Salma Arastu was born in Rajasthan, India. She has been painting for more than thirty years, since earning her degree in Fine Arts from Maharaja Sayajirao University in Baroda, India in 1974.
Her work with continuous and lyrical line is influenced by her native culture and her residences in Iran and Kuwait before coming to the US in 1987.
Creating with continuous, lyrical lines and celebrating the universal spirit of unity is what I have to offer after thirty years of working as a visual artist. I am deeply influenced by the human form and the human spirit. My extensive travels and experiences with diverse communities have left textural impact on my works. I bring together eastern spirituality and western techniques of painting and through these contrasting elements; I yearn and search for unity. That unity or balance when achieved brings about a tranquility and joy for me and hopefully for the viewer.
At birth, I was given the life-defining challenge of a left hand without fingers. Through my belief in Unity of all, I was able to transcend barriers of religion, culture, and the cultural perceptions of limitations for those with physical handicaps. For me painting or creating art is getting physically involved with the piece, scratching, sanding, and layering, adding details in pen and ink or adding materials like paper, rope, modeling paste or paper Mache. The works are created through a process of introspection that involves action and reaction to the materials itself. My working method is physical and meditative, and the motions I go through vary to produce different composition.
Website
http://www.salmaarastu.com/home
