Contemporary artist · Melbourne
Payam Khajeh
Paintings, watercolours, drawings and book sculptures where Persian calligraphy, figures and cityscapes dissolve into colour, line and movement.
Available now
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Paintings
Original works currently available. Select a painting to see it larger and to enquire.
Watercolour
Watercolour and ink works: figures, couples and crowds drawn in a single line and flooded with colour, and domed cityscapes that recall Persian architecture. Many are on handmade paper with torn, deckled edges.
Drawings
Ink drawings where towers, domes and faces grow out of one another, built from continuous line and fine architectural detail.
From the sketchbook
Studies, figure sketches and plans for sculptures, shown to give a look inside the studio. These pages are not for sale.
Sculpture
Sculptures carved, folded and layered from found books, often combined with pieces of timber and mounted on wood or stone. Several pieces are photographed from more than one angle.
Sold Works
Earlier works now in private collections. They are no longer available, but if one of them speaks to you, get in touch about a similar piece or a commission.
About the artist
Payam Khajeh
Payam Khajeh is a Melbourne-based contemporary artist working across painting, watercolour, drawing and sculpture. Born and trained in Iran, he completed a Bachelor of Painting (Fine Art) before moving to Australia, where he went on to earn a Master of Visual Art (Painting) at the University of South Australia in 2009. He has been exhibiting since 1999, including solo shows in Iran, Adelaide and Melbourne and, most recently, the 2023 group exhibition Visible Invisible in Melbourne. He has also taught painting and drawing in Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne.
Persian culture runs through his work. Iranian calligraphic forms appear across his canvases, sometimes deliberately left illegible, so that letters stop working as words and start working as marks: rhythm, gesture and texture alongside colour.
The same instinct shapes his figures and his Melbourne cityscapes, where crowds and skylines are built from loose, layered strokes and splashes of white. In his sculptures, found books are carved, folded and layered with pieces of timber into standing forms, turning printed pages into something to be looked at rather than read. His ink drawings and watercolours carry the same ideas onto paper, where towers, domes and crowds are drawn in a continuous line.
Watercolour is where he began: as a student in Iran he won first and second prizes for watercolour, and it remains central to his practice. He works in oil, acrylic, watercolour, ink, pencil and pastel, often thinning acrylic until it behaves like a raw watercolour, then building the surface with dry pigment dropped onto wet paint, fingers, sponges and rollers.
Alongside his own practice, Payam has run Art Cottage in Melbourne since 2016 as art director and teacher, and has taught at Manningham Art Centre and Balwyn Community Centre. In 2010 he created the paintings for One Million Flight, a published collection of poetry.
- Based in
- Melbourne, Australia
- Education
- Master of Visual Art (Painting), University of South Australia, 2008–2009
Bachelor of Painting (Fine Art), Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Iran, 1998–2003 - Practice
- Painting, watercolour, drawing, calligraphy, book sculpture
- Media
- Oil, acrylic, watercolour, ink, pencil and pastel; altered books and timber
- Also offers
- Commissions, classes and art workshops
Solo exhibitions
- 2018Ladder Art Space, Melbourne
- 2017House of Persia, Melbourne
- 2014MC2 Gallery, Melbourne
- 2012Faryad Gallery, Kerman, Iran
- 2010Green Hill Gallery, South Australia
- 2010Mawson Lakes Library, South Australia
- 2009Liverpool Gallery, South Australia
- 2003Daneshjo Gallery, Tehran, Iran
- 1999Butterfly Cottage Gallery, Kerman, Iran
Awards
- 2009Merit Award, Campbelltown Art Show, South Australia
- 1996First Prize, Student Watercolour, Ershad Institute, Iran
- 1995Second Prize, Student Watercolour, Ershad Institute, Iran
Teaching
- 2016–Art Cottage, MelbourneArt director and art teacher
- 2015–16Manningham Art Centre, MelbournePainting and drawing teacher
- 2012–16Balwyn Community Centre, MelbourneModern art teacher
- 2009–10Adelaide Persian Art Centre, AdelaideArt teacher
- 2005–06Ellise House Art Centre, Bayswater, PerthArt teacher, weekend workshops and classes
- 2003–04Fine Art High School, Kerman, IranTeacher
Selected group exhibitions
- 2023Visible Invisible, Nicholas Building, MelbourneGroup exhibition supported by Amnesty International, 26 October – 11 November 2023, with Lobat Nezami, Mitra Malekzadeh, Parisima Kouklan and Ryan Lee Adams
- 2020Canterbury Art ExhibitionMelb and Fun, Bare My Soul, Time and Me, Resource
- 2019Canterbury Art ExhibitionCelebration in Paradise, Fade in Life, A Little Love
- 2018Canterbury Art ExhibitionMelbourne in One View, The Body of the Cage
- 2017Canterbury Art ExhibitionBlack Friday Melbourne, In Being a Lover Be Firm of Foot
- 2016Abbotsford Convent Art Show, Melbourne
- 2015Hawthorn Arts Centre, Melbourne
- 2014Future Artwork Exhibition, Docklands, Melbourne
- 2010Campbelltown Art Show, Adelaide
- 2009Inaugural Graduate Exhibition, University of South Australia
- 2009Campbelltown Art Show, Adelaide
- 2009Salisbury Art Gallery, Adelaide
- 2007Tresillian Art Gallery, Perth
- 2006Victoria Park Art Gallery, Perth
- 2005Tresillian Art Gallery, Perth
- 2003Kerman Art University, Kerman, Iran
- 2002Butterfly Cottage Gallery, Kerman, Iran
- 2000Ali Akbar Sanati Museum, Kerman, Iran
- 1999Ershad Gallery, Kerman, Iran
Publication
- 2010Paintings for One Million FlightA published collection of poetry
Contact
Enquiries
For prices, viewings, commissions or workshops, email Payam directly. Please mention the work's reference number (for example PK-001) if you're asking about a specific piece.
- Buying a workPrices are available on request. Works can be viewed in person in Melbourne by appointment.
- CommissionsOriginal pieces made to suit a particular space, palette or size.
- WorkshopsPainting and calligraphy workshops for groups and individuals.