Katayoun Hosseinrad: Distance
12.26 is delighted to announce Distance, a solo exhibition of new works by Iranian-born, Dallas-based artist Katayoun Hosseinrad.
Informed by her foundational background in classical Iranian painting and her subsequent migration to the United States, Hosseinrad investigates the delicate thresholds of geographic displacement, memory, and the unseen boundaries that partition our private worlds.
Hosseinrad approaches the domestic interior as a psychological territory rather than a physical destination. Her box-like, compressed rooms act as visual vessels for the human psyche, capturing the quiet weight of isolation, containment, and the persistent pull of longing. By filtering these environments through the haze of recollection, her spaces become altered topographies where personal history and imagination seamlessly intertwine.
Distance serves as a profound testament to Hosseinrad’s deliberate, meditative approach to the canvas. Her creative process begins long before the brush meets the surface; she carefully hand-builds each wooden panel and stretches her own fabric supports, a ritualistic act of preparation that establishes complete formal control over the emerging image.
Hosseinrad applies her paint in slow, meticulous, and non-hierarchical strokes that span evenly across the entire composition. Every inch of the canvas, from the subtle texture of a wall to the soft gradient of light, is treated with identical reverence. This technique, inherited from the traditions of Persian miniature painting, fuses intricate detail into a singular, velvety matte field. The resulting surfaces are entirely devoid of heavy texture or glare, mirroring the way memory itself exists: quiet, unvarnished, and suspended in time.
Windows appear throughout her work as crucial architectural anchors, functioning simultaneously as a visual promise of escape and a reminder of separation. She heightens this spatial tension through an intentional chromatic division: her interiors are quieted by cool, desaturated tones of earthy green and slate blue, while the vistas beyond glow with the exaggerated, burning pigments of pinks, oranges, and deep reds.
Distance underscores Hosseinrad’s absolute commitment to the discipline of her practice. Through her vision, we are invited to pause and inhabit these quiet, architectural fields, finding within them the tangible echoes of our own searches for home and stability.
Katayoun Hosseinrad was born in Tabriz, Iran. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Iranian Painting from Tabriz Islamic Art University in 2021 and her Master of Fine Arts from Texas Christian University in 2026. She has taught Drawing I and worked as a Teaching Assistant in Drawing and Painting at Texas Christian University, as well as a Gallery Assistant. Her work explores themes of space, memory, distance, and displacement through painting and installation. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions. Recent solo exhibitions include presentations at 12.26 and Lyles & King in New York.
Informed by her foundational background in classical Iranian painting and her subsequent migration to the United States, Hosseinrad investigates the delicate thresholds of geographic displacement, memory, and the unseen boundaries that partition our private worlds.
Hosseinrad approaches the domestic interior as a psychological territory rather than a physical destination. Her box-like, compressed rooms act as visual vessels for the human psyche, capturing the quiet weight of isolation, containment, and the persistent pull of longing. By filtering these environments through the haze of recollection, her spaces become altered topographies where personal history and imagination seamlessly intertwine.
Distance serves as a profound testament to Hosseinrad’s deliberate, meditative approach to the canvas. Her creative process begins long before the brush meets the surface; she carefully hand-builds each wooden panel and stretches her own fabric supports, a ritualistic act of preparation that establishes complete formal control over the emerging image.
Hosseinrad applies her paint in slow, meticulous, and non-hierarchical strokes that span evenly across the entire composition. Every inch of the canvas, from the subtle texture of a wall to the soft gradient of light, is treated with identical reverence. This technique, inherited from the traditions of Persian miniature painting, fuses intricate detail into a singular, velvety matte field. The resulting surfaces are entirely devoid of heavy texture or glare, mirroring the way memory itself exists: quiet, unvarnished, and suspended in time.
Windows appear throughout her work as crucial architectural anchors, functioning simultaneously as a visual promise of escape and a reminder of separation. She heightens this spatial tension through an intentional chromatic division: her interiors are quieted by cool, desaturated tones of earthy green and slate blue, while the vistas beyond glow with the exaggerated, burning pigments of pinks, oranges, and deep reds.
Distance underscores Hosseinrad’s absolute commitment to the discipline of her practice. Through her vision, we are invited to pause and inhabit these quiet, architectural fields, finding within them the tangible echoes of our own searches for home and stability.
Katayoun Hosseinrad was born in Tabriz, Iran. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Iranian Painting from Tabriz Islamic Art University in 2021 and her Master of Fine Arts from Texas Christian University in 2026. She has taught Drawing I and worked as a Teaching Assistant in Drawing and Painting at Texas Christian University, as well as a Gallery Assistant. Her work explores themes of space, memory, distance, and displacement through painting and installation. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions. Recent solo exhibitions include presentations at 12.26 and Lyles & King in New York.
