Artist Talk: Nashid Chroma

Nashid Chroma is a Toronto-Based Digital Pop Artist and his work explores the threshold between the Iconic and the Anonymous. He studied fine art and psychology at the University of Waterloo, and then completed a master’s of architecture from U of T prior to deciding to pursue art professionally in 2021.

The compositions and visual motifs are inspired by each icon’s upbringing, influences, or the emotions that they evoke from their performances. Floral and geometric adornments are loaded with meaning to humanize the person in question, but they also visually abstract the portraits to feel disconnected and object-like.

This tension between human and object has always been an inspiration to Nashid, and his art responds to this phenomenon. Celebrities are real people with emotions, insecurities, and dreams – but they are also idols of secular worship and adoration. That point is made every time someone displays one of Nashid’s works in their home.

There is also the question of intellectual property and copyright that is flirted with in Nashid’s work because of the direct clash between an artist’s freedom of expression and a celebrity’s right of publicity. The motifs consequently are also a shield to protect Nashid’s artistic efforts, but their delicacy alludes to the power struggle between independent creators like himself and large corporate media entities. The question can then be asked to what degree does one resonate more with – who the art is of or Nashid’s artistic interpretation of said figure?

Finally, Nashid uses bright saturated colour as an aesthetic anchor to bind his body of work into a cohesive collection. Chroma refers to the colourfulness of something and he continuously explores new ways to push the boundaries of colour in every new work he produces.