Artospective: Figurative Art by Aunia Kahn

An Interview with Aunia Kahn Figurative Artist.

Who and where are you from?

Hello. My name is Aunia Kahn. I am a multi-faceted creative entrepreneur and a globally awarded, collected, and exhibited artist/photographer, a published author, as well as a teacher, and an inspirational speaker.

What brought you to Art?

Art has always been in my blood. However, I never thought about pursuing art as a career. In the early days, I entered college and the working world and went to college for psychology while working in the graphic and web design industry.

A few years later my world came crashing down and I became very ill. Unfortunately, I had to drop out of college, quit my job and my life came to a halt. I saw numerous doctors that brushed me off, telling me it was "all in my head". It was a very lonely time. It is hard to garner support when what is wrong with you is invisible.

In this, I turned to art and creativity again, just as I did when I was younger, as salvation. It was one of the only things that kept me going on this planet for the next 17 years without answers and minimal support. I started as a painter who moved into the digital world due to severe allergies to all mediums. My work was typically portraiture, with myself as the primary subject while I worked out the feelings of loneliness, isolation, pain, frustration, and the hope I carried through those years. The work is a juxtaposition of light and dark and in the early years, it was much darker than it is now. My work has become a lot lighter since I finally received a diagnosis in 2017. The style is also a visual journal of my life experiences and the symbolism runs deep for me.

What is your driving force?

My driving force is to connect to my soul and the world around me. To create from a place of connection, healing, and support. It is in my blood and feels like home - even if no one ever saw the work.

What kind of work you do and why?

I am primarily a figurative artist and photographer, but my recent diagnosis and medical support gave me the ability to explore new mediums outside of digital. With these new mediums, I am exploring animals, with a large focus on birds. I am creating a bird book with little stories about their lives.

Tell us more about your thought process.

My process is ever-changing as I explore these new mediums in the physical plane. I often set up my studio space with a subject (human/animals) in mind and let the art take me where it wants to go. I don't often have a preconceived notion of what the final work will look like. The compositions come alive with each new stroke or addition to the work. Planning ahead feels pushed and stressful to me. The art always talks to me, gets into my soul and I just feel what happens next. With doing work this way, I often make mistakes by taking risks or run into brand new ways to do something. It's a lot of fun to just run with your soul and intuition.

Please share with us the one modern artist whose work you find Interesting and why?
I personally feel that there is not just one artist that I find interesting, as there are too many that have impacted me and the world. I find art overall interesting and it does not matter if a 7 year old created it, my students, by best friends’s grandmother or a professional artist. I feel all art is relevant, needed and interesting. Even if I don’t like it, I can find something interesting in everything I consume that is creative.

We are Just sharing some of the Digital Figurative Art by Aunia Kahn for more of her work please check the links provided at the end.