Master Painter Sassan Behnam-Bakhtiar completed a residency at Patina Maldives, Fari Islands, and will unveil Life Energy; a new body of miniature ‘Living Paintings’.
The series will be exhibited at private gatherings in Doha and London over the upcoming months, culminating in an exhibition and art sale at Patina Maldives in July. The proceeds will be donated to funding local marine conservation.
Life Energy is the third major chapter of Pathways, a series at Patina Maldives designed to stimulate enduring personal transformations, introduce new life habits, and inspire creativity, growth, rest and connection in guests’ lives.
The series debuted last year with Experience as Healing, an event that brought together wellness, ancient spiritual practices and the frontier of biohacking to inspire guests, and Cosmopolitan Ocean, an immersive festival and collaboration with West Coast fashion label STAMPD that redefined the ocean as a cross-cultural nexus for human connection.
Merging artistry with sustainability and meditation in search of a deep connection with nature and a true understanding of energy and human evolution, French-Iranian artist Behnam-Bakhtiar’s creative practice has gone through a transformation over the past few years. Sassan now predominantly uses natural pigments sourced mainly from minerals, wood, roots, flowers, rocks and soil.
As Life Energy returns to its origins at Patina Maldives in July, a select panel of key speakers and leaders from the contemporary art and sustainable development worlds will gather to open the exhibition and art sale. The event will also include the unveiling of a large scale, site-specific ‘Living Painting’ as the latest addition to Patina Maldives’ permanent art collection – joining the likes of James Turrell, Jose Dávila, Cassio Vasconcellos, Hongjie Yang, Hiroko Takeda, and FAHR 021.3.
“This new series focuses on enhancing the connection with the Self, mind, body and soul, and bringing our energies, consciousness and life perspectives together as one. A true step towards a necessary human evolution, and a shared core value between Patina’s ideology and the philosophy behind my own creative practice. Life energy is the secret behind human health. Only by feeling the energy are we able to understand the connection between our mind, body and the importance of living in harmony with nature.” commented Sassan Behnam-Bakhtiar.
“When I paint using only natural and sustainably sourced material from our planet, my soul feels truly alive and connected. As beings living in a modern yet destructive world, we cannot hope to create a sustainable culture for the next generation without a shift in our approach. Without this necessary change, we continue to destabilize the planetary system we rely on as human beings. The damage to our blue home mirrors that in our societies. As a creative human being, it is my duty today to push forth via my work the understanding that humanity, nature, and progress should and can coexist together.”