Nilasha Bhimsaria On Painting Strength, Weakness, And Everything In Between

There was something about Nilasha Bhimsaria's paintings that drew me in. As someone with no prior art knowledge, her work stirred both my curiosity and my introspective side. Her style is fearless and experimental, and her artwork invites you on an endless adventure, exploring the reincarnated beauty of the tales we grew up hearing.

Nilasha is a student at the prestigious Emily Carr University of Art & Design in Vancouver, Canada. Her painting style is distinctive and daring, and she never hesitates to add bold colours to her palette. Her inspiration for experimenting with new colours? TV shows. Her favourite, Breaking Bad, has played a role in inspiring her colour experiments. Like every artist with their own unique way of creating magic on canvas, Nilasha prefers to have a sitcom playing in the background as she works towards creating masterpieces admired by both art connoisseurs and her Instagram viewers.

In a world that often focuses solely on strengths, Nilasha embraces and showcases weaknesses alongside them in her famous Zodiac-inspired art series. Beyond the canvas, she hones her creative skills through ceramics and crocheting, hobbies she loves just as much as painting.

In an interview with SheThePeople, Nilasha reflected on her journey beyond the canvas, a journey that, despite being marked by lows, motivated her to rise like a phoenix. She also opened up about finding her own voice amidst the chaotic world of social media.

Nilasha Bhimsaria In Conversation With SheThePeople

STP: How did you find yourself getting inclined towards painting?

Nilasha: I think I have always been an artist, and it took me a really long time to accept it. I was about 2-3 years old when I actually started drawing and painting. But back then, little did I know that I wanted to pursue it, and my parents saw that I had the skill. They just pushed me towards it, and ever since then, I have just been doing it. 

STP: You are currently studying at Emily Carr University of Art + Design. How has the Western influence inspired your art?

Nilasha: I definitely think it has had a huge impact on me, as it has been almost three years now. I grew up in a boarding school my entire life, and I come from a very small town. We went about making art traditionally. Having a contemporary take on it in college was a liberating experience for me, because I could see that there was no end to what you can create when it comes to art; it is so open-ended. Because Emily-Carr is also driven by conceptual themes, and just giving me that space to create, I had that phase when I didn't know what I was creating, but I was just creating to open my mind. 

STP: You are also an Instagram influencer apart from being an artist. As an artist, have you ever experienced a conflict between the pressure to paint something to keep your page engaged and preserving creative freedom, or do you paint only when inspiration strikes?

Nilasha: I personally don't see myself as an influencer, but more as a creator. But then, since I started posting last year, I had a huge phase when I was just feeding the algorithm, I was putting up sketches just to stay consistent. Eventually, I realised that being authentic and true to what I make is the way to go about it. Now, I think I am at this point where I feel like I have completely balanced out what I want to make and what my audience wants. It took me a while to come to those terms. 

 STP: As an artist, whose work do you admire the most?

Nilasha: For me, it's a little difficult to pick just one single artist. If we go to art history, there are a lot of artists I look up to. Especially in impressionism. If you look into my work, it is very impressionistic and bold when it comes to brush strokes. That is just the impact of how I grew up watching that kind of artwork. But today, I follow a lot of Instagram artists because I aspire to achieve that level of professionalism. There is a long list of artists I admire, like Jenny Saville and Tahlia Stanton's works.

STP: Your paintings blend Indian and Greek Mythology through contemporary art. Both represent some of the world's oldest civilisations. How did you find a balance between Greek & Indian Mythology?

Nilasha: I feel like I am someone who constantly needs to grow, progress, and change. For me, indulging in different themes of work helps me diversify my portfolio and also my experience. I used to beat myself up for the fact that I don't have a particular subject or art style that I stick to, but I realised that I like creating cohesive bodies of work. It is all influenced by the environment I grew up in. So my boarding school was in the jungle, and I grew up around nature. I also remember reading Greek Mythology as a child, which also influenced my work.

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STP: Your Instagram page also has some amazing zodiac-inspired art. How did you derive the idea to dedicate your art to certain people from your zodiac sign?

Nilasha: Zodiac signs have always been a hot topic whenever we have a conversation. When you meet a person, the first thing you ask is, 'Hey, what's your Zodiac sign?' I felt like it would be such a cool idea to incorporate that with my fascination with nature. Initially, I felt it was bizarre, but then I was determined to make this happen. I was picking up the worst traits of people, so I had no clue how they were going to receive it. But I just wanted to pick their worst quality and then show the best in them through my art. Then, that took a beautiful journey, and I am glad that people understood that. Even in my comment section, people were so excited and were continuously asking, 'What is coming next?' That gave me the incentive to create this with my full potential. 

STP: In recent years, AI has made significant inroads into the world of art, with many artists voicing concerns over its misuse. As an artist and an influencer, do you believe AI has the power to replace traditional forms of art?

Nilasha: I feel like our career is something that I don't believe AI has the potential to completely take over.  AI, if used efficiently, can be of great help. For me, when it comes to brainstorming my captions, I would voice record my thoughts to ChatGPT, and it would generate text that I would use for my Instagram Captions. While I do believe that people should not be misusing this technology, I believe that AI can never take over our careers. 

Views expressed by the author are their own.