Expressions on Canvas
Art has constantly evolved and continues to explore through the creative mentation of young artists. Art today is all about spreading happiness, impressing social messages on people and just keeping one’s views and opinions out there. Instagram has grown to become a major platform for art pages, writing pages and the like. And so to know more about some budding artists on Instagram, I went on to interview them.
Meet Pari Shah, a fashion student who feels art is cathartic. It is a beautiful feeling when she paints something.
She recalls her mother painting when she was a child and she used to admire her brushes and boxes full of paint. They seemed like treasure to her and that’s how her fascination seeded.
She follows countless fashion designers and artists on Instagram. She follows art pages which are very strong in their personal aesthetic like Charre, Rupi Kaur, Marina Oberlin and drag queens like Sasha Velour. She believes in not restricting the field of inspiration.
She is proud of her latest art work which is a painting of Olly Alexander from the British band years and years. It was about combining her love for their music, her fascination with the way Olly looks and a particular image she had seen of a blue and white wallpaper- all combined.
Her art account is now private as she believes art is not about recognition but something that she wants to share with her close ones. Her future plans are going forward in the field of fashion and she plans to keep art as her hobby.
“Art is a personal experience for me, it gives me a way to express my thoughts, to spend time in solitude, or to clear out my head”, says Avni Tripathi.
Unlike other passions Art was unexpected in Avni’s life. She drew something at the age of 12 which came out really well. Next thing was her mother bringing all the required art supplies and months down the line she was painting her bedroom walls. Not being very forthcoming as a child, art helped her express herself and she also gained confidence. She loves her style and states, “it is flawed but mine”.
Artists do inspire her like Vermeer, El Greco, Manet, Claude and more. She feels art is too personal for her to be shared by someone else’s style or point of view, so she is inspired but is unable to follow them.
Her favourite works are the sceneries she made with oil colours after being inspired by so many stories of the wild. It is the first she has used these colours and marvels at the flexibility of the colours allowing her to mould her trees and rivers just the way she imagined them in her head. The dominant part of her art is about expression which delivers through abstract patterns, designs and strokes. She is proud of a painting she named ‘Fragile’ made on an acrylic sheet with water colours. She had to use two layers of tissue to hold the flowers together.
She is moody with her paintings. Sometimes she goes into her shell for weeks and some days she is painting all the time. Nevertheless she considers art an important part of herself and will never let it go.
Meet Noor Dhillon who grew up watching her seniors paint and sketch and wondered if she would be able to do it one day. She started sketching in grade 7 and it became a way to give her emotions an outlet. Slowly she realised that she could give art a chance and that is when she started to maintain sketch books or diaries to make sure that she always had them around her. This young artist is self-taught, far away from knowing the technicalities of sketching, she generally makes anything she finds interesting.
She recently made her Instagram page named ‘the_pencil_tales’. She posts sketches she made in the diary from 2016. The page is just to share her work with her friends or people who may be interested in a similar form of art. It is to add to the variety of art works on Instagram. The page is also there to give ideas to people who would want to start small like she did.
Art for Noor is a way to express herself and capture moments. Every sketch makes her feel special in ways that are impossible to put into words. Sketching is also a way for her to express love for the people who are important to her, be it through sketches or just some cards. It expands her horizon and makes her consider things she would never have thought of. It helps her grow as a person and also teaches her patience. Her decision to start a page on social media was not to get followers or likes. It was to meet people who like what she does. To inspire someone into trying something new they never thought they could. It was to show that by just having FAITH in OURSELVES we can achieve wonders. All we have to do is take one day at a time!
These people possess the actual ‘Artbeat’ as Art is indeed their heartbeat. For them art is a way of expression, of finding themselves and of spreading happiness. Instagram indeed has given them the platform where they can share their love for Art.
