The Twist

"The Twist" by Haleh Mashian is an exploration of sensuality, power, and self-perception. The figure, captured in a poised yet ambiguous stance, tilts her shoulder ever so slightly, balancing between self-assurance and vulnerability.

Mashian’s brushwork is expressive and textured, giving the skin an almost sculptural quality. The earthy palette—muted ochres, deep umbers, and shadowy greens—grounds the figure in a raw, almost primal energy. There’s an intentional roughness to her form that recalls the cabaret figures of Toulouse-Lautrec, yet Mashian reinterprets them with a contemporary depth, stripping away performance to reveal something more intimate.

The contrast between her long gloves, garter belt, and partially exposed skin further amplifies this duality. Is she playing a role, or is she reclaiming her own narrative? That ambiguity is precisely what makes "The Twist" so captivating.

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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.