The Sierras

Product Description

The Sierras by Lena Sayadian

Acrylic on Wood Panel, 6″ x 6″

Current Exhibition at Flower Pepper Gallery: Wild Heart from February 4th – March 6th, 2017

Previous Exhibitions at Flower Pepper Gallery:
- Flower Pepper Box – Large Box
- Flower Pepper Box – Small Box

Artist Biography:
As a Southern California native, Lena Sayadian is currently a local in Los Angeles working as an illustrative artist. She received her MA degree from Cal State University of Northridge (CSUN) with an emphasis on painting and illustration in 2013. Prior to this, Lena attended CSUN for her undergraduate degree in art and attended an art preparatory school during her high school years. Her work focuses on balance in nature and the innate qualities that animals have in common with humans. Lena’s pieces have been exhibited at several local galleries across the Los Angeles area including Cactus Gallery, La Luz de Jesus, Flower Pepper and more. Currently, she works as a teacher with Imagination Connection, a budding art therapy organization designed to help the developmentally disabled, Alzheimer’s patients, seniors, veterans and at-risk youth. Her mission is to help spread compassion and understanding while educating people about the importance of nature.

Artist Statement:
“In my highly rendered acrylic paintings, animals and other natural symbols create a narrative concerning the fragility of balance in nature. These creatures represent growth, perseverance and instinct. Human overpopulation and civilization has created an unusual disproportion, and our attempts to reimpose a sustainable equilibrium have led to unintended consequences. I ask myself, ‘Do we as humans truly have the ability to balance the wild while maintaining the modern civilizations that we value today, and is there even a true balance at all?’

The use of animals in my work embody the innate characteristics rooted deep within us. The conceit of civilization is to imagine that humans are above or apart from nature, but these instincts are a sharp reminder of our true essence. Our beastly counterparts serve as a mirror through which we might better understand ourselves, and perhaps help us recognize the natural world less as an artifact to be regarded, but instead as the true home in which we live and breathe.

Detachment of modern urban life transforms nature into a mere abstract concept, obscuring the reality beyond our cities. This has led mankind’s vision of it as an enemy to be conquered and subjugated instead of an entity that is a part of us. The immense power of it blinds us to its fragility. My work focuses on the powerful yet beautiful connectedness of animals, the nonhuman world and the harsh realities that are the core of human nature.”

“Lena Sayadian uses animals to reveal how humans foolishly try to manipulate the delicate balance of nature. Her highly rendered creatures are often portrayed with landscapes on their backs, roots sprouting from within, or with cracks on their skin threatening to destroy them altogether. Her aim is to show how ‘Our beastly counterparts serve as a mirror through which we might better understand ourselves, and perhaps help us recognize the natural world less as an artifact to be regarded, but instead as the true home in which we live and breath.’” – by Emiko Woods for Press Release of Wild Heart at Flower Pepper Gallery

Artist Website:
http://www.lenasayadian.com

Additional Information