Iranian-American artist · abstract expressionism

Helen
Arjmandi

Surface holds what memory cannot.

Explore the work →
Cracked, burned abstract surface in black, deep red, and traces of gold.

Wounds, Rupture
& Survival

Material as testimony

A practice of cracked, burned, and layered surfaces—where fracture becomes memory and memory becomes testimony. Beauty and pain held within the same breath.

Enter the collection →
Abstraction with a pale, figure-like form seen from behind within cobalt and crimson fields.
Where No One Could Follow
Vertical streaks of blue, red, gold and green dissolving across a wide field.
Fading in Both Worlds

Persian Illumination
Reimagined

Centuries of Persian illumination, calligraphy, and sacred geometry—woodburned, engraved, and gilded into large-scale contemporary surfaces.

View the work →
Healing Mother Earth — a circular gilded medallion of Persian illumination in blue, gold, and crimson on wood.
Healing Mother Earth
An autumn trail through New England woodland, fence line and fallen leaves.
Connecticut · New England

Connecticut ·
New England

Rooted in place—the light, the seasons, and the quiet landscapes of the region I now call home shape the surfaces I make.

Circular wooden medallion with mirror-inlay Persian sacred geometry in gold and copper.

Geometric Art

Persian sacred geometry and biomorphic pattern—woodburned, engraved, and inlaid with mirror.

View the work →
A blue jay perched in winter light, photographed from behind.

Photography

Nature and abstraction, kept as a separate, quieter portfolio.

View the portfolio →

The artist

On making

Helen Arjmandi is an Iranian-American artist trained in Persian calligraphy and illumination who now works in cracked, burned, and layered abstraction. Her surfaces are built up and broken down—impasto, crackle, woodburning, and gilding—until the painting carries the record of its own making.

Its recurring concerns are memory, rupture, endurance, and what remains after damage.

For spaces

Placement & commission

Original works and commissions suited to considered placement—galleries, institutions, and architectural settings. The practice spans intimate panels to large wood, gilded, and modular mirror-inlay surfaces that can scale to a wall.

Recent Exhibition: The Arts at Yale Health, 2022–2023 · Studio in Connecticut