I want to call Omid Bazmandegan’s paintings Impressionist. Like the Parisian Impressionists working in late the late-1800s, painting light is at the core of his work. Sunshine, shadows and every tone in between.

He comes from Shiraz a city famous since centuries for its beautiful gardens (not to mention Persepolis). Light is available in abundance there and it renders the most mundane urban scenes beautiful. Luckily, Omid is there to capture it with great painterly skill. A throw-back to times when oil on canvas was the only real option for serious art-making.

In addition to light, Omid also paints moments, private moments, always filled with possibility and many layers of back-story.

Sometimes the stories are told and sometimes they are still waiting to unfold. The elderly father taking a moment in the sun, young lovers stealing a nightly embrace, less young lovers considering their next steps …

Although he opens up private moments and spaces, his paintings are never voyeuristic. This is in no small part due to his perfect application of Impressionist technique and style. After all, the Impressionists with their paintings of ballerinas, picnics in the park and beautiful refined moments were not about disturbing their audience, but rather about moving them.

I can just see it now, Omid with Pissaro, Cezanne and Kamal ol Molk sipping Absinthe at Cafe Palette, advocating the beauty of light in the gardens of Shiraz.

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Omid lives and works in Shiraz, Iran and is represented by O Gallery in Tehran.

(all pictures Ⓒ Omid Bazmandegan)