A’yin Morradi

‘‘Painting came to me as a salvation at a time that I knew I didn’t want to pursue acting anymore. There was this very strong desire in me that wanted to be private perhaps I should say emotionally private and acting was like getting naked on stage in front of the people. I could not separate myself from it, painting gave me that opportunity to be separate from the canvas. In acting you are both the artist and canvas and I wanted to be emotionally separate and alone.”

Yet still in his work a lot of the acting days influences are evident . From the gestural movements which were informed by Michael Chekhov’s psychological gesture concept to his figurative paintings which are directly influenced by Balinese masks.

“ Balinese masks are not just something you wear to attend a ceremony! They are healing masks that help you to reveal or embody what’s inside of you,so these are revealing and not hiding masks. In acting the actor creates a revealing mask to portray the character. In my paintings sometimes these faces show up and it’s very hard for me to ignore or destroy them and that’s the time when you realize that the painting has the life of its own and is the one that’s leading you. I have no idea where they come from and I don’t wanna know’’

Psychological Atmospheres is the phrase he uses to describe his paintings:

“These are the thought and emotional processes that might be going on inside the mind. Colors define the emotions or sense memories and squares define the thoughts or rational thinking part of the mind. It represents the focus or importance of each component of a certain memory or feeling. These paintings are all about inner thoughts triggered by emotional charges which at the end create psychological atmospheres.’’

‘‘A canvas is like a crime scene in which you look for the unraveling story of human emotions through gestures and colors.’’

‘‘In these paintings I wanted to examine the thought and emotional process that goes on inside the mind. Colors define the emotions and sense memories and lines ….. the logical and rational side of the mind. Lines and squares are in the mathematical domain and logic is the very basis mathematical mind. Together these two create the thoughts that are charged with emotions which are sometimes in direct conflict with one another.’’