Goli Mahallati is a contemporary Persian-American painter whose emotionally expressive works explore the space between abstraction and figuration. Born and raised in Iran, Mahallati defied cultural expectations to pursue her passion for art,earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Tehran in 1977, and later completing her Master of Fine Arts in Massachusetts before settling in Southern California, where she continues to live and paint.
Mahallati is known for her bold, tactile approach to painting. Working primarily with a palette knife rather than a brush, she layers color and texture with striking physicality, creating emotionally charged surfaces that reflect both vulnerability and strength. Her work often features faceless, anonymous figures,solitary or in pairs,that seem to float between the seen and the felt, inviting viewers into moments of connection, longing, intimacy, or quiet introspection.
Her paintings are defined by warm earth tones, gestural marks, and subtle movement, allowing each canvas to serve as both a visual landscape and an emotional terrain. Whether depicting the embrace of two figures or the solitary outline of a single form, Mahallati’s compositions evoke a sense of timelessness and shared humanity.
Rooted in her Persian heritage yet universal in their appeal, Goli Mahallati’s paintings speak a language of feeling rather than detail. Her work is collected internationally and continues to be featured in galleries and exhibitions across the United States