Sam Nejati was born and raised in Tehran. He attended the Tehran Visual Academy of Arts. In 1999 he moved to Los Angeles and Later on to San Francisco Bay area. He eventually went on to study art at San Francisco State University (SFSU). Since his graduation in 2012, he has been living and pursuing his painting practice in the San Francisco Bay area.
Nejati creates paintings that seek to externalize the internal realm and spiritual elements of human existence through timeless and universal themes. His work explores the interplay of the cognitive and the spiritual. Nejati’s paintings are predominantly atmospheric. They contain the contrary concepts of flatness and depth, solidity and fluidity, permanence, and transience to evoke emotions and create certain moods. He explores these contrary experiences as a way to imbue a physical presence.
Nejati has exhibited mainly in the United States, and his work has been written about extensively, most notably in Works & Conversations, Artwork, and Studio Visit magazines.
STATEMENT
In my work, I seek to externalize the internal realm and the spiritual elements of human existence by visualizing and defining a sense of space, mood, and atmospheric themes. I am a prolific photographer. However, the photographs I produce are not ends in themselves, but raw source material, that affects my painting process. At times, I am drawn to literary references that extract and illuminate the spiritual properties that reside within and form the narrative structure in the piece.
I am fascinated by the cognitive experience, in which humanist and spiritual conditions coalesce to bring something more meaningful to the surface. To me, a painting is like a living being, in which the whole is more significant than the sum of its parts. The finished artwork is a blend of perfect imperfections in terms of surface and compositional qualities, which alludes to a personal journey that accentuates universal human conditions, mindfulness, ethics, and memory.
In my work, I contend with the contrary notions of flatness and depth, solidity and fluidity, permanence, and transience to spark emotions. Evoking a redemptive experience as well as a sense of transformation is what I yearn for through the medium of paint.