Somia Naveed Art

My work is built on a love for color, pattern and texture rooted in the large, historic home where i grew up in Karachi, Pakistan.

The symmetrical patterned floors, intricate woodwork, and lush gardens were my first playground became my visual language.

These foundational and structural influences clearly show up in my approach to symmetry, repetition, and spatial design.

Painting was once a hobby, then a career and before i realized it, it had become an obsession.

It began as a way to step outside expectations and claim a space entirely my own.

Decades later that fundamental truth remains; with my artwork i can be completely free.

Scale is how i express that freedom.

My large canvases demand physical engagement and the smaller paintings are often studies for these.

My aesthetic was initially shaped on a steady diet of art and design magazines and travel.

It taught me how to recognize and communicate my way of looking at the world through color.

I have been experimenting with mediums and materials and there have been many happy accidents which have altered the trajectory of my work every few years.

Once i know how a certain kind of paint behaves, i feel i can create magic with it.

Most of my pieces start out pale and quiet.

Almost until the end they look unremarkable to me, until they transform into something intense and unexpected.

After completing a tightly structured piece, i often turn to fluid pouring in my signature colors.

Every artwork is entirely painted by hand on canvas using acrylic and mixed media.