Portfolio: Traditional Paintings and Drawings

United in the Eyes of God. January 2002. 3’x 2’. Oil on Canvas. Portrait of my Christian mother and Muslim father on their wedding day. Painted to commemorate the harmony of their marriage countering the view set by news media, which implies the two cultures clash and are unable to mix. Use of orange and blue is to represent the backgrounds that complement each other and create some of the most beautiful and natural hues.

Inner Ecstasy Awakening. December 1998. 30” x 22.” Charcoal, pastel, and gesso on paper. A depiction of infatuation for a personality through media. True love of images or parts of the whole.

Look Series. February 2001. 4’x 5.’ Pastels on paper mounted to foam core. Installation. Edges on foam core are painted with oil paint and gloss medium so that the parts have a look of pieces of a broken mirror. Intended to reflect both the partial selves of an individual person as well as the experience of schizophrenia in which an individual is confronted by the stares of strangers in all directions.

Detail of the Look Series 6” x 10”

Alex. December 1998. 38” x 25.” Charcoal, pastel, and gesso on paper.

Induction into Heaven Reality. March 2001. 38” x 50.” Pastel on paper. Simulation of a false sense of Heaven—one in which the media is god. Comment on the glamorization of celebrities. From the perspective of a mental patient as if paralleling schizophrenic delusions with the Westernized hype of pop culture.

Fitting Music. November 1998. 30” x 12.” Charcoal and pastel on denim. About the aspects of life that people attach to their souls more easily than others.