Rassouli
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Southern California is privy to an artist whom is both unique and inspiring. Using a skillful technique, known as Fusionart, Rassouli
creates works of art that reflect spiritual experience by expressing images from his subconscious. Fusionart, a fusion of mysticism and European painting technology, is a style that Rassouli himself has created, registered and currently teaches. With smooth strokes, bright colors and a consistent theme of elegance, Rassouli, uses his creative talent to illustrate his spirituality.
When asked what inspires him, Rassouli says, “Mystics such as Hafiz and Rumi, artists like Gustave Moreau, William Blake and Jean-Honore’ Fragonard. I do not start a painting with sketches, I do not paint on location and I do not work from photos. Instead, many mornings, before the dawn, I climb a mountain to its peak. There, sitting in solitude, I observe rising of the sun. I watch plants open their leaves, buds tear up their dresses and the birds sing to the arrival of their creator. There is an interconnected serenity that allows all creatures to experience the divine unity. Having felt that creative energy, I rush to my studio, dip my brush into paint, and let it move freely on canvas.”
Born in Isfahan, Rassouli came to the United States at the age of 15 where he studied painting and architecture at the University of New Mexico. Now Rassouli has hundreds of solo and collective exhibits, including three murals in California, two in Los Angeles and one in Venice. The mural in Venice, entitled “Angel of Unity,” is 120 feet wide by 45 feet high and is viewed daily by thousands of California residents and visitors.
Rassouli, 65, not only uses his craft to express himself but he also teaches Fusionart at the University of Transformational Studies in Culver City, The Wheel of Wellbeing in Los Angeles and he holds monthly full day painting retreats at the Mayfair Hotel in downtown LA. Rita Roberts took his one of his classes and says, “Aside from being extremely talented, he is a fascinating individual. I’ve taken one of his painting workshops and he actually teaches his students to allow spirit to paint through them and much to our amazement, when we do this, human images often appear in the paintings without you having deliberately painted them. You really have to experience it!”
