Curatorial Rationale

Kabir J.

The theme surrounding my chosen artworks is “the effects of global issues around the world”. For the past few years, the presence of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a serious effect all around the world. This has been a very serious crisis, but it has also created other global issues such as lack of education, depression, hunger, and many others. Through these artworks, I want to express my feelings and how I overcame these global issues for over two years through art. This is a more effective way for me because I am an introvert and I have a hard time expressing deep feelings especially about depression to new people, therefore through art I can easily express how I feel to the viewer. By presenting the chosen artworks, I hope to deliver a message to the viewer that during the pandemic everyone experienced the same feelings and it has not just been an individual’s experience. In addition to negative memories or moments throughout the pandemic like feeling lonely, we also built a stronger connection with our families.

Before completing each of my pieces, I took inspiration from Contemporary, Pop and Geometric Abstract Art. Throughout these art styles, I had shown how the effect of global issues, specifically COVID-19, depression, lack of education, racism, and hunger had an impact on everyone around the world. The incorporation of human figures was inspired by Keith Haring as it represented different situations of individuals. In order to organize societal issues, incorporation of shapes as Geometric Abstract Art seemed very effective, inspired by Piet Mondrian. This situation can be seen in the painting, “Love of Family”. When referring to “World in Rubbles” and “Unity”, shapes were used to represent meaning, for example the sharp objects like the triangles were negative world impacts hurting people worldwide. Throughout each of these pieces, the taping technique was very effective in making each side and edge straight when painting the shapes using acrylic paint. Whereas, shading had been very effective in “KJ’s World of Joy”.

My goal for this exhibition is for the viewer to connect within my art pieces and not feel lonely due to issues occurring during the pandemic. I want my viewer to leave on a note that, “We are all in this together, and we will get through this together”.