Painter Aram Amini distinctively expresses the pointillism technique with hand-painted silk rose petals.
By Abby Hopkins, Photos courtesy of Aram Amini
Photo by Micael Marie
It all started with a fruit bowl. Aram Amini was 8 when she wielded a paintbrush for the first time to create what would become the first fruit of her lifelong labor.
Born in Montreal, Amini grew up in New York and took on art projects whenever she got the chance. As an adult, she moved into an apartment on the Upper East Side while holding a full-time position in health-care administration. After creating some art for her apartment walls, painting developed into Amini’s side gig.
Her boyfriend (now husband) noticed her passion and encouraged Amini to pursue painting full time during the couple’s transition to Austin.
“With his support and encouragement, it’s something I took on about three years ago, and I’ve been doing it full-time since,” Amini says. “I haven’t looked back. I absolutely love it. I’m so lucky and fortunate that I get to do what I love.”
As a first-generation Iranian American, Amini draws inspiration from both cultures, finding appreciation for her Iranian values and traditions, as well as the freedom of art expression in the U.S. The two cultures, combined with her life experiences and the environments and people in Amini’s life, provide the motivation for her paintings.
For example, while wedding planning, Amini found herself surrounded by flowers, which became an inspiration, as she was searching for a way to express pointillism in a unique, modern form. Amini’s Petal Collection features hundreds of individually hand-painted silk rose petals fastened to each canvas with small gold pins.
“I have scoured the internet looking for good-quality petals,” Amini says. “I went through numerous batches before I found these. They’re hard, they maintain the structure and they even have the grooves and the texture of a real rose petal.”
Two recent pieces in the collection were inspired by her husband’s idea to form a skull with petals. Both canvases utilize camouflage, gold and purple in juxtaposition and express the concept of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s warning of the military-industrial complex.
“Even though it’s his idea and it’s very masculine, I like that I maintained a sense of femininity with the rose petals,” Amini says.
This femininity is consistent throughout her work, although her collections don’t show many similarities. Throughout her career, Amini has developed skills to utilize an array of artistic styles, including pointillism, abstractionism and portraits, allowing her creativity to flourish in whatever form she desires.
ARAM AMINI
“The most amazing part is that I’m able to make something with my hands and make a living out of it. I can’t say that I’ve ever experienced that before until I came into the art world. It’s a different, rewarding feeling.”