When I look at the work of the Old Masters, I see a beauty that is an enchantment to me and I experience a feeling of an ever-present harmony.

Carravagio has been one of my greatest inspirations. He brings together sharp sorrow and pure grace in a delicate balance... a balance I can identify with through my own experiences.

The life I like to capture is in its "still" state -- a contrast to our fast-paced everyday life with its constantly racing images.

I am trying to captivate a distinct mood in a living moment and share my desire to hold communion with other living things. I show my human subjects draped in neutral garments, void of indication of social status or a particular origin, and naturally positioned with a personal significance.

By using the concept of a two-fold presentation, I bring together these two subjects. The human portrait and the still life become pieces of a puzzle. Together they will deliver an inner consistency of reality. They present a riddle caught in a net of colors.

Natty Saidi, September 2003

*figure-ground: In two-dimensional works of art, referring to the visual unity yet separability of a form and its background, or a pairing of still life and the figure.