baha danesh

I first met Baha about seven months ago through an art show that she was organizing here in LA. She is not only a fantastic artist, but also an incredible networker and event planner. She founded the art collective L'Art Pour L'Art and is very involved with LA's underground art scene. Her work has been featured in many places, including the Los Angels Municipal Art Gallery, L.A. Weekly and Juxtapose Magazine, and can be found at BahaArt.com.

1.) When did you first start creating? Have you always been interested in art?

I’ve never been able to put a time frame on when I started my creative journey. I have always loved art and design.

2.) When did you decide to become a working artist?

I don’t consider myself a “working artist.” In fact I don’t consider art to be work. I am interested in art as a means of living life, not as a means of making a living.

3.) Where do you get the materials for your art? How did you become interested in your subject matter?

I gather my materials from found objects in my daily life and I apply the influences to my creative process. Most of my creations are inspired by rhythm, sound, and feeling. I like to describe my art as chaotic, multi-layered and unconsciously political.

4.) What do you like best about the creative process?

What I admire most about the process of creation is that creating art is a form of expression that creates culture, in which culture shapes values and values determine the future. The creative process is, above all, the best adventure of the mind, body, and soul.

5.) What do you like least?

What I like least about the creative process are artists who complain about money. Artists need to realize it’s not about the money or the hard work that goes into their art. It’s about fun and adventure; building bridges between themselves and the rest of humanity; reuniting and recording fragments of thought, feeling, and memory; and presenting things that they can’t express in any other way. Like I said earlier, art shapes our cultures and values and determine the future. I believe that holds more value than money!!!

6.) What motivates you to keep creating?

Happiness is what motivates me to keep creating. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with creative energy, love, grace, and gratitude.

7.) Art can sometimes be an isolating profession. Has art connected you to other people or impacted others in interesting ways?

What a great question! Art has allowed me to connect with thousands of people. 80% of my friends are people who I have met through today's art community.

8.) What are your creative dreams? (if anything is possible, what would you want to have happen?)

My creative dreams are all over the place!! Eventually I would like to expand on the idea of Art For the Sake of Art (L’art Pour L’art) and create a studio for underground artists in L.A. to call home.