ABOUT THE BOOK The Paintings of Art Pinajian, A Family Story, is an illustrated non-fiction novel about an Armenian-American painter whose work sold for a fortune after he died, though he lived on the edge of poverty. Ashod "Archie" Pinajian was a Najarian on his mother's side, and what happened to his work became a universal story of greed and betrayal, yet his faith in the power of art was a redemptive force that never diminished. "It is between me and myself that I work now.... My work is a reflection of what I want my life to be.... To understand the totality of art is to arrive at its creation.... If you are conscious of Totality, time will coalesce everything into one.... Searching for forms is terrific therapy and makes me feel good and refreshed.... No one notices, of course, except the creator and sometimes not even he." From Archie's letters to his cousin Pete. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Peter Najarian is a passionate and idealistic American author, painter, basketball player and substitute teacher who resides in Berkeley, California.