Skip to content

ROYA FARASSAT

As Near as Memory

February 26 – April 9, 2022

Roya Farassat Where Are the Butterflies and Daisies? 2021

Roya Farassat
Where Are the Butterflies and Daisies? 2021
Oil on linen
43 x 49 in.

Roya Farassat, Scent of Rain, 2020, Oil on gessobord, 11 x 14 in.

Roya Farassat
Scent of Rain, 2020
Oil on gessobord
11 x 14 in.

Roya Farassat, Industrial Void, 2022, Oil on gessobord, 16 x 20 in.

Roya Farassat
Industrial Void, 2022
Oil on gessobord
16 x 20 in. 

Roya Farassat, We Stood Divided, 2020, Oil on gessobord, 16 x 20 in.

Roya Farassat
We Stood Divided, 2020
Oil on gessobord
16 x 20 in.

Roya Farassat, Roads Less Traveled, 2021, Oil on gessbord, 16 x 20 in.

Roya Farassat
Roads Less Traveled, 2021
Oil on gessbord
16 x 20 in.

Roya Farassat, Fading Glow, 2021, Oil on gessobord, 16 x 20 in.

Roya Farassat
Fading Glow, 2021
Oil on gessobord
16 x 20 in.

Roya Farassat, Orange Heat, 2020, Oil on gessobord, 11 x 14 in.

Roya Farassat
Orange Heat, 2020
Oil on gessobord
11 x 14 in.

Roya Farassat Home Is Where Memories Are, 2020

Roya Farassat
Home Is Where Memories Are, 2020
Oil on gessoboard
11 x 14 in.

Roya Farassat, Many Moons Ago, 2018, Oil on gessobord, 11 x 14 in.

Roya Farassat
Many Moons Ago, 2018
Oil on gessobord
11 x 14 in. 

Roya Farassat, Across the Bridge, 2020, Oil on gessobord, 11 x 14 in.

Roya Farassat
Across the Bridge, 2020
Oil on gessobord
11 x 14 in. 

Roya Farassat, Every Fear, Every Hope, 2020, Oil on gessobord, 11 x 14 in.

Roya Farassat
Every Fear, Every Hope, 2020
Oil on gessobord
11 x 14 in.

Roya Farassat, From Here To Anywhere, 2020, Oil on gessobord, 11 x 14 in.

Roya Farassat
From Here To Anywhere, 2020
Oil on gessobord
11 x 14 in.

Roya Farassat, Hannah, 2013, Oil on canvas, 12 x 9 in.

Roya Farassat
Hannah, 2013
Oil on canvas
12 x 9 in.

Roya Farassat, See No Evil, 2013, Oil on gessobord, 14 x 11 in.

Roya Farassat
See No Evil, 2013
Oil on gessobord
14 x 11 in.

Roya Farassat, At First Glance, 2021, Oil on gessobord, 14 x 11 in.

Roya Farassat
At First Glance, 2021
Oil on gessobord
14 x 11 in.

Roya Farassat All Grown Up, 2018

Roya Farassat
All Grown Up, 2018
Oil on linen
18 x 24 in.

Roya Farassat, Sinful Thoughts, 2014, Oil on canvas, 30 x 40 in.

Roya Farassat
Sinful Thoughts, 2014
Oil on canvas
30 x 40 in. 

Roya Farassat, Random Thoughts, 2014, Oil on canvas, 26.5 x 26.5 in.

Roya Farassat
Random Thoughts, 2014
Oil on canvas
26.5 x 26.5 in.

Roya Farassat My Mind, My Thoughts, 2021

Roya Farassat
My Mind, My Thoughts, 2021
Oil on gessoboard
11 x 14 in.

Roya Farassat, Girl With Big Lips, 2014, Oil on gessobord, 14 x 11 in.

Roya Farassat
Girl With Big Lips, 2014
Oil on gessobord
14 x 11 in.

Roya Farassat, Hear No Evil, 2014, Oil on gessobord, 14 x 11 in.

Roya Farassat
Hear No Evil, 2014
Oil on gessobord
14 x 11 in.

Roya Farassat, Starry Eyed, 2021, Oil on gessobord, 14 x 11 in.

Roya Farassat
Starry Eyed, 2021
Oil on gessobord
14 x 11 in.

Roya Farassat, A Bully, 2016, Oil on gessobord, 14 x 11 in.

Roya Farassat
A Bully, 2016
Oil on gessobord
14 x 11 in.

Roya Farassat, Wrapped in Silence, 2021, Oil on gessobord, 14 x 11 in.

Roya Farassat
Wrapped in Silence, 2021
Oil on gessobord
14 x 11 in.

Installation view 1 of Roya Farassat: As Near As Memory

Installation view of Roya Farassat, As Near As Memory

Installation view 1b of Roya Farassat: As Near As Memory

Installation view of Roya Farassat, As Near As Memory

Installation view 2 of Roya Farassat: As Near As Memory

Installation view of Roya Farassat, As Near As Memory

Installation view 2a of Roya Farassat: As Near As Memory

Installation view of Roya Farassat, As Near As Memory

Installation view 3a of Roya Farassat: As Near As Memory

Installation view of Roya Farassat, As Near As Memory

Installation view of Roya Farassat: As Near As Memory landscape paintings

Installation view of Roya Farassat: As Near As Memory

Installation view 4 of Roya Farassat: As Near As Memory

Installation view of Roya Farassat, As Near As Memory

Installation view 3b of Roya Farassat: As Near As Memory

Installation view of Roya Farassat, As Near As Memory

Installation view 5 of Roya Farassat: As Near As Memory

Installation view of Roya Farassat, As Near As Memory

Installation view 6 of Roya Farassat: As Near As Memory

Installation view of Roya Farassat, As Near As Memory

Installation view 6a of Roya Farassat: As Near As Memory

Installation view of Roya Farassat, As Near As Memory

Installation view 7 of Roya Farassat: As Near As Memory

Installation view of Roya Farassat, As Near As Memory

Installation view 7b of Roya Farassat: As Near As Memory

Installation view of Roya Farassat, As Near As Memory

Press Release

Luis De Jesus Los Angeles is very pleased to announce Roya Farassat: As Near as Memory, the artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery. The exhibition will be on view from February 26 through April 9, 2022. An opening reception will be held on Saturday, February 26th, from 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm. Appointments are optional and may be made at luisdejesus.com/contact.

Born in Iran, Roya Farassat’s work is concerned with existential questions and the human condition woven from her personal history and rich cultural heritage. An experience of displacement shaped by complex political, social and religious forces continues to inform her identity and work. Rendered in heavy impasto, Farassat’s portrait series, The Forgotten Children, presents subjects fabricated from her imagination ­and memory, outcasts of society whose distorted features convey a humanity lost and conjure a sense of foreignness. While her subjects may seem alien to us, their intentions, emotions, and desires are clear. These caricatures of the human psyche are disconcerting, but comical in their familiarity, too. In balancing discomfort with humor, she allows us to identify with these figures—a reminder for having empathy in a society that often neglects it.

Accompanying the portraits is a series of landscapes, entitled Pilgrimage. The landscapes are intimate scenes suspended in solitude and sentimentality, and evoke fleeting memories of her childhood. Serenity and chaos are omnipresent and intersect within the richly textured canvases paralleling the magnificence and unpredictability of nature. Tempestuous scenes replete with billowing plumes of smoke, thick dark clouds, and casted shadows are juxtaposed with the tranquility of golden horizons and moonlit terrain. Representation is secondary to expressing the feeling emanating from the landscape itself. In recalling the Romantic paintings of the late 18th century with their tumultuous seas, shipwrecks and stormy skies, they serve as a metaphor for the artist’s own tale of survival. 

For Farassat, this work represents a spiritual journey of self-discovery and coming to terms with her experience, as well as a means of validating her own presence within the world. Together, the portraits and landscapes tap into our collective humanity and guide us toward a better understanding of ourselves and the world around us.

Roya Farassat received her BFA in 1986 from Parsons School of Art and Design, New York. Her work has been widely exhibited, including the Queens Museum of Art, NY; The Edward Hopper House, Nyack, NY; Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, WI; Taubman Museum, Roanoke, VA; Ormond Memorial Art Museum, Ormond Beach, FL; Albin Polasek Museum and Sculpture Gardens, Winter Park, FL; and Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum, Milwaukee, WI; among others. She was awarded residencies from Henry Street Settlement, New York, NY and The Makor/Steinhardt Center of the 92 Street Y, New York, NY.

Farassat was nominated for the Victoria and Albert Museum Jameel Prize in 2011 and the MOP Foundation Contemporary Art Prize, London in 2009. Her work has been reviewed by The New York Times, The Brooklyn Rail, The Boston Globe, The Financial Times, artcritical, Hyperallergic, W Magazine, and Flaunt Magazine. Roya Farassat lives and works in New York.

For further information, including images and previews, please call 213-395-0762, or email: gallery@luisdejesus.com.

Back To Top