Meet Nidhi Samani from Studio-ID Art Gallery

Nidhi Samani, Orion 2, mixed medium on canvas, S$1,900, Studio-ID Art Gallery

Known for her meditative landscape paintings, British-Indian artist Nidhi Samani will be showing at the upcoming Singapore fair for the second time.She also happens to be one of driving forces behind Studio-ID Art Gallery, a rising contender in the Southeast Asian and Indo-Pacific contemporary art market.

From experimenting with mediums to moving to another country, Nidhi walks us through the ebbs and flows of her creative journey as a Zen-sational artist: From her early encounters with art, travel inspirations and blossoming success at international art fairs in Taiwan and other parts of the world. Plus, find out about her newest series The Orion, which will be available atStudio-ID Art Gallery (Stand 2A-20), Affordable Art Fair Singapore from 18 to 20 November 2022 at the F1 Pit Building!

Hi Nidhi, could you tell us about your background and how your career as an artist started?

My encounters with art, in different forms, started very early on in my childhood. First inspiration was from my grandmother. She was an award winning “Doll artist”. I enjoyed playing with the textures and materials that she worked with,  helping her to create and dress the dolls in costumes representing different cultures from around the world.

Second inspiration came from meditation, which I learnt from my father.  Meditation connects me to the various dimensions of the self, that I grew up knowing as the “Inner Dimensions”. These lasting impressions have opened up innumerable questions to find out where have we come from and where are we going.

Combining these inspirations with my formal training as a Fashion Designer eventually found an expression as an artist, therefore I believe art is inherently in my DNA.

With a strong interest in nature, and philosophy, inspired by the spirit of meditation and inward exploration, I transform my rich travel experience into art, the pursuit of which has become inextricably linked to my creative work. My creative process manifests in my attempt to dissolve the virtual and reality of the world, that is, inner feelings and real objects, into a natural code with a more sensory appeal, grafting the spirit and the natural world.

There is a captivating element of Zen and story-telling in your paintings of natural landscapes, such as in Orion 1. What inspires you to paint these scenes?

In my latest series The Orion, which is an extension of the Journeys Beyond series, my thoughts, feelings, and emotions are exuded to coalesce into a flow of peace and silence that can be felt amongst the clouds. The textured representations of the mountains against the soft clouds is a natural juxtaposition that becomes a fossilised experience of the mind, alluring though, you can see the clouds, but you can’t touch them.

Fortunately for me, I moved to Taiwan in 2020, a beautiful country with mountains and clouds with aesthetic monuments amongst them. Painting mountains, while living on one, surrounded by fleeting clouds every day is both exhilarating and peaceful. This has been the main source of my inspiration of Orion series. Focus of my ‘Journeys Beyond’ series shifted from mountains to more holistic ecosystem in entirety. This was the momentous capture in the stillness of my mind that brought a certain peace, making the magical moments too frequent.

I am inspired to bring meditative tranquillity in my art works to the viewers. Further inspired by works of Mark Rothko – “He believed his art could free unconscious energies, previously bound by mythological images, symbols, and rituals. Rothko even went so far as to recommend that viewers position themselves as little as eighteen inches away from the canvas so that they might experience a sense of intimacy, as well as awe, a transcendence of the individual, and a sense of the unknown.”

How important is experimentation in your artistic practice?

Experimentation of thoughts is an important starting point. The materials that I use is industrial and natural, as they both have to co-exist alongside in our modern life. Experimenting the compositions and the material is what I find is fascinating. I am experimenting with liquid charcoal and with new connective materials like the silicone.

Do you have any advice for young artists out there?

I highly encourage young trained/untrained artists to experiment with what their mind suggests and what their heart desires, whether in techniques, colours, materials or compositions. Researching the current trends, the classic art and the contemporary art alike is important to stretch the mind to possibilities and then to creativity.

You first showed with Studio-ID Art Gallery in our 2019 fair. What about your creative process has changed since then?

Since 2019, a lot has changed in the world! For me, I literally moved countries. This change, including various lockdowns for COVID-19, gave me time to experiment different styles and genres of art work. I have produced following 3 different art series:

1. Collective Isolation: series subtly borrows the concepts of metaphysical and non-material in ink painting, showing the rhythm of calm, which contains the destiny of the heart in a rapidly changing era.
2. Blooms: interweaves the different cultural connotations of the cities I have visited with the objects (such as leaves) in the pictures, which not only present the trajectory of memory but an intertextual record of the natural context and spiritual practice.
3. Abstracts on wood: Techniques of superimposition, juxtaposition, and re-contextualisation to invoke urban and rural tones, showing the reality of introspective under civilisation.

Before we leave you to get busy, tell us one last thing: What can we expect to see from your collection at the Singapore fair?

I am excited to bring my latest Journeys Beyond series that is already well recognised amongst my collectors in Singapore. The Orion will be shown for the first time in Singapore and I am looking forward to meeting our visitors at the fair and introduce the series in person.

I am showing my sculpture “Collective Isolation” representing my artful journeys into contraventions of wood, resin, acrylics, cement, and plexiglass, responsive to the emotions of the masses at large. My works are invitation to go within, through the sensorial and tactile touch, but untouched by the outside, in the box, a space of solace and sanctuary.

Likewise, we cannot wait to see Nidhi’s collection at the fair and immerse in the enchanting and calming qualities of her creations. Mark your diary with the Singapore fair dates (18 – 20 November 2022, F1 Pit Building), and be sure to purchase your tickets to hear more from Nidhi in person atStudio-ID Art Gallery (Stand 2A-20)!