Ali Esmaeilipour

“Being an artist means to re-create the world as you see it, so that people can understand the meaning of your life." Ali Esmaeilipour 

For almost three decades now, Ali Esmaeilipour has been inviting you into his inner realm by means of his canvas. Personal objects, rendered in a realistic yet lyrical manner, are often the focus of his paintings. For that reason his work is often categorized as “still life" but this remains a label Ali particularly dislikes. Objects are the principal players in Ali's paintings because they are visual representations of a thought or a sentiment, and their combination enables Ali to create both an emotional depth and a sense of time that is almost tangible to the beholder. There is very little of the “nature morte" in these visual windows into the artist's soul. Instead, each painting is a snapshot of a life in movement, a way to freeze a moment long enough to share it before it is irrevocably lost.

Ali's journey starts in Tehran, where he studies at the renowned Zangar Art Institute under the tutelage of Professor Aydin Aghdashlou, one of Iran's most respected artists. His rise within the art circles is swift, and following numerous group exhibitions and four successful solo exhibitions he rapidly becomes a recognized artist in his native land. His success is sealed when he subsequently wins the prestigious 4th Biennale at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Tehran. And when the opportunity to establish himself as an artist in Singapore arises in 1999, Ali takes flight.

“My intention is not to paint beauty" explains Ali. The objects present in his paintings are not chosen for aesthetic purposes, nor does Ali seek to artificially produce a harmonious composition. Often Ali is simply transposing a complete image that has sprung to his mind to the canvas. For Ali, painting is an entirely organic process, his hand paints before his mind analyzes. And what Ali naturally captures on his canvas is connection: the connection that pre-exists between him and the objects he lives with and the connection that is born between the artist and the viewer. Each of these objects, which become the living “subjects" of the paintings, hold a special significance for Ali, each has accompanied him on his life's journey and each holds a unique relationship to the artist. By juxtaposing objects that belong to the past with objects that he currently lives with, Ali is able to add the dimension of time to his paintings, re-creating the movement of his personal history. And yet time does not stop, and Ali's eagerness to live the next moment can be felt by his frequent incorporation of whimsical “subjects" from his yet-to-be future.

Ali participated in many solo, joint and group exhibitions in countries including Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, New York, Miami, New Orleans and Tehran. His works have been shown at the Singapore Art Museum, and collected by the Contemporary Art museum of Tehran, the Cultural Heritage Museum of Iran and the International Olympics Women and Sport Commission. In 1997, Ali received the Artist Award at the 4th Biennial Exhibition at the Contemporary Art Museum of Tehran as well as the First prize in 2001, for the International Artist Magazine in Australia. Ali most recently participated in the "Best of Acrylic 2014" competition where his painting "Through Time" was selected to be published in North Light Books' second annual "Acrylic Works 2: Radical Breakthroughs".