I believe I paint because of some spiritual need. All my life I have gone from one unknown path to another. These paths were all called ‘experience’.
I composed verse, wrote novels, scripted theater and made up stories and tales for the children of my homeland.
Before ending my days on earth, I wanted to experience one more thing; painting. Painting opened up a secret pathway to myself.
Now, that I am in my eighties, I paint in the morning and write poetry at night. As the sun sets, sonnets and stanzas seem to seek me out.
Even with the variety of illnesses, painting enshrouds with a colorful golden tapestry woven of dreams, all the disappointment, deprivation, desolation and disorder that are part of being 80 years-old.
I am thankful to such golden curtains. I do not know how long I will live, how long I will paint or how long I will recite poetry. I know that nobody knows how long they will live. It is with this ignorance of the future that we continue to walk on our paths over this earth, enjoying sunlight and moonlight.

Ahmadreza Ahmadi
May 24th, 2020
Tehran