Inspiring young artists: Sabeheh Ambia’s work finds beauty through distortions

ISLAMABAD:

It is a pleasure for art galleries to host exhibits of young and new artists who are exploring the field and experimenting themselves. “This is precisely the reason why we opened an art gallery; to encourage and motivate young artists to experiment and showcase their work to the public”, said Sakina, the director of For the Love of Art while speaking to The Express Tribune.

“It takes a lot of courage for an artist to exhibit their work for the first time, they are so attached to their artwork that it feels like they are leaving their child at school on the first day of school when they leave it at an art gallery for an exhibition. Completely unaware of how the market will react to their work, they are not exactly ready for criticism yet want their work to be seen and talked about”, said Sabeheh Ambia Khan, the artist behind the recent exhibition.

Sabeheh is an abstract artist who tries to find beauty and peace of mind within anything her eyes fall upon. Despite the distortions in the world, it seems like Sabeheh focuses on the beautiful aspects and finds meaning and peace around her to translate that onto her canvas. Her collection, which is not necessarily under one theme varies greatly but is stunning to say the least. While some paintings were portraits, others were abstract and a few were architectural paintings. She has used all sorts of colors including browns and greys to black in combination with bright reds, greens, blues and yellows.

When asked if she has received formal art education, Sabeheh said that she is a self-trained artist who took a course in sketching while studying fashion design at undergraduate level. “My father is an artist and I have always been inspired from him so I experimented for my own satisfaction. All the work exhibited in this exhibition is painted at different points in time without a theme in mind, which is precisely why it is so diverse”, said Sabeheh.

She added that she loves using mixed medium and enjoys just about any medium that speaks to her. “The beauty of mixing oil and acrylic is that is brings out a unique feel, which I hope to share with my audience”, said Sabeheh.

Her exhibition runs till Sunday, June 14 at For the Love of Art, in E-11/2 Islamabad.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 14^th, 2015.