narrative is a means of expressing emotions and meaning and allows freedom in the interpretation of ideas. Passage explores themes of traditional fa…

My paintings reflect my recent life experience and my thoughts about old Chinese wisdom such as Taoism and yin-yang. Yin and yang reflect the symbiotic polarity in my paintings—love and loneliness, movement and stillness, solitude and connecti…

My thesis, Dying for a Change, explores the story telling of my own hero’s journey that is yet to be fully completed. Through simile, I draw comparison between my work and my journey through life up to this point by reliving darker times and d…

Love and Loneliness explores some of my early memories of my childhood lived in the backyard of my mother’s house. Going back in time, my artwork connects to my roots representing the time when I started shaping the personality and character o…

My wife and children are my greatest source of inspiration in my multi-figurative paintings and sculptures. Making art of my family and myself feels like the most honest way to create art from my experience as a human. I’m pulling from a deep …

I am currently making paintings of the guys I know and love and like to look at, using bits and pieces of the commercial imagery we're all constantly bombarded with via TV, movies, magazines, the Internet, billboards, and even iPhone apps. There is …