Anoosh Mubashar
Home: Whitby, Ontario
Title: The Girl by the Train Window
Media: Oil on wood canvas
Dimensions: 76 x 61 cm
Instagram: @anart45m
ARTIST STATEMENT
The Girl by the Train Window explores the daily commute. Every day, you stop at the same place on the platform, sit in the same seat by that window, and inevitably see the same scene at that one station stop. A seemingly monotonous moment captured to invoke the nuances we tend to miss in our daily lives. A painting visually inspired by Dmitri Žilinski, a painter whom I feel serenely captures portraits, with the subject often looking off into the distance. I have recently been more intrigued by the idea of a portrait gazing directly at the viewer, a sort of connection as if to ask, “do you see me?” This intensity almost breaks the fourth wall, drawing the viewer into the experience, which can be a bit uncomfortable. Similar to how growth can feel uneasy, especially when stuck in the same daily rut. The lovely figure in the painting is my friend, Rozalyn, whom I would often visit when commuting to Toronto.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
Anoosh is a Toronto-based artist primarily working in paint. The human mind inspires her, and she expresses it through familial stories of nostalgia and growing pains. Her large-scale paintings often draw inspiration from her Pakistani background, particularly through the intricate patterns of Pakistani scarves, which expose aspects of culture that shape identity, relationships, and power dynamics. She also explores fleeting moments, melancholy, and the difficulty many face in staying present. She incorporates bold, vivid colours featuring delicate imagery that explores the contradictions of everyday life.