About My Paintings

This book provides the images of 133 paintings by this author during 1996-2006. It also provides the background information about the paintings and the author during this period before he was drawn to writing novels and academic books as a more potent means of expressing his frustrations with human relationships and social mechanism toward human demise.Painting, especially landscapes, had felt like a sacred mission to me for healing at the age of fifty when both my career and marriage had felt doomed. In fact, it had proven a timely distraction and hobby that occupied all my free time for ten years before I became a zealous writer in 2006 when the chances of words expressing my convoluted sentiments had felt better and easier.The idea of archiving those paintings in a book hit me recently. At least their mere existence had to be recognized now that I have stopped showing them in galleries, while experts and the public have also made favourable comments about them all along. Then, adding some background about the paintings along with my current feelings about art and humanity felt useful, too, even at the risk of parading the depth of my senility or naïveté at this age.Good paintings enthralls our spirits, as we stare at them for hours serenely. Then again, it is getting harder every day to fathom the meaning and value of art while the world is falling apart and life's hardships are rising fast. Soon, we will be merely too occupied by social chaos, natural disasters, and personal sufferings to keep up with the burdens of living in our allegedly modern societies, let alone be artists. Nobody will have time and energy for pleasures, arts, or reflections, as we must struggle harder every day just to survive, repair ruins, manage our stress, and fool ourselves to keep living.Even before reaching this sad state for humanity, defining art and its value for society had been fluid and judged by its effect on humans' welfare, while most artists have pursued art, especially nowadays, for financial rewards, social recognition, and fulfilling their needs for achievement.