فارسیHomayoun Salimi (born 1948, Tehran) is a painter, printmaker, and faculty member of Tehran University of Art. He received his diploma from the Mirak Fine Arts Conservatory in Tabriz and, after working for a while, went to France to continue his studies.
Salimi completed his undergraduate degree in painting at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris (Beausard), and then received his master’s degree (1988) and doctorate in aesthetics (1990) from the Sorbonne University.
The subject of his doctoral dissertation was a visual comparison between his works and Iranian architecture, including the tilework and historical monuments of Kashan. After returning to Iran, he became a faculty member at the University of Arts.
Salimi has held more than 20 solo exhibitions in Iran and abroad and has also participated in numerous group exhibitions. His first solo exhibition was held in 1985 at the Niavaran Cultural Center.He has also served on the judging and selection committees of Iranian painting and sculpture biennials and has received numerous international awards.
Salimi’s works establish a deep connection between Iranian visual traditions and the achievements of modern and contemporary painting. In his early years, he was influenced by Iranian painting, but from the late 1970s he turned towards a kind of geometric abstraction inspired by traditional architecture.
Compositions consisting of squares and regular geometric structures took shape, both in his paintings and collages, and gradually led to the regular repetition of motifs such as stars, diamonds, hexagons, and later the pentagram.
Pattern and texture are central to his work. By repeatedly layering paint, washing, and sanding the surface, Salimi achieves rich, bold, and multi-layered textures.This process reveals hidden layers of color, creating a quality similar to minerals, tiling, or traditional decorative surfaces. The use of complementary and contrasting colors, along with precise control of hue and color concentration, gives the surface of his works a special depth and brilliance.
In recent years, the five-petaled flower motif has become a central motif in his work. These motifs are made with prominent colored matter and often have a central point. The repetition of these forms, while creating an overall order, is accompanied by subtle differences in detail;A characteristic that creates a poetic state between order and disorder. The surfaces of the works are reminiscent of beadwork, pateh embroidery, and other Iranian decorative arts, and the repetition of motifs gives his works a meditative and conceptual aspect.
Salimi’s compositions are calm, serene, and intimate, and they display a kind of “uniformity within ununiformity” that reflects his Eastern tendencies and mystical outlook.The motifs of his works are inspired by a subtle connection between architecture, painting, pottery designs, calligraphy, poetry, and Iranian music.
Being away from his homeland during his years of study in France also created a kind of cultural nostalgia in his mind, which later led to the recreation of ancient Iranian symbols and motifs in a contemporary format.
In addition to painting and hand-printing (lithography and metal engraving), he also cultivates miniature bonsai trees. Sometimes known as “green volumes,” these collections, with their harmonious arrangement of rocks and plants, are reminiscent of traditional Chinese landscape paintings and reflect his inclination towards Zen thought and contemplation of nature.
Homayoun Salimi’s works are recognizable to familiar audiences, but in each exhibition he presents a new space and a different experience of color, texture, and repetition of motifs; a continuous effort to create a new expression based on ancient roots.