ArtDayMe : Salimeh Motamedi (b. 1962, Isfahan), whose works lie at the intersection of spirituality, mysticism, and contemporary social concerns, has been widely acclaimed by critics, art theorists, and collectors alike. Her works were featured by Martx and the BAAT Art Group at Frankfurt Art Fair 2024, Rachel Bianchi Archive, Milan 2025, and ITHAQUE Gallery, Paris 2025.

The present work—an abstract expressionist painting from the Untitled series, rendered in acrylic on canvas (50×70 cm)—will be showcased at Menart Fair Paris 2025.

The Untitled series is one of Motamedi’s most recent and socially engaged bodies of work. In these paintings, the artist transforms the silent cry of women and the shared suffering of humanity into a vibrant, expressive visual language.

The compositional structure is built on a controlled dispersion of colors and layers. Motamedi employs a kind of “guided chaos” to lead the viewer’s gaze through multiple visual paths. Fine white lines, suggesting a faintly visible face, form the perceptual core of the painting. Around this axis, color patches of varying intensity spread across the canvas, while the interplay between grey zones and flashes of yellow, red, and green creates a dynamic equilibrium. Rather than following a geometric order, the composition unfolds through the artist’s inner rhythm and intuitive sense of balance.

The color palette combines neutral and vivid tones: greenish-grey and beige form a subdued, misty background, while bright sparks of red, yellow, and phosphorescent green ignite the surface like flashes of life and emotion.

Color, here, carries both psychological and metaphorical significance — grey evokes introspection and silence, while the bright hues symbolize passion, liberation, and the yearning for presence.

The white, free-flowing lines sketch a face barely discernible beneath the colored layers. This simultaneous clarity and ambiguity suspend the viewer between presence and absence. The drawing feels spontaneous — as if the artist, wandering through layers of pigment, suddenly encounters a trace of human existence and records it with minimal gesture.

Motamedi’s use of acrylic achieves a tactile, almost living quality through layering and surface scraping. Paint accumulates in translucent washes and dense, impasto textures, giving the work visual and emotional depth — like memories sedimented on the canvas.

In her art, texture becomes a silent form of storytelling — a reflection of time passing, faces fading, and memory coexisting with color.

At first glance, the work appears as abstract portraiture, yet conceptually it delves into the search for identity and female presence in states of ambiguity and fragility. The half-concealed face emerging from color layers becomes a metaphor for hidden femininity, suppressed individuality, or a distant memory.

Within the Untitled series, Motamedi often gives poetic and emotional expression to womanhood — this piece continues that exploration in a more abstract and deeply personal language.

Light in this painting does not stem from an external source but from the contrast of colors and surfaces themselves. Bright yellow and green glows shine through the greys, creating an illusion of inner illumination. The space lacks traditional perspective, relying instead on layered depth, as if the viewer is moving through overlapping transparent planes.

The prevailing mood of the work blends introspection, silence, and a lyrical solitude. The semi-erased face, with its lingering gaze, evokes a suspended psychological state — neither pure sorrow nor peace, but a quiet, inward contemplation.

Motamedi’s expression is spontaneous and unrestrained, aligning with the existential essence of her work.

This painting extends the legacy of Abstract Expressionism infused with deeply personal sensibilities. In Motamedi’s art, face and color act as psychological instruments rather than depictions of external reality. Her recent works dissolve the boundary between figure and abstraction — this piece marks a crucial moment in that evolution, where the figure dissolves into color, leaving behind only a trace of presence.

Ultimately, Salimeh Motamedi’s painting may be read as a visual meditation on memory, identity, and the impermanence of human existence.

Amid intertwined colors and fragile lines, she creates a world where face, memory, and emotion merge into one.

The power of her art lies in this aesthetic ambiguity — where meaning does not declare itself directly, but unfolds softly within layers of color and silence.

Salimeh Motamedi’s Art Market Presence

Over the past decade, Motamedi’s works have witnessed a notable rise in market value. Her paintings were priced at USD 4,000 at Frankfurt Art Fair 2024, and at USD 4,000 and 5,000 respectively in exhibitions in Milan and Paris.

This growing market recognition coincides with her active participation in international art events — from Expo China (2006) and “Peace for the World” Exhibition, Tehran (2007) to Farrel Gallery, Paris (2017), Artem Los Angeles (2024), and several prominent museums and galleries in Tehran.

Her first solo exhibition, “Faraway, a Voice Calls Me,” was held in 2005 at Banafsh Gallery, followed by another at Golestan Gallery in 2007 — early milestones that firmly established her professional artistic trajectory.