Nasratollah Mosleimian (Iranian, b. 1951)

Nasratollah Mosleimian's work concentrates on two areas- abstracted portraits and complex abstracted figural compositions. His paintings have their basis in Persian classical miniatures. His bright colours, curving lines, and rejection of scale and Western system of proportions all recall the historical model. Moslemian has transformed these elements to produce a style which is both highly abstracted and original, a contemporary take on the Persian miniature tradition.
A principle which dominates his compositions is the concept of 'sectional space'. This is seen widely in Persian miniatures, and is roughly equivalent to their ideal space. Moslemian's pictorial space, neither illusionist nor completely two-dimensional, comprises combined, detached, or overlapping subdivisions. An independent section may be either figures shown beyond the horizon line, or a coloured strip with particular motif, or a scrap of a printed illustration. The sections are often visually distinguishable, but bear a kind of conceptual interconnection. This spacing method brings about something of the feel of suspension within time and place.