Whenever you wander through an art gallery, you can notice that most art hangs on a wall. Saba Merati’s art is the wall. For Saba, who is a specialist in mural painting, decorative arts and classical techniques, the surfaces most people could do nothing more than pass through, overlooking them, are exactly where her work begins. Ceilings, facades and the grand sweep of an interior wall are the beating heart of her work; in her hands, they become the centrepiece of a space.
A Journey Painted in Layers
Saba Merati built her artistic journey with slowness and patience, following the logic of the craft, which needs dedication to be mastered. She began, like many other artists, with drawing, studying it and practicing it till it became second nature and a part of her that she could not neglect. But over time, her ambitions outgrew the canvas. Her work grew to expand to encompass large-scale murals, classical ceiling paintings in the tradition of Europe’s great decorative interiors and bespoke commissions for both private homes and commercial spaces.
In spite of the fact that her arts grew out, she still distinguishes her work by a commitment to classical techniques. From the first glance, it is noticeable that her practice follows methods that predate the age of digital design and mass reproduction, rooted in the kind of skill that cannot be outsourced or rushed.
Her work is distinguished by hand-mixed pigments and deliberate brushwork, which look more as if they were created to last not just for years, but for generations.
Finding a Home in Oman
The nature of Saba Merati’s art requires expansion beyond regular galleries as it needs a place where her work is truly seen and Oman became that place.
“Oman became an important station in my artistic journey”, she says. “I found here a great appreciation for art and craftsmanship; and a clear interest in artistic works that add aesthetic character and a distinct identity to a space”.
She found that there is a harmony between Omani clients and what she offers through her artistic work as they own a sense that is shaped by the idea that a room or a building deserves its own artistic identity.
She works across the Sultanate of Oman, where she has taken on a wide range of commissions: interior and exterior murals, ceiling paintings, decorative works, private canvases and fully customised designs shaped around each client’s vision and each project’s unique character.
The Client Who Gives Space to Create
“Clients here value quality and artistic detail”, she says “and they give the artist space to be creative and to offer new ideas”.
Such a kind of trust is the heart of artistic work as it gives freedom, which is a condition that makes ambitious work possible.
When a client trusts an artist to interpret a space rather than simply execute a brief, the result tends to be something neither could have imagined alone. Saba has found that dynamic in Oman more readily than in many places, finding an openness to artistic collaboration rather than mere decoration-on-demand.
What drives her is something deeper than just enjoying the arts. “I always look forward to creating artworks that leave a beautiful mark”, she announces as her arts message “and that contributes to bringing beauty to the spaces I work in”,
In an age when interiors are increasingly assembled from catalogues, Saba has chosen to set her work apart.
A mural cannot be copy-pasted. A classical ceiling cannot be downloaded. The hours of skill and imagination embedded in Saba’s work are irreplaceable and the spaces that hold them know it.
For Saba Merati, every wall is a story of beauty and dedication; and every ceiling is a canvas.
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