Through his unique style of portraiture, Nashid challenges the instant recognizability of celebrities by striking a careful balance between familiarity and distance. While celebrities are real people with emotions, insecurities, and dreams, they are also idols of secular worship and adoration.

The question of intellectual property and copyright is flirted with in Nashid’s work due to the direct clash between an artist’s freedom of expression and a celebrity’s right to publicity. Consequently, the motifs act as 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.

After graduating from University of Toronto with a Masters in Architecture, Nashid worked in this field before deciding to become a professional artist. Since then he’s grown his social media following to just over 200k followers between Instagram and TikTok; collaborated with brands like Disney, Adidas, and LCBO; and did a massive self-funded billboard campaign in Toronto back in 2021.

“Foreign Flwrs” includes a collection of large canvas prints of Nashid’s digital art as well as a series of traditional art pieces that he has created for this exhibition. Through the medium of portraiture, this exhibition delves into the intricacies of modern celebrity culture, examining the tension it creates between anonymity and authenticity.

In 2021, Nashid initiated a self-funded Art Scavenger Hunt campaign in Toronto and proactively presented his paintings across the downtown, from bus shelters, bike share stations to large scale billboards. Redefining the boundary between art and public advertising space, this showcase brought himself into the culture ethos of Toronto urban life.

Much as the environment erodes, the rain blurs the lines between objects, and many things start melting into one another. Delineations are no longer clear. And sometimes the raindrops contain their own mini landscapes, transforming how we see.

Car headlights glow on the pavement and sparkle in the raindrops, turning an otherwise dreary day into a beautiful one. The headlights and street lamps signal the attraction we feel to the conveniences of modern life. But the oncoming headlights also present a sense of foreboding and approaching danger, even as they dazzle.

In one of my paintings, “The Rose Emporium,” a lone pedestrian walks home at night. To her right is a flower shop, signalling the beauty of nature — though contained and clipped. On the road a car approaches from behind, bringing with it a sense of peril. In another painting, “Pedalling Through the Storm,” a determined cyclist bikes to his destination, navigating through a busy road even as the rain blurs the scene making it difficult to demarcate objects.