Naseem Alavi "Watching Oversights" 8x10 Painting

Naseem Alavi is a trans Iranian poet, painter, and maker born and raised in Oakland. Their visual art explores their Muslim queer identity, transformation, and the fantastical. Their work has been described as “deliciously colorful and maximalist.”
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"Watching Oversights" sends the viewers attention swimming through intricate shapes and colors, calling the viewer to both slow down and observe the details of each face, and to speed up while being swept through a maximalist river of diverse cityscape. The faces morph together to represent the urban melting pot of sounds, experiences, and vantage points of Oakland. I draw inspiration from Persian calligraphic script in the line work of this piece, reflecting snippets of overheard conversation that waft through a city.