Maysha Mohamedi

Artist Bio

Maysha Mohamedi (b. 1980, Los Angeles) received a BS in 2002 from the University of California, San Diego, where she studied cognitive science, specializing in neuroscience. After graduating, she went on to earn an MFA in painting from the California College of the Arts in San Francisco in 2011. In her abstract paintings, the artist meditates on selfhood and consciousness through a singular lexicon of color, composition, and mark-making. Vibrant and playful, Mohamedi’s innovative practice points toward a new mode of atmospheric abstraction that registers certain conditions specific to Los Angeles—and American life as a whole—in the early 21st century. Reflecting her personal history, everyday experiences, and key constellations in her own cultural matrix as a woman of Iranian descent, her palette is both purely abstract and directly connected to the patchwork of landscapes, objects, and environments that comprise her life. These range from an Ojai, California playground the artist visited with her children, clippings from cookbooks and magazines, to sea glass found on the shore.
Mohamedi’s works are reflections of her own thinking, crystallized as moments of haptic communion. The artist’s academic background in neuroscience is found in the liveliness and expansiveness of her paintings. Liberated from the constraints and dictates of the three-dimensional world, her immersive works exude a sense of freedom and illimitability. For Mohamedi, the viewer is an equal creator in this shared universe of boundless possibilities. Mohamedi’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions with Parrasch Heijnen Gallery, Los Angeles (2011); The Lodge, Los Angeles (2018); Massimo De Carlo, Paris (2022); and Pace Gallery (2023). Her work has been presented in group exhibitions at Fourteen30 Contemporary, Portland, Oregon (2019); Blum & Poe, Los Angeles (2021); and Mu.ZEE, Ostend, Belgium (2022), among others. Mohamedi has been represented by Pace Gallery since spring 2022.

Artist Statement

Vibrant and playful, Mohamedi’s innovative practice points toward a new mode of atmospheric abstraction that registers certain conditions specific to Los Angeles—and American life as a whole—in the early 21st century.

Reflecting her personal history, everyday experiences, and key constellations in her own cultural matrix, her palette is both purely abstract and directly connected to the patchwork of landscapes, objects, and environments that comprise her life. These range from an Ojai, California playground the artist visited with her children, clippings from cookbooks and magazines, to sea glass found on the shore. Mohamedi’s works are reflections of her own thinking, crystallized as moments of haptic communion. The artist’s academic background in neuroscience is found in the liveliness and expansiveness of her paintings. Liberated from the constraints and dictates of the three-dimensional world, her immersive works exude a sense of freedom and illimitability. For Mohamedi, the viewer is an equal creator in this shared universe of boundless possibilities.

Maysha Mohamedi received a Bachelor of Science in 2002 from the University of California, San Diego, where she studied cognitive science, specializing in neuroscience, and she earned a Master of Fine Arts in painting from the California College of the Arts in San Francisco in 2011. Mohamedi’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions with The Lodge, Los Angeles (2018);

Parrasch Heijnen Gallery, Los Angeles (2021); and Massimo De Carlo, Paris (2022). Her work has been presented in group exhibitions at Fourteen30 Contemporary, Portland, Oregon (2019); and Blum & Poe, Los Angeles (2021), among others.