ART FOCUS - from studio to gallery

This month we highlight the work of Iranian-American artist Fatemeh Burnes.

Artist Spotlight

The Visual Poetry of Fatemeh Burnes

Meeting the Rabbit, 2016-2018, 144 x 72"

Guided by spontaneity, an intrinsic impulse to experiment and discover, the work of Fatemeh Burnes feels as vividly personal as it is socioculturally complex.

Based in Los Angeles, Burnes just moved her studio to the Brewery Complex, which recently hosted its bi-annual Art Walk. Working in painting and photography, Burnes forges a distinct, rich style within each medium. This is one of the unique qualities of her practice. Each material communicates a variant aspect of her fluid, playful artistic exploration.

Classically trained in Persian art and verse, as well as modern Persian poetry, biology, and western art practice, Burnes composes her own kind of visual balladry. Whether photographic or painted, her pieces read like poems. Kaleidoscopic sonnets, dazzling in their conceptual radiance.

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Goddess of Discord, 2023, Oil, handmade paper, and spray paint on canvas, 72 x 96"

We asked Fatemeh to share a bit about her studio practice, creative vision, and the driving force behind her work.

Gain some insight into the material and conceptual complexity of Burnes's contemplative, surreal landscapes, in the artist's own words.

"As a painter, and in my work in photography and across media, I examine modern events and tragedies, both ecological and social, and their manifestations in contemporary life.

My work encompasses themes of displacement and hierarchical social structures through the elaborate interplay of contradictory elements. My vision is guided by a deep engagement with the force of nature and the history that shapes us.

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In my creative process, I lean towards subconscious associations, where perceptually recognizable and unrecognizable images coexist in surreal spaces. I playfully and symbolically use materials, layering to construct and deconstruct, cover and uncover, expose and transform time, space, and language.

The resulting visual poems feature intermingling opposites—order and chaos, reality and fantasy—struggling for parity and debating their interchangeability.

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Playground, 2016-2018, Oil paint on canvas, triptych, 72 x 138" - Procured by Source Art for a client's Beverly Hills residence.

My painting and photographic series often mirror each other in their complexity and my approach to layering. In my photography practice, I have moved away from my traditional darkroom training, adopting several in-camera and digital techniques, including multiple exposure, scanning, digital editing, and light manipulation.

The process of solving challenges often becomes more engaging than the solutions themselves. My process involves exploring phenomena, whether occurring in the world, in my dreams, in my thoughts, or as tangible as rocks on the ground." - Fatemeh Burnes

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Chronicling narratives of fantastical spaces where the ordered concepts dictating our world are in flux, Burnes creates spheres of total freedom. Spaces where personal narratives refashion themselves into an ideology of connection and commonality. An embodiment of human experience through a striking, surreal prose.

Since the 1980s, Burnes has exhibited her work extensively, both nationally and internationally, curated over 100 exhibitions at Mt. San Antonio College, and authored numerous publications.

Burnes has taught fine arts, design, and art history at California State University Fullerton, the Art Institute of Southern California, Saddleback College, Fullerton College, and the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandise.

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Search out more of Fatemeh Burnes's work on our website sourceart

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