Boz Vakhshori

It is said that poets paint pictures with their words and that music is poetry in motion. I suppose then, that as a painter, my words, thoughts and song become legible and audible, once set visually on my diaries made of canvas. Among my influences are some of the greatest visual communicators the world has ever known. It is my belief that the great artists, Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso and Paul Jackson Pollock, handed us the tools of novel artistic idea and individualistic creative style, thereby enhancing my favorite language; that of visual art. The gift of speaking a language that is universal comes with great responsibility. I understand this responsibility to mean capturing, documenting and translating in a way that will transcend time as well as cultural perception in order to tell the human story as honestly and accurately as possible. It is the mission of my work and of my diaries on canvas then, to process for myself and for mankind, the very raw emotion connected to both the beautiful and horrific historical events throughout human history. I hope to convey that once processed, the power of this emotion can and will lead us to great change, elevated understanding, and a world that encompasses all that truly is “In God’s image and likeness”: a world he is proud to have created. My painting “Inhumanity” was created to honor the innocent victims of prejudice over the last century. Centuries of world history show evidence of atrocities committed against innocent groups of people in the name of religion, ideology and race, proving that man has much to learn about temperance, tolerance and forgiveness. In this painting there is a white dove carrying a red rose, a symbol of enduring hope for a peaceful world for generations to come. “Inhumanity” depicts the pain and injustices different groups of the human race have experienced at the hands of others. Yet hope is not gone! Through the pain, this white dove flies on, moving the dead and reminding the survivors to embrace life and to embrace each other. Also deeply in alignment with the message of my heart, is my “Lincoln / Obama” painting which reflects two different men in two different times with the same exact goal to change the world. It connects the history of our past with the hope of our present and our future. My dream is to create art that reflects now and always, the man whom I hope to be remembered as: An artist who loved all human beings regardless of religion, ideology, race and nationality; who never understood borders between countries; who cried at inhumanity and cheered love and forgiveness. As one man who loved all.