Freydoon Rassouli: Artist With a Vision

There are times that I am reminded that true faith attempts to reach out to one G-d and to explain all of creation. There are times when I speak with those of other nations and faiths and feel a similarity like that of French to Italian or of arithmetic equations performed with different signs. The common world we all inhabit is refracted yet recognisable in our attempts to describe and understand it.

There is an Iranian artist named Freydoon Rassouli who was born in Isfahan in 1943. He has been in the US since1963, having been sent here on scholarship. His painting frequently reflects spiritual themes, which is not surprising. In Iran he was exposed to the Sufis, who view the boundaries of the world's faiths as a part of the world landscape, rather than a point to be fired across.

There is a oneness to the peoples of the world that I feel now only exists in potential. Striving for it is a focus of my belief and my existence. E express it by defining myself wherever possible affirmatively and not through my dislike or hatred of others. When I look at the paintings of Freydoon Rassouli, I see visions of this world towards which many strive from their particular knowledge and faith tradition. Rassouli is an artist who portrays with resonance the existence and pull of spiritual worlds connected to yet beyond our own. It is easy to become disconnected from that faith on a visceral level. Looking at Rassouli's paintings puts me back in touch with that. Sometimes the titles he gives his paintings are very close to what I would imagine them to be

There is no one where I live who is a Rassouli "fan". He is the type of artist my mother would have turned me on to, but I discovered him first. I found videos on You Tube of Rassouli slide shows. One that I included in this posting was titled "Birthing a New World", a metaphor which reminds me of "Khevlei Moshiach", birth pangs of the Messiah, which is of course distinctly Jewish. It includes a poem by an authour who I hope has achieved some fame, although I have not heard of her. It is interesting to hear how others react to the art of Rassouli. I am including below some Rassouli links. I hope my readers will check them out.




http://rassouli.com/index.html


http://www.tendreams.org/rassouli+.htm