10 Questions with Sasan Nasernia

Sasan Nasernia began his career primarily as a calligrapher and typography artist. Exploring different avenues in Persian and Arabic classical and modern calligraphy, he has since expanded his practice to include painting, print, digital work and installation. Nasernia explores many themes in his practice, playing with the tension between two opposing primordial elements of order and chaos. Sometimes borrowing from traditional Persian paintings and iconography, he immerses these elements in abstraction and ambiguity, infused with his letterforms.

Sasan Nasernia Altiba9 gallery calligraphy iranian artist.jpg — Sasan Nasernia - Portrait

Sasan Nasernia has a BFA from Azad Art University of Tehran, Iran. He employs the icons of our world - past and present - to create a visual lexicon of his own. Nasernia’s approach to calligraphy has always been a personal journey to find novel ways to create letter forms out of the most contemporary concepts. By deconstructing the rules of Arabic and Persian calligraphy and by borrowing from the earliest types of this form of art, he has developed his signature format of writing, which he playfully calls“ Crazy Kufic.” According to Nasernia“, Crazy Kufic ”and its unique characteristics allow the artist to explore the concept of fluidity and uncertainty in our natural and extramundane worlds. In his recent attempts, he tries a new approach to the structure of his calligraphic art, where a text is often completely devoid of meaning; in contrast, an empty space or a simple symmetrical juxtaposition may suggest a metaphysical conjecture or even an existential "raison d’être". He has exhibited his work in multiple group and solo shows throughout the Middle East, the United States and the UK.

nasernia.com | @sasscript

Wired into you, Wall painting, Variable sizes © Sasan Nasernia

INTERVIEW

Your work transforms calligraphy into a language of pure form and abstraction. What draws you to this visual territory, and how do you keep the balance between honoring tradition and reinventing it?

For me, tradition and abstraction are not really separate things. If you think about it, the very act of writing is already an abstraction, turning sound and thought into visible signs. Calligraphy then takes that further, refining and beautifying the written form. In that sense, it’s one of the earliest forms of abstraction we’ve ever practiced.
What I try to do is build on that foundation while also bringing in what I’ve learned from modern and contemporary art. Sometimes I strip language down to pure form, sometimes I bring back meaning when it fits the concept. The key is finding a balance, honoring the tradition, but also allowing myself to experiment and push it into new territory. That’s where I feel the work becomes alive.

You have created both intimate works and monumental site-specific installations. How does your creative process change when working on a large scale, especially in relation to space, architecture, and viewer interaction?

With smaller, more intimate works, the connection happens on a quiet, personal level, you lean in, you engage with the details. With large-scale installations, it’s different. The viewer’s whole body is involved; they’re drawn into the space, sometimes even moving through it.
For me, creating on that scale is physically demanding. My body plays a big role in the process, and I try to bring both strength and fragility into the work. I’m also very aware that these installations are temporary, they eventually disappear, like everything else in life. In a way, they feel like parts of myself that come into the world for a while and then leave it behind.
That’s also what I want the audience to feel, that presence, that scale, and maybe a more visceral kind of intimacy that goes beyond just looking at a piece on a wall.

Elastographeme - 1, Acrylic on canvas, and two exposed wooden stretchers, 54 x 33 in | 137 × 83 cm, 2019 © Sasan Nasernia

When viewers encounter your work, they often describe a sense of movement and layered time. Is this intentional, and how do you construct this sense of rhythm and depth in your compositions?

Yes, that sense of movement and layered time is very much intentional. My work usually grows out of whatever philosophical questions I’m thinking about: sometimes it’s change and impermanence, sometimes it’s unity or wonder. Those ideas shape how the forms unfold.
I also see reality as something layered, not just the surface we experience day to day. That’s why my pieces often have depth built into them. I want people to feel like they’re looking beyond the surface, almost peeling back layers. And hopefully, that process also turns inward, where the viewer starts reflecting on their own layers, and what lies at the core of themselves.

Collectors from different cultural backgrounds are drawn to your art. What do you think resonates most with them, and how do you see your work fitting into both private and public collections?

I work across different bodies of work, and each one adds to the vocabulary of calligraphic art in its own way. One area I’ve explored is figurative works, inspired by older calligrams from medieval times, where artists used letters as building blocks to form birds, animals, and vegetation. I’ve tried to bring that into a contemporary and modern context.
Alongside that, I create more abstract pieces and some that are more classically inclined. Different audiences connect with different aspects. For example, viewers from the Middle East and East tend to resonate more with the mystical, classical side, while Western audiences often respond to the more pictorial or abstract works.
My installations, on the other hand, feel more universal. I’ve shown them in many regions, and people from very different backgrounds seem to connect to their scale, presence, and philosophical undertones, beyond any specific cultural identity.

Arrival, Acrylic on two layers of canvas, and exposed wooden stretcher, 36 × 36 in | 91.5 × 91.5 cm, 2019 © Sasan Nasernia

Your pieces often merge visual elegance with a raw, gestural energy. How do you decide when a work is “finished” and has reached the right equilibrium?

Most of my work is very conceptual, based on a specific idea both visually and philosophically. Often, the image of the finished piece already exists in my mind, and the process is about finding a way to bring that vision into reality. I see it as a kind of careful navigation, trying to match my understanding and abilities to what I already “see” internally.
So, in a way, I know a piece is finished when I’ve reached that point, the point that already existed in my vision. It’s less about adding or subtracting, and more about realizing what’s already there.

Calligraphy is rooted in a precise tradition, but your work pushes it toward abstraction and contemporary art discourse. How do you see your practice contributing to the evolution of this art form?

Calligraphy is a universal art. Of course, there are different traditions: Western, Eastern, and many schools within each. In the Middle East and Far East, it gained particular prominence because it’s deeply intertwined with religious and philosophical life. For example, a Zen poem would often be accompanied by the brushwork of a Zen monk to give it its fullest expression. Similarly, in Islamic culture, calligraphy has long been a vessel for transmitting knowledge and beauty.
In modern times, especially through exposure to different cultures, calligraphic art has entered contemporary practices worldwide. Artists from the Middle East, like Faramarz Pilaram in the 1960s and ’70s, began pushing boundaries, exploring new forms beyond traditional uses.
For me, the question has always been: how can I push these boundaries even further and bring something new to the surface? My goal is to fuse tradition and modernity in a way that creates a universal language, something that isn’t limited to one culture, but can be recognized and felt by people across the world. That’s what drives my practice.

You’ve participated in exhibitions across different regions and cultural contexts. How do audiences’ interpretations of your work shift depending on where it is shown?

In the Middle East, people are often ready to embrace and appreciate innovation within their traditional arts. They can immediately identify with it and see the connections.
For Western audiences, it sometimes takes a little more time. They need to understand that what I’m doing is a fusion, bringing modern, contemporary ideas and tools to a very strong traditional practice. Calligraphy still has so many unexplored aspects, and part of my work is revealing those possibilities in a way that can be appreciated across cultures.

In some of your projects, scale and spatial context seem to transform the meaning of your work. Could you share a memorable experience of installing a piece in a unique site and how it changed the work’s impact?

One of the most memorable experiences was at an art festival at the Sharjah Museum, where my installation filled an entire gallery. Visitors could actually walk through the blocks and pieces, which invited them to explore and interact with the work.
The central part of the installation was hidden at first, so people had to get closer, look through, and really engage with it to uncover its message. That process, of curiosity and discovery, helped convey themes of unity, transformation, and harmony, while also reflecting the mathematical structures underlying the work. It was incredible to see how the scale and spatial context transformed the audience’s experience and understanding.

Multiplicity, Wall painting, Variable sizes © Sasan Nasernia

Looking at your artistic journey, how do you see your practice evolving over the next decade? Are there specific mediums, collaborations, or concepts you are eager to explore?

At this point in my career, and with everything happening around us, especially with the rise of artificial intelligence, every artist faces so many questions about relevance, meaning, and authenticity. For me, I have a stack of unfinished projects: installations, sculptures, digital works, and more.
I’m very interested in how a traditional artist can convey a message through established practices while also translating it into something modern and contemporary. In a world where meaning and significance are increasingly questioned, finding balance and grounding in the here and now becomes essential.
As I look to the future, I want to continue exploring these ideas, wherever my work and the universe allow. It’s about remaining open, curious, and responsive to the times, while staying true to the core of my practice.

Sasan Naserinia altiba9 gallery iranian Artist Calligraphy Wall painting conceptual abstract minimalism art SINGULARITY.jpg — Singularity, Wall painting installation, 2 x 3 x 2 m, 2020 © Sasan Nasernia

Beyond the visual language, what is the central question or feeling you hope people carry with them after experiencing your work?

As ironic as it may sound, sometimes by creating so many forms, complex, crowded, colorful, geometric, figurative, my real aim is to create a moment of silence. Through all that visual richness, I want to bring the viewer to a place of stillness, reflection, and awareness.
I want people to pause, look beyond appearances, and sense what lies beneath, what the forms, language, and structures are really pointing to. At the heart of it all is stillness, quietude, and mystery. That’s where the work truly lives.

If you could speak to your younger self from the perspective you have today, what advice or insight would you share with him?

I’d tell my younger self to be patient, work hard, and ignore the outside noise. This journey is really about learning, about life, about yourself. Success and failure are secondary; they’re just byproducts of the path you’ve chosen to follow.

Artist’s Talk

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