Southern California Plein Air Master
Fine Art Registry™ Member, Ebrahim Amin
by
Dan Koon
"I know I am always in a state of learning. And thus always look forward to studying new aspects of art. I therefore am continuously excited at what I might discover tomorrow, in a month, or even in five years. I always find myself asking "What stirring and thrilling journeys might the unread pages of the book My Life in Art contain?"
With an attitude and approach like that, it is no mystery that the paintings of Southern California artist Ebrahim Amin so effortlessly capture the natural splendor he finds on his plein air excursions throughout California and the American Southwest. From the glories of Yosemite to Napa's rolling wine country hills to Carmel missions at last light to the coast of his Laguna Niguel home, Ebrahim's paintings are testimony to the joy he finds in expressing nature through art.
Decades of experience are apparent in the fluid brushwork, masterly use of pure color and satisfying harmonies, not so easy to attain when one is out of doors, working alla prima, the sun is moving, the wind is blowing and one basically has a single shot to get it right. But Ebrahim gets it right, as anyone can tell from his Fine Art Registry portfolio.
A carefully crafted, disciplined approach enables him to succeed. "I think that one paints purely when one is not using ones brain," he explains. "For example, when you first learn how to drive you are actively using your brain to guide you. But once you have become skilled at driving, you no longer actively use your knowledge of driving, which at this point has become a subconscious activity. You don't drive anymore to LEARN, but to pursue and accomplish A GOAL. To obtain such a state of mind in art is very difficult. Case in point: the instances when I create an exceptional piece of work are the times when I have fully submerged and surrendered myself to the act of painting."
One might also say that this same discipline has enabled him to continue to pursue his art through some very trying times.
Early Years and Training
Born in Iran's oldest city, Hamedan, in 1950, Ebrahim moved with his family to Tehran, where he began drawing around age seven and discovered oil paints at age fourteen. Oil's slow drying nature became an advantage for the inexperienced Ebrahim. "By working on just one piece for a long period of time," he says, "I was able to eventually perfect that piece of work. So that even after a few years when I reviewed my work during that period, I found minimal mistakes."
He found a source of encouragement in an uncle, himself a talented musician and art lover. This uncle became a role model for Ebrahim and when he discovered that his young nephew was learning to draw and paint with no formal knowledge, he took him to an artist friend who let Ebrahim come to his studio after school to draw and paint. Instead of going to movies or hanging out with friends after school, he went to his first mentor's studio. Though the training was not particularly academic and focused heavily on the calligraphic tradition of Persian art, it opened his mind to art, and Ebrahim counts it among his formative experiences. Those afternoons bore fruit when, at age 14, he won the yearly painting competition among all the high schools in Tehran. That same year two of his paintings were chosen from among works by artists all over Iran for inclusion in an exhibition hosted by the Italian embassy. These early successes validated his efforts and spurred him onwards.
By seventeen, he made his first sales and soon after received a ten painting commission. By this time, Ebrahim knew he wanted to experience more of the world of art and entered the Art Institute of Kamal-al-Molk in Tehran. In two years of study, he developed a solid foundation in draftsmanship and painting.
And as so often happens in life, another door opened for Ebrahim when he was ready. His father was a truck driver and took Ebrahim on a trip to the north of Iran, giving him an opportunity for a vacation. There he met his next mentor, a Russian artist named Alexander, who had come across the border from Russia to paint.
He and Ebrahim had only a little English in common, but with art they could have conversations, and this period became a revelation for the young artist. Alexander exposed him to ideas and techniques he hadn't learned at Kamal-al-Molk and this is where Ebrahim first learned to really look at a painting, to look carefully at one's subject. It began what has become a lifelong process of, as Ebrahim says, "Continuously challenging myself, exploring every aspect of art, and observing current masters – in order to absorb and incorporate various elements into my style – rather than just mimicking."
In other words, the learning process has never ended. Through the years, Ebrahim has found himself influenced by a multitude of artists and specifically cites John Singer Sargent, David Leffel and the Russian colorist Sergei Bongart as particularly influential. Above them all, however, he places American landscape artist Edgar Alwin Payne. Payne's scenes have left a deep impression on Ebrahim, who finds that they continually fill him with awe.
Emigration to Germany
Following his training and mentoring, Ebrahim continued his fledgling career and sold his paintings in galleries throughout the country and eventually established a gallery of his own. But the Islamic Revolution in 1979 brought fundamental changes at all levels of Iranian society, with which not all Iranians agreed. By 1986, Ebrahim had decided that life would be better elsewhere and he, his wife and two sons began the ordeal of finding a new homeland. Ebrahim left first, and went to Munich, Germany. He arrived not knowing, literally, where he would go or what he would do.
He stopped someone on the street and asked if they knew of a hotel where he could stay. The man replied, yes, he knew of a good hotel where a lot of Persians stayed. And as luck would have it, within his first hour – not day or week – in Germany, Ebrahim was able to continue his art career.
It so happens that when Ebrahim went to his room, he was unpacking his belongings, which included a couple of paintings. The owner came to his room to welcome his new tenant, saw the paintings, told Ebrahim that he himself was also a painter, took him to a large, fully furnished studio on top of the hotel. "He said, 'If you want to paint, you can start right now. Everything is here for you. By the way, I am connected with galleries here in Munich and they are looking for work such as yours.' The next day I started painting and painting and painting," says Ebrahim. "Within my first hour, I found my job and my way." Talk about a cat landing on its feet!
Ebrahim took advantage of his new friend's generosity and continued painting, and selling, while getting his wife and sons from Iran, through five years in Munich and five more in Cologne.
California and the Discovery of Plein Air
Many Iranians left the country after the revolution with three-quarters of a million settling in Southern California. Ebrahim had friends there, and in the mid 1990s, he came for a visit. This trip was a revelation for him in a meteorological sense and marked another turning point in his career.
"In Germany," he continues, "I was always painting inside because most of the time it is rainy and cloudy throughout the year. When I came to California, it was such nice weather, close to Iran's weather, it was so interesting to me that I decided to move one more time. But this time it wasn't from the force of the government, but my own desires."
And so, Ebrahim undertook another artistic challenge. Plein air painting, he feels, is the hardest aspect of painting to master. "For the first year or second year," he explains, "an artist painting outside cannot do a good job. You have to finish your work in one or two hours because the light changes and doing a good job requires that you paint with your whole brain, your whole energy and your whole knowledge. It's like an operation. You don't have time to redo your work or correct it. Everything has to be your final decision.
"At first it was very, very difficult for me, but my lifetime of experience helped. After a year I could create good works. Plein air is the most important and most pure type of painting and when you do a good job many, many things come out – atmosphere, climate – without your thinking about it because you're working mostly with your feelings."
When asked what he's trying to do with his art, Ebrahim replies, "I try to portray the untold and hidden beauties of nature or a particular pose, which is often left unnoticed by people walking by. This allows me to impart peace, pleasure, and relaxation to the world. So that when someone declares 'Even after all these years, I still obtain pleasure when viewing your artwork', I feel very satisfied and closer to my goal of providing happiness as well as enjoyment.
Although Ebrahim has worked in watercolors and pastels, in oils he finds the freedom, variety and power that suit his rapid approach to painting. Years of practice make it possible for him to finish a painting in three hours. He takes his plein air techniques and applies them to his studio still lifes and even portraits. As a result, his figurative works convey a liveliness that many figure studies lack. And with his superb draftsmanship, Ebrahim is quite capable of capturing a living personality in paint.
Another Piece of Good Luck – Discovering Fine Art Registry™
Always seeking more and more information about art, Ebrahim daily searches the Internet for new artists, new modes of expression, new vistas, what's happening in the art world, in the art market. One day he happened across the Fine Art Registry website.
"I read it and found it a very interesting idea," he says. "Many times I thought about what happens with my paintings. When I sell them, where are they? If I've sold a good painting, how will I be able to look at it again after some years? I found that Fine Art Registry is a good solution for these things. Right away I contacted FAR and signed up. This idea should be shared with many artists and galleries because it is unique."
Ebrahim has currently registered works he feels are of exceptional quality and says that
"By doing so, the registered and tagged paintings obtain an identity and thus will be even more appreciated by a customer since the painting is presented in a more professional manner."
Continuing to tag and register his paintings will surely add value for his growing list of clients. Ebrahim is a regular participant in the Laguna Art Festival, La Quinta Art Festival, La Jolla Art Festival, Carmel Art Festival, Sonoma Plein Air Competition, and he participates in various other events, most recently the Las Vegas Art Expo.
He's not keen about disclosing specific plans for the future because, as he says, "To have a plan as an artist is very hard. You can say, 'I'm going in this way,' but every day I am waiting to find something new in painting, to discover something and when I do, it corrects my direction."
With such a long and successful career, one could write a book about Ebrahim’s life in art, and in fact that is one future plan he has committed himself to.
You can see more of Ebrahim's landscapes, still lifes and figurative works at his gallery in Laguna Beach, on his website, www.aminart.com, and at his Fine Art Registry gallery.
— by Dan Koon
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November 6, 2007
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