Arion Khedhiry, Tunisia

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

Arion Khedhiry was born in 1984 in the city of M’Saken in Tunisia. His experience with art has always been intimate and shaped by his own self-discovery. His artworks are an intoxicating combination of private meditation and existential inquiry.  Arion’s art is a soliloquy in a universal voice, posing questions to the viewer, and trying to trace the stories of a life.

His studies at the university level in English Literature and his professional career as a teacher have helped him to refine his artistic oeuvre.  Arian Khedhiry credits poetry, mythology and symbolism in literature with having enriched his life, both as an artist and person. His artworks are studied, quite elaborate and incorporating the time-tested methods of the Old Masters is the key to his visual language as an artist.

Although his style and technique are contemporary and often tinged with surrealism and heavy symbolism, he is very influenced by the great realism Masters such as da Vinci, Bouguereau, Rembrandt, Raphael, Godward, and Waterhouse.  Arian Khedhiry’s paintings are inspired by the modern human condition and by literary works by iconic authors such Pynchon, Joyce, Beckett, Hemingway, Sartre, Dostoyevsky, among others.

ARTIST STATEMENT

“As far back as I can remember, I have always been painting and drawing. I have not always worked as an artist for a living, but all my life I have been an artist at heart; in my lifestyle, my thoughts, my emotions, and the way I see this world. Art has never ceased to be my deepest and strongest passion – my raison-d’être.

When I was a teenager, my drawings and paintings were surrealistic. As I grew up I began perfecting my technique by studying classical, mostly, neo-classical, renaissance and romantic era masterpieces.  Now, my style is more nuanced, falling somewhere between surrealist symbolism and realism.

A pivotal point in my development as an artist came a few years ago.  Since then, I’ve been feeling a great sense of liberation, both intellectually and spiritually.  I feel that I cannot be limited by the place I live.  I consider myself as a “universal man”.  As my work develops in the future, hopefully it will become deeper as I become wiser.  My central aspiration is to have my art work impact as many people around the world as possible.”

EDUCATION

2009   Masters in English Language and Literature, University of Sousse

COMMISSIONS / PORTRAITS

To commission work from this artist – contact andrea@goglobalart.com