Rachelle Reichert interviews painter Amir Fallah on the occasion of Fallah's recent exhibtion The Collected at Gallery Wendi Norris, San Francisco.

Reichert introduces the conversation: "Inspired by Renaissance portraiture and vanitas paintings, Fallah’s paintings are engaging and intelligent. Working with themes of power and economics in the history of commissioned portraiture, Fallah constructs unique portraits featuring draped figures surrounded by personal mementos from the sitter’s home. There is an implied significance to the objects the sitters surround themselves with and serve as a face of identity." Fallah comments: " I wanted to paint a portrait of someone without having to do a literal portrait displaying male or female, young or old, all the basic things that describe a traditional portrait. I always cover the 90% of the body and their faces with their own belongings, be it with their duvet cover, their favorite shirt, a blanket, something from their home. I am creating a deconstructed portrait of who they are so usually it is a ghost of a figure with a couple of items."