Sacred Waters

“Water preserves and water destroys,” Mashian observes. “I tapped into the energy of water—constantly creating, destroying, and also preserving. I felt the ebb and flow in my approach to doing these series, with a very fierce calm energy. Water is never stuck. When the weather is cold, water changes to ice, and with heat comes it becomes vapor. When something is in its path, water goes around it or waits patiently till it gathers enough force to conquer its obstacle.”

Using various materials evocative of the natural world, Mashian’s waterscapes reveal the very physicality and opposing forces in water: its torrents and stillness, its ebbs and flows, its shimmer and depth, its roughness and ripples. In each of these works, Mashian portrays water as a cleansing, an immersive substance that both washes away our detritus and calms our senses with its rejuvenating and constant momentum. In this way, water is both substance and solution—that which carries and cleanses the body and soul.

All the hues of oceans and seas can be found in Mashian’s works. Obsidian-to-cerulean blues juxtaposed with violets, verdant shades of celadon, jade, and lime flow into plums, magentas, and ochre, with flecks of sun yellow and glacial white. Mashian’s palette suggests the feeling of gazing at an expanse of the ocean, taking in the meditative motion of its waves. In this way, Mashian calls forth the sacred in our natural surroundings, our visceral sense of knowing what calms, rejuvenates, and steadies us so that we can stay on course.