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Ali Meamar: Original Collection

In "Original Collection," I return to my earliest fresco designs from Florence, printing them onto panels and painting over them with fresh layers of color and form. What emerges are compositions where my past and present coexist on the same surface. Earlier images appear through new paint, creating unexpected conversations between who I was as a young artist in Italy and who I am now.

Born in Iran and classically trained in Florence, I mastered sculpture, interior design, and fresco painting before a pivotal meeting with Salvador Dalí shifted my trajectory toward surrealism. This exhibition represents my ongoing exploration of how an artist's work can be both memory and discovery.

I have been exploring what I think of as intangible senses, elements of perception that exist beyond sight alone. In these pieces, I pursue beauty and harmony by seeking balance between classical form and surrealist spontaneity. I work with motion and time, watching how an artistic thought evolves across decades when I place it in dialogue with itself. I consider temperature, attempting to translate the emotional warmth of memory into visual tone.

This collection invites you into that exploration. My hope is that the canvas becomes a space where you might encounter not just what I have painted, but the passage of time itself and the strange gift of meeting your own earlier self through creative work.

Jan 2nd - Jan 30th 2026
Reception: Sun Jan 18th 2-4pm