Makan Negahban is a self-taught Iranian-American artist based in Los Angeles. Having worked for years as a musician before transitioning into painting, his practice brings together a wide range of techniques, compositions, and materials, reflecting an interest in the many visual languages available to a contemporary artist.

The paintings in Vitamin D focus on the human body in motion, including working, racing, riding, swimming, and floating. These are actions rooted in physical presence and experiences that cannot be replicated or replaced. The title points to a form of deficiency. Vitamin D is produced through exposure to sunlight, and its absence becomes a metaphor for what is increasingly missing in contemporary life. Activities that once formed the rhythm of everyday existence, such as being outdoors, moving, and engaging physically with others, now require conscious effort, almost as if they must be supplemented.

Many of the works are set against dark, nearly black backgrounds. Figures emerge from this darkness rather than being illuminated by light, creating a sense of tension and focus. A runner poised at the starting line, polo players caught mid-stride, and swimmers suspended in motion each capture a moment of embodied action. In some works, fragments of language appear, including words such as GLORY, PERFECTION, and SUCCESS, reflecting the systems of meaning and pressure that have accumulated around simple physical acts.

Negahban’s approach to painting mirrors his subject matter. Working quickly on unprimed, unstretched canvas, he treats painting as a form of performance, an immediate and physical act that preserves the energy of the moment. His compositions move fluidly between abstraction and representation, from raw gestural marks to more defined figures, allowing each work to function both as an expressive record and as a meditation on the fleeting nature of lived experience.

At its core, Vitamin D reflects on the value of physical engagement in an increasingly mediated world. The works consider what it means to be present in one’s body, to act in real space, and to remain connected to experiences that are immediate, tangible, and shared.