FN Designs, a multidisciplinary art and design studio (Alserkal Avenue, Dubai), is staging Inhale/Exhale, a solo show by Dubai-based artist Sonu Sultania. Everyone is invited to admire her abstract works until 22 September 2023.
For Sultania, making art is a therapeutic process which brings her into a meditative state. She employs alcohol inks to create paintings in which she explores and expresses her inner world as well as surroundings. Seeking to make her works evoke peace and harmony, the artist thoughtfully chooses and mixes bright colours which, being diluted, become partly soft. Paired with flowing shapes and forms, such a palette does have a calming effect on the viewer.
Sultania says that each of the displayed art pieces reminds one “to slow down, inhale deeply, and exhale all the negativity”. Through her paintings, she aims to take her audience away to another realm full of tranquillity, where stories unfold and emotions find their voice.
About the artist
Sonu Sultania (born in Kolkata, India) is a contemporary artist and photographer who initially was trained in Corporate Law. After moving to Dubai, where she has been living since 2012, Sultania decided to dedicate herself to her passion: visual arts and photography.
“I am a visual storyteller,” the artist says. “[My works] revolve around a tale, a stolen moment, a dream or a journey, […] real or a fantasy, but […] magical.” Storytelling in her works of art is represented by the abstract landscapes (which, however, sometimes incorporate human figures) conveying her thoughts, feelings, and emotions.
She is inspired by many things, such as, for example, her dreams, her travel photography, and those philosophies which focus on nature, love, and community and personal development through self-discipline and responsibility. As the artist has lived in several countries, she also draws her inspiration from travelling: for her, it is an opportunity to delve into the culture of different communities.
Sultania has taken part in several exhibitions across the globe, although she has displayed her works mostly in the UAE. Her art has been on view at Tashkeel, Gallery Arabesque, Atlantis Hotel, Dubai Community Theatre and Arts Centre, Abu Dhabi Art Hub, Art-Plus, Mercato, DIFC, Mall of Emirates, Dubai Mall, Dubai International Arbitration Centre, and many other venues in the Emirates. Sultania has also been participating in Fabriano Italy’s International Watercolor Exhibition and World Art Dubai.
The artist became a recipient of the Noon Artist Award in 2019 and won two competitions in 2018: Dubai Through My Eyes held by World Art Dubai and Cultural Diversity at Antique Museum. Sultania was also included in Top 10 Emerging Artists during World Art Dubai 2020.
To learn more about the Inhale/Exhale exhibition, please visit its official web page.
You might also be interested in visiting Kaleidoscope by Timur Akhmedov.
