About The Painting : 45
This painting is inspired by the occasion of the artist turning 45 years young. The artist’s name “Naina”, means “eyes’ in the Hindi language, which is the primary language of her home country. As a child, even through college, the most-doodled artefact on her notebooks used to be a human eye. She’s always wanted to paint an eye, but never quite got around to it, till now.
The painting also represents awakening, opening of the third-eye and energetic progression. The artist feels she has grown more in the last two years combined than in the previous 42 years. Despite being quite self-aware, open to learning and moving forward repeatedly, relentlessly, resourcefully.
When rotated 90 degrees, the painting could also be interpreted as the “yoni”, which is a Sanskrit word representing the Goddess Shakti, symbolizing creation, regeneration, and the union of feminine and masculine energies, in keeping with the theme of the series that this painting is a part of. “Yoni” is also a Sanskrit word for vulva or vagina, translating to “sacred cave” or “sacred space”.
This painting is available to acquire directly from the artist from the online store. Currently priced at AUD 1,800 + shipping (shipping within Adelaide is free, please email / text). Please contact the artist directly on email [email protected] or text 0429048917
The painting is signed and dated and is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity.
Materials
The artist uses acrylic markers to hand-paint each artwork. Acid-free gesso is applied to the canvas before she begins the painting. Some paintings have pencil sketches on top of which the synthetic polymer paint is layered. Each painting is photographed prior to the application of varnish. Several coats of high-gloss liquid, UV resistant, museum-grade, acid-free, non-yellowing varnish is applied to the painting, and it is finished with several layers of permanent matte varnish spray, similar in grade to the liquid varnish.
About The Series
The growing discourse on gender, sexuality and identity, is what brought forth this series for the artist. While the online world can seen as polarizing and swinging between the two extremes of centuries-old misogyny and newly-minted misandry, real people in real life continue to collaborate and build lives of magical energy. After posting a couple of short videos on her Instagram page, and after reading through and responding to thousands of comments, the artist feels like the fervor has never been this in-her-face. She feels the vibrations from women who seem to be coming into their own, developing relationships with their divine and sacred selves, choosing to get to know themselves better and unlearning the conditioning of needing a man in their lives. At the same time, men seem to be coming into their own as well. Breaking free from patriarchal strong holds, exploring their spirituality and honoring the feminine within their masculine.
The lived experiences of both the feminine and the masculine are colliding. And not always in beautiful ways. Regardless, there’s an energy and a vibration around the artist that she has not experienced before in her life.
She aims to bring forth these vibrations in her paintings for this series.
The title of the series has not been worked out yet.
About The Artist
Naina is a contemporary artist based in Adelaide, South Australia. This is the first work of art that she has painted in Australia. In India, she is represented by The Art Qurious, which is an Art Gallery based in New Delhi.
Naina had her first gallery exhibition in August 2024. Her first ever art exhibit was in 2020.
You are also able to follow the journey of her paintings on her Instagram Reels page.
To browse through Naina’s art, please see the Khaosphilos section on this website.
For art acquisition enquiries in India, please email Sangita Rajani of The Art Qurious on [email protected] and for art commission enquiries or gallery representation in Australia, please reach out to me on [email protected] or text on +61429048917
The first painting in this series is titled “We Ride At Dawn” and you can read more about it here and purchase it from my online store by clicking below. (Shipping within Adelaide is free, please email me on [email protected]).
We Ride At Dawn, 2025. Synthetic polymer paint on canvas. 90 cms diameter
System Of Becoming, 2025. Synthetic polymer paint on canvas. 90 cms diameter
Photographs
The following photographs are self-portraits that the artist shot at a parking lot at Henley Beach, which hold special significance to her. After her move to Australia, she made friends with another girl and after a hard day at work, the friend would drive the both of them to this parking lot, where both girls would strip to their underwear and run onto the beach. This ritual will always be a special memory to the artist because it was the first time she felt free enough to do something like this. Especially coming from an unsafe for women country to a country where whoever the saw the two girls egged them on with “Go girls!” instead of commenting on their bodies or harassing them.
