My goal as an artist is to create exquisitely beautiful art that reminds people of their magnificence and inspires them to achieve their dreams. The exceptional work of master painter Arian is the product of natural artistic talent and heartfelt passion tempered by more than 40 years of study, observation and realization. For 18 years, after majoring in art in college, Arian painted seven days a week, 10 hours a day to perfect his craft, traveling throughout the United States and Europe to study classical composition, figurative realism and anatomy. He received his formal training in painting and sculpture at Fudakis Academy of Classic Realism in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; the Barnstone Studios in Allentown, Pennsylvania; Northwest Missouri State College at Marysville, Missouri; and at a private art academy in Florence, Italy. His strongest artistic influences are the Dutch Masters (Vermeer, Rubens, and Rembrandt), the French artist and master draftsman William Bougureau, and American realist John Singer Sargeant. Arian s expansive use of subtle color variations, creative use of light and shadow and exquisite figurative rendering reflect these influences and infuse his paintings with breathtaking life, realism and beauty. Arian created the exquisite murals in the Palace of Gold, the largest tourist attraction in West Virginia, which have since been the subject of numerous articles in such notable publications as Time and The Washington Post. Additionally, he was commissioned by the State of West Virginia to paint two historic 20-foot murals for the Wheeling Civic Center, now viewed by millions of visitors. Governor Jay Rockefeller, an avid art collector, called Arian s work "extraordinary and beautiful works of art rarely seen in this country today." Arian continues to refine his craft, taking great care in developing each individual composition through preliminary concept sketches, compositional treatments and color studies. His images themselves, however, are intuitive. The images "create themselves," coming not from the artist s consciousness but from somewhere deep within his spirit, expressing his understanding of life s magnificence in an attempt to convey that message through his artwork. I try to express the eternal qualities of humanity that transcend our individual differences - the archetypal truths of love, peace, beauty and the natural connection between people that touch all of us.