Today we’d like to introduce you to Saya.
Hi Saya, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I have been a mixed-media artist for over 23 years. 10 years ago, I discovered how to make my own colors. It all happened by accident: I started to paint with my handmade colors from botanicals (fresh or dried plants), minerals, and various pigments. Ten years ago, after my dinner, I spilled my Hibiscus tea on a white paper; I noticed how gradually the colors changed to dazzling and vibrant colors. I had been an acrylic painter for decades, but this vibrancy captured my eyes. I started to search if artists ever used natural colors for their art. I discovered that before synthetic colors were invented, masters used natural colors. I followed their recipe with the help of our new technology, which made it much easier.
My handmade colors and inks from earth minerals, fresh or dried flowers, plants, spices, plants, earth stones, and other pigments aren’t just my mediums and colors; they are parts of the places and times she gets and represent time and space.
I follow the old masters and indigenous artists’ recipes to create archivable colors. I also developed a system of preservation by layering the minerals, botanical colors, and ink in a unique way, which makes new shades and increases conservation.
I am confident of their durability by covering them with different UV protection materials, UV museum glass, and cold wax if needed.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Any serious action or path in life has its own challenges. This is true for artists, including me, from different perspectives, such as finding my own art language for financial and social stability. I am so happy that with ups and downs, my love for art is the engine that goes through everything.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
My work’s goal is to show nature’s unity, wholeness, and interconnectivity. In my work you will find the concept of birth and death, cycles of life (with round canvases or shapes as metaphor for unity and nature’s cycles), and patterns found in nature for energy, growth, chaos, and order. I use the sacred geometry patterns and fractal and biomorphic shapes found in natural elements—from the cosmos and nebulas to small flowers.
Images from my Persian background, such as the stylized patterns in Persian carpets, mythology figures, and fables, influence many of my pieces.
I combine free-flow brushstrokes with these patterns. This can be considered a dance from nature and an interconnecting element in any organic and unified system, such as roots, branches, nervous systems, nebulas, and more.
My hand-made colors and inks from earth minerals, fresh or dried flowers, plants, spices, plants, earth stones, and other new pigments, aren’t just my mediums and colors; they are foundational to the places and times I gathered them, and they, therefore, represent time and space.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
When you are an artist, you start a new work every day. Every creation involves dealing with the unknown. I guess this perspective prepares you for other risk-taking.
Pricing:
- Prints are from $60 to $300
- Small orignials from $200 to $600
- Large piece from $1600 up
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sbehnam.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sayabehnam/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sayabehnam
