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Pejman was surrounded
by art and culture from an early age. The son of an
operatic composer and a concert musician, he spent
his early childhood in Vienna, and then by way of
England moved to the United States in 1976.
Pejman began painting by the age of seven, and by
the time he was sixteen he had won numerous awards
in group exhibitions. However, despite his art
instructor's insistence for him to pursue an
education and career in art, Pejman decided to enter
the field of business management. Upon graduating
from college and after numerous years of employment
at leading Software companies, Pejman secured a
position as a Vice President of Marketing at
Information Resources Inc, a global market research
company.
However, it was not
until 1988 when Pejman decided to return to the
art world by opening up an art gallery. As a
result of his direct exposure to fine art and
contact with European masters whom he was
representing at the gallery, he decided to start
painting again. In 1991 he began his two year
formal studies with the world renowned Russian
artist, Anatoly Ivanov. Later he attended the
prestigious New York Art Students League as well
as furthering his studies with the Impressionist
master, Ovanes Berberian. In 1995, the artist
founded Pejman Editions, an art publishing company
that would be dedicated to publishing and
distributing hand embellished canvas limited
editions of his works. In 1999 Pejman left his
corporate career to pursue his art and publishing
career on a full time basis. Among his art
instructors, Ivanov influenced Pejman the most by
inspiring him to use the techniques of old masters
such as Michelangelo and Rafael. Employing these
almost forgotten techniques, Pejman skillfully
blends impressionistic colors and techniques to
achieve a classical but yet contemporary style.
Pejman's style is
influenced by such artists as Sir Alma-Tadema,
Thomas Cole, and Maxfield Parrish. All of them
sharing the attributes of technical mastery, form,
and perspective. While the influence of these
masters is evident in Pejman's works, it is through
his unique arrangement and depiction of the subject
matters that he achieves a distinctive style. One
can classify his style as romantic realism, which he
interestingly enough achieves by portraying beauty
and solitude.
In his works, Pejman
creates idyllic, tranquil worlds. "There are no
people in my paintings, so you can imagine yourself
in the scenes", explains the artist. "The scenes are
already romantic, but my idea is to make them even
more so". In doing so, he pushes the colors to make
them more intense and exaggerates the sunlight. "I
don't simplify the shapes. You get into the cracks
and feel the structures and the stones", he says,
considering them to be marks of cultivated wisdom
rather than declination. There is romance in
history, and Pejman reminds the viewer of classic
beauty and emotions that transcend time, all
inherent to such places as the Mediterranean.
Since his first
one-man exhibition in 1993, Pejman has received
national and international attention. His works were
chosen to be made into jacquard loom tapestries in
Paris, France and distributed through Design Toscano
in Chicago. Wall size murals are published by
ScanDecor in Sweden, and Portal Publications in San
Francisco is publishing a series of graphics.
Pejman's works can be found in many prestigious
galleries and corporate and private collections
through out the world. |
