The Affairs

"The Affairs" by Haleh Mashian is a sharp, satirical critique of power, deception, and the carefully constructed facades of masculinity. Borrowing the formal structure of traditional corporate portraiture, Mashian deconstructs the figures of aging businessmen, unraveling their polished exteriors to reveal something far more ambiguous beneath the surface.

At first glance, the men appear poised, dressed in suits, arranged with the controlled precision of a boardroom photograph. Yet their expressions betray them. Their faces, exaggerated and warped, shift between forced composure and something more unsettling—some glance sideways, others appear vacant, as if they are empty inside.

The title, "The Affairs," is the key to Mashian’s critique. The grotesqueness in their faces hints at excess, deception, and complicity—suggesting histories of corruption and numbness. This piece is perfect for collectors drawn to contemporary figurative art with a satirical edge.

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About the Artist

As a painter and creative expressionist, Mashian's abstract works reveal her appreciation of color theory, compositional form, and studying positive and negative space. Working in mixed media and using various techniques from collage to impasto, a repeated layering and application of paint, Mashian's dynamic pieces range from smaller artworks that can be arranged together to large-scale paintings. Her large-paneled paintings have been exhibited nationally in Los Angeles, Miami, and are included in private collections in the United States and abroad.