Work & Worship: Rabea Chaudhry-North Star

30" x 48"

Acrylic on canvas

Artist Statement:  My paintings use an inverted stamping technique, where the foreground is the most immediate layer of the painting.  In my work the focal point of each piece (the Arabic script) is found only by looking through the foreground and into the background.  This visual search beyond the foreground symbolizes an individual’s inward struggle to fight the self-serving impulses that motivate desires and vendettas.  The interaction of the foreground and the background in delineating the Arabic represents an individual overcoming the temptation to serve the self in favor of fulfilling someone else’s needs.  Each painting is a reminder that in order to work towards a more beautiful world we must move beyond the inclination to serve our own desires.