Eve and the Apple
$300.00
Artist: Minoo Janmohamadi
Medium: Acrylic
Artist Statement:
I stare at my phone a lot. When people around me object, I say: “But my friends and family are in there!” I long for their messages, their Instagram stories, and how their day is shaped. I like to imagine what my mom is doing right now or what my friend is reading these days, what my nephew looks like, and how fast he is growing. I see the world through the perspective of a mobile phone. It connects me to the home I left behind. Yet I am building a home here in Canada, and I know I cannot commit to it fully by constantly looking back. I feel out of place. Every immigrant knows this feeling. Every minute I spend on my phone, I hold back my future self. It is very desirable to look and connect, and so irresistible, much like the Forbidden Fruit. The phone is the apple, and I am Eve. For this painting, I was inspired by Eve at the Fountain by Edward Hodges Baily, a marble statue from 1822 in the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery. When Eve is looking at her reflection, there is self-awareness, innocence, temptation, and vanity, but I also see hesitation and regret. I see myself in her when I stare at my phone, and I know I need to take my eyes off it and direct my gaze out there, where cypress trees are calling me. Then and only then may I find my true place in this world.
My past and personal experiences continue to shape my work. I usually paint still life in acrylic, and I like to focus on recreating the stillness and beauty of objects in my paintings. I am inspired by master painters like Diego Velázquez for the subject of my paintings. For example, I observe “Christ in the House of Martha and Mary” by him and the beautiful arrangements of the kitchen table, and I shift my focus to the garlic or the pepper that is laid on the table, and I recreate and study that object on a small canvas. I have to be honest, although it teaches me how to paint, for I am a self-taught painter, it mostly brings me joy. Currently, I am motivated by the desire to create work that can connect with people wherever they may come from, because I believe in the shared human experience.
Artist Biography:
Born in 1979 in Iran.
B.A in theater studies at the University of Tehran.
M.A from the university of Art in Tehran
I am a writer and visual artists. My work often explores memory, displacement, intimacy, and the fragile ways human beings try to remain connected to one another. My short story was recently published in The Walrus.
My creative practice moves between visual storytelling and literary narrative. In both mediums, I try to create work that is emotionally honest. I work on small canvases, trying to frame a moment in time that feels intimate. Much of my artistic philosophy comes from the belief that art should preserve feeling, memory, beauty, and contradiction in ways language alone sometimes cannot. For this painting, I focused on the narrative and the story I could tell. I am inspired by literature and master painters like Henri Matisse.
I have sold my small, framed paintings on Instagram and people seem to like it but never been shown in a gallery. I felt connected to the theme of this exhibition and here I am.
