Oil, coloured pencil, conté on wood panel
24x30in
2026

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This one followed directly from the visual language that started in NIL WRONG. I wanted to make something purely abstract, so that the only conversation happening was between me, the wood I was transforming, and whatever state my mind was in that day.

The one thing I knew in advance was that the bottom of the panel would carry a self-portrait element in brown conté — a material I loved in art school, and a colour close to my own skin.

What took over was the grain of the wood. I started making marks that followed it, and with the palette I was drawn to at the time the whole surface turned celestial. The same spiral runs through our DNA, through Bengali hair, through this Canadian wood, through the gravitational pull of galaxies.

I keep returning to self-referential form because I am fascinated by how one moment produces the next. Every frame is barely different from the one before it, yet time never stops, so reality extrudes infinitely. Drawing the previous frame on a flat surface is my attempt to catch that. Motion captured. Time stopped. Still informing everything after it.

The representational layer below is the weight of reality sitting over our heads. Language and numbers pin down a universe experienced by a range of consciousness we will never access, and somehow that is enough for us to keep going.

Going in without a plan was difficult. Marks were made, erased and made again, and the piece ended up more emotional than anything I could have planned.

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This is a 1 of 1 original. No prints of this piece will be made.

The work comes with a certificate of authenticity and ships in a natural oak frame.

If you'd like additional images or to learn more about this piece before acquiring it, email me directly at nashid@nashidchroma.com. If you're located in Toronto, I'm happy to deliver the work and install it in your home.