3 of A Kind

Acrylic on Canvas

36" x 48″

Haleh Mashian’s 3 of A Kind delves into the psychology of competition, power, and obsession. In this figurative mixed media painting, three players sit around a poker table, each absorbed in their own inner game. Their faces reveal quiet intensity—calculated expressions masking uncertainty and desire. The subdued palette of blues, blacks, and ochres, contrasted with textured layers of paint, amplifies the tension between restraint and impulse.

Mashian masterfully captures the emotional gravity of the scene: the stillness before a move, the silent calculations, and the unspoken rivalry that defines human nature. The figures appear almost sculptural, their gestures frozen in a moment of concentration that feels both intimate and isolating. The drips and blended pigments across the canvas lend a sense of time slowing, as though the players are trapped in an endless cycle of anticipation.

Part of Mashian’s Figurative Series, 3 of A Kind transcends gambling to comment on the allure of risk, the need for control, and the thin line between confidence and vulnerability. Ideal for collectors and interior designers drawn to contemporary figurative art with psychological depth and expressive texture, this work is a striking reflection on tension, strategy, and the human condition.