Born in Iran and based in the United Kingdom, Negar Almassian is a painter working within contemporary figurative and portrait traditions. Her recent practice reflects a renewed engagement with classical painting fundamentals alongside a critical awareness of contemporary painting. This dual attention to tradition and present-day discourse informs her approach to materiality, scale, and the psychological presence of the figure.

Through an increasingly speculative studio process, she tests the expressive potential of materials and tools from oil sticks to palette knives, allowing texture, scraping, layering, and mark-making to shape the emotional weight of each painting. By shifting between intimate small-scale works and full-figure compositions, she examines how scale and surface alter the way a portrait communicates. Material decisions are treated as active agents in the construction of meaning.

Her cultural and political background plays a central role in her work. As an Iranian artist, ongoing conversations surrounding women’s rights and visibility have prompted a deeper reflection on painting as a site of representation, agency, and resistance. Engaging with feminist perspectives and contemporary figurative discourse, she produces portraits and self-portraits that assert personal truth while negotiating cultural presence. Her work considers how identity is constructed, seen, and mediated within both private and public contexts.

Alongside her studio practice, she has developed an interest in the ethical and contextual dimensions of exhibition-making, gaining experience through active involvement in group exhibitions and committee work. She was a member of the exhibition committee for the second-year group show, Miscellanea, helping to curate the exhibition. She is currently completing a BA in Fine Art Painting at the University of Brighton.

Her practice continues to evolve through material experimentation, critical research, and sustained studio discipline, positioning painting as both a personal and political act.