Golnaz Fathi

Golnaz Fathi
No. 10
acrylic on canvas

The inspiration of my new work comes from the old books, which i had from my grandfather. For many years I used to look at these pages as a hobby; it was not the text which made me fascinated but the layout – each page was a piece of art for itself. The text had been written in different shapes such as a circle, square and the memory of these pages has always been on my mind. Today the composition of the writings in my paintings reminds me of those pages, except that my calligraphy is completely unreadable: illegible writings.

I do treat the letters as a form, which have to be seen with pictorial eyes. Sometimes it’s the battle between the words and the ink on the canvas and it’s at that time that I ask myself: should I talk that much? And the answer is that sometimes you need a little bit of silence, a time that you need to breath and let your mind free to go as far it may wants to. That’s the time which I use the whiteness of the canvas.

I want the viewers to take part in the painting. As a painter I have said the things that I wanted to say through my brush, now it’s your turn, and you are free to interpret it just the way you want to. That’s why my paintings are untitled. These are unspoken and unwritten words.

These written things are beyond words for me.

© Golnaz Fathi