Payam Rostami

Payam Rostami spent over a decade training in classical nastaliq calligraphy before he began removing the letters from his own work. He still moves the pen the way a scribe does — the same wrist rotation, the same pressure change at the end of a stroke — but the paper holds only the arc, the lift, the pause where a word would have started. The result reads as handwriting stripped of language: recognizable rhythm, no text to parse. He works in ink and gesso on paper and panel, building each piece from repeated passes rather than a single mark. His pieces reach ATG through a screened export partner based in Iran, who has represented his studio for several years and handles authentication and shipping.

Where they come from

Payam Rostami trained in classical nastaliq calligraphy and now paints the GESTURE of writing with none of the letters — the arm movement of a scribe, kept, the script removed.

Where they live

Tehran, Iran

What matters to them

He cares more about the muscle memory of writing than about what any single word says.

From the workshop of Payam Rostami