I am Mahboubeh Nikoonejad, a Master of Art Studies from Isfahan University of Art and an art instructor at several art universities since 2012.

I have a profound passion for Iranian art, culture, and literature. For years, I thought that I could express this passion best through learning and then teaching as much as possible about them, and sometimes by writing related book and articles. However, after being deeply captivated by the beauty of Iranian geometric designs, I decided to combine geometric patterns with Iranian paintings to depict beautiful Iranian literary stories. In this way, maybe I could demonstrate the enchanting beauty of Iranian geometry, painting and literature to the viewers more effectively.

Why should geometric patterns only serve as decorative elements in a painting? Why can’t they narrate a beautiful story? Thus, I created several artworks where I creatively utilized geometric patterns to create illustrations that are both traditional and somewhat modern.

Through this method, I could reimagine beautiful Iranian stories that unfortunately have been forgotten among the youth today.

All of my selected stories are famous ones in Persian myths and literature, particularly the beautiful narrations of the “Shahnameh”(the Book of Kings).

Overall, I don’t consider myself a traditional Persian painter, nor do I want to adhere strictly to their methods and rules. I simply want to represent Persian stories that were created by Iranian masters over centuries, through geometric methods.

All my inspirations do not solely come from Iranian illustrated manuscripts; they can also arise from paintings of a Seljuk clay dish or an engraved Sasanian silver plate.

In my artworks, all lines are drawn based on the geometric pattern or emerge from connecting the corners of geometric shapes. I don’t draw any line without paying attention to the geometry and its linear directions.

Although some of my works are more associated with abstraction and geometry while others are more linked to Iranian paintings, the common feature among them all is that they are prominently based on geometric patterns.

The most challenging part of my work in the artistic production process is when I try to depict the story within the geometric design. This stage requires a great deal of creativity, innovation, and imagination, and sometimes it takes me several weeks to find the main characters of my story and come up with an engaging composition.