I read the article about Iranian artist Ali Banisadr in the April/May 2021 ARTnews magazine. Banisadr is an artist with synesthesia. This helps with deciding the mood he would like to portray and how to do so with different colors and shapes. His pieces are very abstract but still manage to make me think they are of something that I am missing. They are made up of complex shapes, dynamic colors, and small portions of real things like birds, hands, or other miscellaneous objects that lend themselves to making really interesting paintings.

Banisadr’s process of painting is also very fascinating to me. He waits for an idea to come to him instead of forcing one when starting a painting. He uses the same process when deciding what will come next or what will fill the blank spaces. He also uses colors to persuade a certain mood and might change them completely after finishing half of the piece if he doesn’t feel they are right. After he thinks a painting is complete, he puts it on another wall and waits for a month to completely call the painting ‘done.’ He looks the piece over making sure there isn’t a line he wants to add or a shape that seems misplaced. After the month waiting period when no new changes arise, he is finished.

At the end of the article, Banisadr says that he used to fight with his synesthesia but now he embraces it. He lets it sort of take over to develop his ideas or find inspiration. Ever since sixth grade when I read the book A Mango Shaped Space by Wendy Mass, I have been intrigued by synesthesia. Although this was years ago, I still do find the condition interesting as many others do and am glad that it has helped create such mesmerizing pieces.