LC: Please tell us about your composition of "Journey" and what you hope our community walks away with after spending some time with it.
Well first, these were initially digital artworks, which you can still get on museum quality giclee canvas prints from my website, but when the opportunity came to display artwork at Local Coffee, thank you again, Kevin, I wanted to do something special, so I added clay to the artworks and painted the clay in acrylic, making them all 1 of a kind.
But back to your question on the inspiration behind the artworks themselves. During Covid, I went through a rough time and there was nowhere else to turn for answers but within. This is when I got into self-care, such as meditation, breathwork, and journaling. These things allowed me to calm my mind, self-reflect, and connect deeper to myself, providing me with clarity and helping me grow through that period.
And I realized growing through it was a journey. I also realized this "journey" can be related to other obstacles or hardships in one's life that you need to grow through.
The 1st piece in the collection, “The Sun Will Rise Another Day”, is about having the strength to let go of people and/or circumstances not serving you. For example, it's hard to let go of someone you miss, and this can hold you back from moving forward. So what I want people to walk away with when they look at this artwork, is to realize they have the strength to let go of anything emotionally, mentally, or physically if it's holding them back. I want them to open up to the self-love they need to stay true to who they are and know that they are enough.
Leave the mess in the sunset.
The Sun Will Rise Another Day
Continuing the journey, the 2nd artwork, “Ponder”, represents the self-reflection and examination we should all do after we've "left the mess in the sunset". Where do you go from here? Which direction? I think these are questions we should be asking every once in a while in our lives, not necessarily when something bad has happened, but just to make sure your life is going in a direction that is aligned with your self-fulfillment.
Socrates said, "An unexamined life isn't a life worth living".
I agree.
If you're not examining your life, i.e., self-reflecting, then you may be going in the wrong direction from where you want your life to be.
I think the pandemic really made people self-reflect on the direction of their lives, and hence the "Great Resignation". People quit their jobs because of wage stagnation, lack of benefits and career advancement, bad work environment, job dissatisfaction, etc. People realized their values and their jobs didn’t align with their self-worth.
No matter what your situation is in life, what I want people to come away with after viewing Ponder is that self-reflection is always a good practice to have.
Because when you look inwards, asking yourself questions like, 'What do I value?, Am I being valued?', you get to know yourself deeper.
And when you do, you are more confident in your choices and clearer on what direction you want to go.
Ponder
The 3rd artwork in the journey, “Rise” (where the sun is rising), is about getting up, facing your self-doubt and fears, and moving forward once you’ve examined things such as your values and purpose. It’s one thing to make decisions in your head, but it doesn’t mean much if you don’t take action. I’m sure we’ve all been there where fear has held us back from taking action. For example, maybe you wanted to leave a job but the fear of the unknown and starting somewhere new kept you from taking action. Or the fear of rejection kept you from asking out a girl and a potentially beautiful relationship.
With this artwork, Rise, I want people to walk away feeling the inner strength that they have to face their self-doubt and fears and take action to start on a path toward the life they want.
Rise up and trust yourself.
Rise
Artwork 4, “Gap”, is about staying in the space between your thoughts and cultivating inner peace. This way, you can have the resilience to keep moving on even when negative thoughts discourage you from continuing to move forward on your journey or your monkey mind is distracting you from staying on track.
Deepak Chopra says "The knowing secret is in the gap between every thought, every sensation, every perception, every sound, every breath, every image, every experience…So, in the gap is infinite creativity, infinite possibilities, and pure joy."
Wayne Dyer said about the gap, “…it’s a space that allows us to build, create, imagine, and manifest all that we’re capable of creating with those thoughts.”
So the person in my artwork is in the gap, in the silence, combating negative thoughts that naturally arise within us, distracting us from moving forward. But also while in the gap, creative ideas are flowing in. And symbolically in the artwork, whatever is out beyond the arches is infinite possibilities and pure joy that can be attained.
I want this artwork to remind people to try to get in the gap throughout their day and stay in the silence whenever they feel overwhelmed. Also, go in the gap when you need to come up with creative solutions. Lastly, I want people to feel calm and know that there are infinite possibilities for joy out there.
Gap
“Sit and Sip” is the 5th and last part of the series, "Journey".
We’ve gone from leaving the “mess” in the sunset, pondering our life to make sure we live in alignment with what fulfills us, rising up in the face of self-doubt and fears and moving forward, dealing with negative thoughts and overwhelm that set us back, and now we are here.
Sitting and reflecting once again.
I believe self-reflection is an important thing to do for self-care, self-development, and happiness.
And happiness is not a destination but a life-long "journey".
This is because we are living a dynamic life; we will have different ups and different downs of varying degrees throughout. Happiness isn’t a sustained state.
Introspection to understand our emotions, mental state, and how we are affected by other people’s energy, words, and behavior, is important in understanding who we are, such as our triggers, fears, and strength.
When we know who we are, we’ll have boundaries and values that will keep us in check, and we’ll be more likely to know what we want in life, making it a more rewarding and happy one.
Apart from whatever this artwork evokes in someone, every now and then I would like them to look at the legs of the person and ask themselves, ‘Is this person disappearing or reappearing?’.
I’m not suggesting either answer is right or wrong, but if one answer makes them feel down, then I would ask them to dig deeper and ask themselves why they are feeling that currently.
If their answer makes them feel good, then hopefully they are in a state of mind where they can handle others and themselves, and stay on track to self-fulfillment.
So, sit back, introspect, stay in check, and have a drink, whatever that drink may be.
And sink into the stitch of your being.
Sit and Sip
LC: I’m always interested in people’s upbringings. Where did you grow up, how did you make your way to Montclair, NJ and how did this shape you into the artist today?
I grew up in Passaic, NJ until 5th grade, then we moved to Wayne, NJ. A few years after college, most of my friends were getting married or in serious relationships and buying places. I was still in Wayne but looking for a more lively place to live for a single guy, so I moved to Williamsburg in Brooklyn. That didn’t last long since I was still working in NJ and it just wasn’t convenient. One of my friends suggested moving to Montclair. She had lived here and said it was a fun town. So I moved to Montclair. This was about 15 years ago I think, and Montclair has only been growing in terms of restaurants, shops, bars…just the entire scene. Definitely a great move!
I only started seriously getting into art a couple of years ago when I started my e-commerce shop, and Montclair is the perfect town to start. This is because we have so many events where an artist can have a booth and display, sell, and gain exposure. Events like Jazz and Pride fests where we have thousands of people attending, and Diwali and Lunar New Year events being held in conjunction with AAPI and the Montclair Art Museum. Further, having so many restaurants, shops, and coffee shops here, artists have more places to showcase their artworks. I’ve had my art at La Rocca, still have some art at Charmed Beading Studio, some clothes at The WellNest, and now of course at Local Coffee.
Montclair has helped shape me into the artist I am today by giving me the confidence and proof that my art is something people would love to hang on their walls and wear (I also have my art on eco-friendly clothes). With this assurance, I can truly say that I’m an artist, which I’ve always felt I was, and keep creating!
LC: I read a bit about your background on your site and saw your artistic side started in your youth, writing about your feelings at an early age which turned into poetry and eventually art. Many young people don’t have the self-awareness to read and listen to their emotions, and even less find positive outlets for their emotions. Did you have guidance from anyone before you started writing poetry at a young age? And can you tell me more about some of the main events or people in your life that helped push you to express yourself through the arts?
No, I didn’t have any guidance, I don’t even think anyone knew really that I wrote poetry until college. And there wasn’t any self-awareness that made me think that writing out my emotions would help me. I just did it, I don’t know why. And it took the form of poetry because I liked rhyming, alliteration, and trying to be clever with wordplay.
What pushed me to express myself through poetry when I was younger was heartache, loneliness, and not feeling worthy. It was an outlet, which I didn’t even realize was an outlet till later in life.
During my 30s, I didn’t write much poetry except for the prompts that were given by the poetry group I was in. I think they are some of my best poems, and it’s great to know that I can write poems about things that aren’t personal to me. I haven’t written much recently since I’ve been busy with the business, and I’m making more time to create artworks I can express myself through and offer more chances to serve my audience if it resonates with them. The artworks vary in what they evoke. It could be calmness, inquisitiveness, romance, lust, to energy.
LC: Your creative expressions span many different formats, from digital, oil/acrylic, poetry, and even augmented reality. Can you provide more insight on how you like to use each one of these mediums for your work?
I like to use digital because it’s the fastest and sometimes most accurate way to get out what’s in my head. Also, with digital art, I can make customizations faster for customers who like a particular artwork but want to personalize it. Lastly, it’s easier to upload the file to my manufacturer so they can put it on apparel, shoes, water bottles, etc. With an oil/acrylic painting, I would have to take a picture of the artwork and then do a lot of post-editing to make sure it resembles the actual artwork.
I love oil because of the way it spreads and blends, but the brushes are hard to clean and the fumes can be too much, so I don’t do oil anymore. This is why I moved to acrylic. Once I have a big art studio space and someone to clean the brushes, I’ll do more oil paintings haha.
I also do acrylic because I like to challenge myself and see if I can paint what’s in my head. And, sometimes I just can’t accomplish what I want digitally, so I paint in acrylic.
As for poetry, well I think that’s what I’m best at. With poetry, I can express loneliness, outrage, love, hope, inquisitiveness, etc. I like to use poetry as a way to connect with others; my poetry can help people understand me better, it can make them feel less alone knowing someone else has felt the certain way they’re feeling, or people can also use my poetry to express their feelings when they can’t find the words.
I decided to do augmented reality when my friend showed me Poke Mon Go augmented reality when it came out. Immediately, I thought I have to use this for poetry and art. AR was new then in terms of its use on smartphones, and I’d never seen it used for poetry or art. I always wanted my art to be interactive and AR was the perfect thing. It brings a new dimension to the art world for the viewer, making it more immersive.
LC: Where do you get your inspiration for your work and do you have a process for beginning a new piece of work?
My inspiration can come in various ways. It can come from watching something emotional on tv, from songs, from a dream, from social injustices, from sensing what someone is feeling, and from experiences in life as is the inspiration for the artworks in the Journey series.
My process for beginning a piece of work starts with being in the right vibrational frequency. I need to feel it. I may have the idea in my head for a while, but if I’m not in the right frame of mind and energetic frequency, it’s just not going to come out right. The same goes for continuing a piece that I don’t finish in one sitting, and I never finish in one sitting. So sometimes a piece can sit there for months until I’m in the right vibrational frequency I need to be to continue. Once I’m mentally and energetically ready, then I need to get into a flow state. Listening to music that evokes feelings helps me get into a flow state. And if I’m creating during the afternoon, then I’ll have some wine, but if it’s the morning, then it will be espresso.
LC: What is your drink of choice at a coffee shop?
My drink of choice at a coffee shop is black coffee. If the coffee shop has good beans, that’s all I need. And I ask for the lightest roast because I’m pretty sure the lighter the roast the more caffeine. And if it’s hot outside, then it will be an iced black coffee!
To explore more of Niraj’s work please visit:
