When Parkinson’s robbed him of his steady hands for pen and ink, he moved to the computer and produced 200 digital drawings.

His pen and ink drawings were all scanned on a high resolution 600 dpi flatbed scanner, and prints can be made in any size. The  tiny watercolors have been scanned at 300 dpi and enlargements are amazingly beautiful. The digital drawings are all at 300 dpi and produce wonderful and dramatic enlargements. He was always so protective of his art; he did not want to take it out of his house. Therefore, it has been Linda Tomaselli, his life partner’s wish to have his art out in the world and recognized for its uniqueness and his masterful creations. 

Amir was born in Gorgon, Iran. His parents were mostly Agnostic, although they passed on knowledge of Mithraism and Zoroaster, which has been reported as the first monotheistic religion, many centuries before Christ.

During the time of the Shah, his father was a protester against the terrible    treatment of people in Iran. He had to go into exile several times. That was a big influence on young Amir and also made him critical of life in the United States. One can see his disdain in his pen and ink artwork, like Chaos and My Appointment with Katrina at 9:11. His world view is also shown in his Chariots of Pegasus. He loved Mother Nature, and it is shown in his Mother Nature in Love. But he also showed the pain and destruction of Mother Nature in his trilogy: Regret, Betrayed and Prelude to the End.

Amir came to the US in around 1976, before the fall of the Shah. He was here on a student visa and he earned a master’s degree in Motion Pictures for TV and the Cinema, from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. He was made an Honorary Jesuit.

After the fall of the Shah, he did not want to return to Iran, but his student visa was no longer valid. For years he worked without a green card and was paid under the table. That made him very reluctant to promote himself.

Earlier in the 1970’s, when he got his architecture degree in Italy, he became an Italian citizen. He married an Italian woman, and after 18 years in the US, she convinced him that he should give her a child. He became devoted to the child, Isabella. His wife insisted that they return to Italy, but then she asked for a divorce. A few years later, after he had been back working in Italy, the US government invited him to apply for a green card, and he did. Since he had broken all his ties to Hollywood, he returned to live with his sister in Auburn, Alabama. 

In 1994, he met Linda Tomaselli, who became his life partner, and who is now promoting his wonderful undiscovered artistry. He became a US citizen in 2000. He worked for her in her computer consulting business, but then also vastly expanded his work with pen and ink drawings that continued up until 2017, when Parkinson’s slowly robbed him of his steady hand for pen and ink. But with his knowledge of computers, he turned his artistic talents to digital art.  

 Here are some examples of his pen and ink artistry