Iram Chughtai
Painting Life
Everyday
I am a studio art major. I make self-portraits and still life oil paintings from my everyday normal routine life. I want my paintings to have some meaning for viewers and tell a story. Some of my paintings contain arranged compositions and some are random moments that caught my attention and I saw the potential of playing a story on a canvas.
Artist/Thesis Statement
I make paintings based on everyday life, as I see and live it. The moments from my routine domestic life to ordinary objects are my inspiration. At first glance they may look like an ordinary collection of objects but what I am painting is not just a visual representation of something. These are images I find worth sharing by putting them on canvas. The reason for choosing these moments is because I feel like they can tell a story with meaning. Sometimes there is already a meaning in it and sometimes I arrange my composition to play a story, one of its examples is my painting of the kitchen table. Cooking is a messy task, and it requires lots of preparation, even before it’s started.
Though I believe that all art is a form of artist’s self-representation but painting self-portraits have truly helped me express myself through the process. I am a shy person, and my portraits reflect my personality. Even in my portraits I am hiding part of myself behind something. I hope to make something special out of these everyday not so special instances and items. The images in the paintings are to communicate to the viewers and help them find some narrative in it. To showcase that this is not just a mundane collection of items but that there must be a story behind it. It doesn’t matter if it’s the story I had in my mind, it can be something the others can relate to from their own memories or imagination. Which is okay as long as the image speaks for itself.
The images of particular moments and objects of regular life are placed on canvas using oil paints.
