 Getting
lost
Paintings by Panteha
Sanati
August
24, 2003
The Iranian
Panteha was born in the winter of 1970 in Tehran
where she lived until she was eleven years old. She spent the next
five years in Switzerland and England and celebrated her
16th birthday in San Diego, California. Panteha remained in California
for the next 17 years until she moved to Massachusetts in early
2003, where she currently resides with her life partner and a pet
rabbit See paintings >>>
When asked for the meaning of her name, she responded:
"In the pagan era, the Greek built temples of worship, the pantheons,
housing their many gods. This was later adapted in the literature
of ancient Persia and subsequently chosen as a female name."
Even
though Panteha holds a bachelor degree in social science and fine
arts from San Diego State University, she finds art to be
her ultimate sanctuary and paper and paintbrush to be her creative
outlet. "I love getting lost in a world where no one or nothing
can intrude." And lost, she gets. Sometimes she becomes so
focused and involved in her art that she forgets the passage of
time. "My art and my thoughts are the only place where I
can take refuge in this crazy world."
A self-taught artist,
Panteha is modest about her innate ability to learn from other
artists and to mimic the basics. "Anyone
can do it! That's how I learned to paint: I used to stare
at the pictures and illustrations in my story books when I was
a child and often spent more time looking at the pictures than
I spent reading the actual text."
Panteha believes that art, music and literature
are intertwined and that the existence of one is rooted in that
of the other. She
believes that old art breathes life into new art and that any creation
is shaped and influenced as a result of its creator's experiences
and surroundings, changing and growing with that individual.
Panteha's experiences and surroundings have made
her explore many different artistic media. When asked how she selects
her medium
she says: "The particular project or subject itself determines
the medium."
As for the mood of her art, she enjoys invoking
a feeling of melancholy as well as elation and laughter in her
audience See paintings >>>
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