Simine Fasaeli

I was born in a little coastal town near the Caspian sea where my father was the young mayor.
Most of my childhood was spent in Tehran where I went to school and had my high school education. Since then I moved to London where I studied English, then to Italy where I studied Italian in Perugia and later attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. I finally settled in France.

The images I produce usually initiate from a strong impression of an event. This could be a story, a tragedy, a persons life, his or her qualities or suffering, a poem, a thought or philosophy, a dream, a childhood memory, natural beauty, a visual or moral experience. Something has to move me deeply; I cannot paint mechanically.

Then I transform this impression into an image that is, I believe, drawn from the symbols of my magical childhoodsurrounded by love, tenderness and generositywhen I was taught that people, life and nature are sacred.

To do this I use the simplest medium possible: pastels or oil paint for their immediacy.

For example, the scared gazelle is a memory of my childhood when someone brought my father a cute baby gazelle as a gift. Although I wanted to caress it, seeing the extreme fear in its eyes I agreed...

After obtaining the Diploma in arts from the Academy of Fine Arts of Florence in Italy (1972), I have held personal exhibitions in France and Italy and have obtained honorary diplomas both in Italy and France in collective shows, a list of which is given below:
Diploma of honour from Salon des Artistes Franais
Diploma of honour from Sette Colli di Roma, Italy
Diploma of honour from Municipality of Cannes, France
First Prize & gold medal from Carnaval de Nice, France
Exhibitions at Salon d'Automne, Grand Palais, Paris,
Municipalities of Rome, Cannes and Nice, and
Personal Exhibitions in Paris & Florence.
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