ARTIST NIK NEJAD… “VERSIONS OF HER”

You probably all had it… a friend with a hidden talent. Perhaps they think they can sing.. or they have amazing dance moves.. But once you finally get the private preview, you find yourself in a very uncomfortable situation where you discover that their talent perhaps isn’t as developed as they promised… I can start a full topic on how to react in these situations because I tried them all, but believe me, for friendship sake, the best thing is to smile and say… Interesting!

One of my friends in Dubai is an artist.. He never really talked about what he exactly does. But once he vaguely explained that he loves to paint and he invited me to his workshop so I could see his paintings. Guess my thought… “Here we go again..” I already got myself prepared for another uncomfortably “interesting situation” when I drove on my way to his workshop. And when he start showing me around, my guilt began to do its work.. His house was full of amazing artwork.. He explained that some of the artworks were collected over the years, but most of them were painted by himself or his dad. It was obvious that the talent runs through the family. Eventually he showed me some of the paintings he recently worked on. After a while my jaw was really hurting as it was hanging open for the pas 30 minutes… I absolutely fell in love with his work and the passion he has for his talent. After that, I got the pleasure of visiting his solo exhibition at 8th street studios in Dubai’s art district Al Quoz. The exhibition showcased Nejad’s most recent series of paintings; “Versions of her”

In my vision of his paintings, I clearly see the questioning about femininity displayed in an unique way. The artworks displays portraits with a very plain expression. There are no obvious emotions or objects painted which makes me extremely curious and wanting to look at the canvas for longer.

It becomes clear that the story and emotion behind the paintings are not handed to you on a silver platter, but actually reveal themselves once you really look deeper in to the portraits..

Navid:” The artworks centers on how femininity has been perceived, the role that femininity and gender have played in society in the past, the role they played now, and more so, in the future. I like to dissect and defragment an image of beauty, to find that defining point when something goes from being normal or ugly to being beautiful,’

For more info about Nik please visit www.niknejad.net