| R O S H A N H O U S H M A N D |
Symmetry Magazine; http://www.symmetrymagazine.org/cms/?pid=1000499
Brookhaven National Laboratory, http://www.bnl.gov/60th/houshmand.asp
US Mission to NATO; http://nato.usmission.gov/dossier/Women.asp
Brookhaven National Laboratory, http://www.bnl.gov/60th/houshmand.asp
US Mission to NATO; http://nato.usmission.gov/dossier/Women.asp
Roshan Houshmand’s abstract
muted oils …resonate with painterly
nuances of opaline delicacy. Strewn
with a welter of iconic shapes and
forms, and rendered in chromatic
tones of faded glory, these convey a
sense of portentous ruins, like
reliquary frescoes from the ancient
Mystery Religious. Houshmand’s
cosmology is subtly female, softly
evocative and almost hermetically
abstract.
Indeed, in this transcendent series
of abstract paintings, Houshmand
seems a kind of recording angel of
lost and faded mysteries.
Eric Bookhardt
Gambit, New Orleans
muted oils …resonate with painterly
nuances of opaline delicacy. Strewn
with a welter of iconic shapes and
forms, and rendered in chromatic
tones of faded glory, these convey a
sense of portentous ruins, like
reliquary frescoes from the ancient
Mystery Religious. Houshmand’s
cosmology is subtly female, softly
evocative and almost hermetically
abstract.
Indeed, in this transcendent series
of abstract paintings, Houshmand
seems a kind of recording angel of
lost and faded mysteries.
Eric Bookhardt
Gambit, New Orleans
Roshan Houshmand was born and raised in the Philippines and later moved to Iran, with a
Dutch-American mother and an Iranian father. Her roots and are steeped in ancient, exotic
patterns and textures, however her education in the arts is western, with a BA from
Bennington College in Vermont, an MA in Art History and an MFA in Painting from Rosary
Graduate School of Fine Arts in Florence, Italy. She has lived in the US, Iran, Spain, Italy, the
Philippines, and Cyprus, with extensive time spent traveling the world.
Roshan paints melodic fusions of the eastern and western traditions, making one a metaphor
of the other and vice versa. Her work evokes the mystery of the Persian Garden and the
transcendent spirituality of the western abstraction.
Her work has been exhibited in Europe and the US, including New York, Los Angeles, Santa
Fe, Barcelona, Brussels and Copenhagen. She is a 2005, 2010 and 2012 recipient of the
NY State Council on the Arts Decentralization Grant, a 2010, 2011 and 2012 recipient of the
A. Lindsay and Olive B. O'Connor Foundation Grant (NY), a 2010 recipient of the NY State
Foundation for the Arts SOS Grant and a 2006 grant recipient from the US Department of
State Art in Embassies Program for the exhibition “21st Century American Women Artists” at
the US Mission to NATO in Brussels, Belgium where her work was featured with that of Kiki
Smith, Raine Bedsole, Marita Dingus, Karen Barth, Karen LaMonte, Annette Lemieux, Emily
Richardson and Lisa Vershbow. In 2007 Houshmand’s physics-inspired paintings were
featured on the Brookhaven National Laboratory’s website in commemoration of their sixtieth
anniversary and in SYMMETRY, the joint Fermilab/SLAC publication. These works are also
featured in the April 2008 edition of COSMOS magazine. Houshmand’s work is in the fall
2008 and spring 2009 issues of STUDIO VISIT MAGAZINE, published by The Open Studio
Press. This year Ms. Houshmand received Special Merit Recognition for the Representation
of Scientific/Mathematical Principle/Phenomena at “The Next Big Idea Festival” in Los
Alamos, NM. Other major exhibitions include “Totem” at the Boca Raton Museum of Art” in
Florida, “Evolving Perceptions” at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., and Metras
Gallery in Barcelona, Spain.
Ms. Houshmand has taught art at Penn State University, The Art Institute of Pittsburgh, The
Community College of Allegheny County (PA), and Escola Massana in Barcelona, Spain.
She currently is an instructor of painting and art appreciation at the State University of New
York at Delhi, NY. Her studio is in Andes, NY where she has lived since 2003.
All material on this site is
Copyrighted by Roshan Houshmand.
Member of the Artists Rights Society.
Copyrighted by Roshan Houshmand.
Member of the Artists Rights Society.
Photo by Jackie Parslow
Roshan Houshmand's paintings are melodic fusions of the eastern and western traditions.
And here lies the vigor of her art; to make the east a metaphor of the west and vice versa.
;Eastern textile designs, subtlest of mutations, are transformed dramatically to assume
familiar shapes. Familiar only because the images speak with the appropriate elan for the
western context of experience. The mood evoked is a perfect and harmonious mixture of
the inexplicable mystery of Persian gardens and the transcendent spirituality of the
western abstraction. All attained in the most original of schemes and with eclecticism
sedulously proscribed. Never before have these dichotomous spirits been so contiguous
and their boundaries so inseparably fused.
Abbas Daneshvari, PhD, Author
And here lies the vigor of her art; to make the east a metaphor of the west and vice versa.
;Eastern textile designs, subtlest of mutations, are transformed dramatically to assume
familiar shapes. Familiar only because the images speak with the appropriate elan for the
western context of experience. The mood evoked is a perfect and harmonious mixture of
the inexplicable mystery of Persian gardens and the transcendent spirituality of the
western abstraction. All attained in the most original of schemes and with eclecticism
sedulously proscribed. Never before have these dichotomous spirits been so contiguous
and their boundaries so inseparably fused.
Abbas Daneshvari, PhD, Author
Roshan Houshmand’s paintings clearly indicate her interest in (these) eternal issues. It is the
world of the mind and spirit rather than of the physical and material. The paintings are freely
created with a field full of paint and symbols. The surface is more of a tablet for notation and
evocation than for any concern with perspective or didactics. The free paint application
creates a misty, dreamlike environment that allows movement and a certain vagueness. One
is tempted to interpret this perception as a magical surface that contains the embodiment of
ritual, dream and mystery. They are so represented that the concept of voodoo readily comes
to mind. From an art historical perspective, early Rothko, and particularly Gottlieb, paintings
present a painted surface and symbols which are more structured and controlled. One is
tempted to read their work like hieroglyphics, whereas here one takes Roshan’s work as a
totality of parts which exist within the context or the work rather than on their own.
Roger L. Selby
Boca Raton Museum of Art
Roshan Houshmand's work is represented by Transcendence Design
Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico and Galeria Rene Metras in Barcelona,
Spain.
There will be an exhibition of her recent works at the Fairview Public Library
in Margaretville, NY from April 20th thru May 31st, 2013 and from July 5th
thru July 22nd, 2013 at CANO Galleries in Oneonta,NY.
Please contact Roshan Houshmand directly if you would like to arrange a
studio visit to see her work.
Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico and Galeria Rene Metras in Barcelona,
Spain.
There will be an exhibition of her recent works at the Fairview Public Library
in Margaretville, NY from April 20th thru May 31st, 2013 and from July 5th
thru July 22nd, 2013 at CANO Galleries in Oneonta,NY.
Please contact Roshan Houshmand directly if you would like to arrange a
studio visit to see her work.