Raya Al Maskari, a quality management and auditor by profession is a prominent artist in Oman and I have been following her work for some time which is truly inspiring. Her drawings and sketches are so organic with absolutely no rules which makes it unique. Most of her portraits evoke emotions. She experiments a lot with deconstruction art and abstracts, mixing hand drawn and digital work. Her creative process is what attracted me the most. The other aspect of what drew me to her work is her fabulous humour sense and sarcasm through her doodles and cartoons. She subtly gives a beautiful message in each of her doodles through the different humorous scenarios.
Have a look at her fabulous work and let’s hear more from her
about her inspiring art journey.
Tell us a bit about yourself
Raya Saleh Al Maskari, a visual artist and a
graphic designer. CEO founder of
Omanspire, works as a media specialist, quality management and lead auditor.
How did your journey as an artist begin? Did you have any formal training or is it self taught?
I started working on my art since early childhood with support of my parents, and it grew as I grew older with consistent practice and learning continuously, grabbing every opportunity to polish my artistic skills. I took lessons and classes with number of academics and artists: Basics of drawing with Mrs Laila Al Elaqi a Tunisian artist and an art academic, I also took painting lessons with Mr Abdulhameed Al Zubeidi an Iraqi artist, currently taking classes in methods of creative imagination and anatomy with Dr Nasaser Palangi Irani/ Australian artist.
Participations:
⁃ Annual
youth exhibition by the society of fine arts - Muscat 2010
⁃ Annual
calligraphy exhibition - Muscat 2010
⁃ Art
100*100 - Bait Al Zubair - Muscat 2014
⁃ “Voices
from within” art Exhibition 2015 - Muscat
⁃ Oman’s
cultural night by Dubai’s cultural center 2016
⁃ Oman -
Philippines national day tribute 2016
⁃ Colorful
Novels art exhibition 2018
-
Methods
of creative imagination workshop by the National museum & Dr Nasser Palangi
2019/2020
How would
you describe your art style?
My artwork is a combination of various styles and techniques,
which includes bilingual cartoons that reflects aspects of social and cultural
life in a sarcastic humorous way. As well as different medium that combines
digital and traditional materials that is mainly about figures, faces and
emotions along with inspiration from Oman’s rich culture, mostly the contemporary
side of it.
What's
your inspiration for your art work?
Everything around me can be an inspiration, the colors of nature, plants, textures, memories of things around me, food! People also inspire me; I see a story behind every face.
What is the most challenging aspect about your work?
Recognition, especially by our local galleries as I got a better
recognized abroad. Lack of materials, that’s another challenge that most of us
face here, and even if some are barely available they come in unreasonable
prices.
We also face endless challenges with clients who expect you to
sell your artwork for cheap comparing it to the ones they find in furnishing
stores, our intellectual rights as people take some of the artworks and remove
your signature or make copies and resell it on products without the permission
of the artist. The lack of appreciation and support throughout the media in
general.
What is your creative process like? And what keeps you motivated?
Well, creative minds don’t necessarily go in one route towards a
creative process, it depends on the idea and the type of art you strive to
create, along with the message you’re trying to deliver.
The challenges keep me motivated, every time I face a mishap I
bounce back to come up with more. Resilience and the urge to make a difference
are the driving forces towards my motivation.
Do you
commission different projects? And how can people purchase your paintings?
Yes I do, though I usually sell the paintings I make, I rarely
commission a painting or a portrait, people can contact me though my accounts on
Facebook, twitter and instagram.
What is your favorite art piece that you have done till date?
Oh that’s a tough question, it’s like asking who’s your favourite
child. Every artwork has an experience of its own it’s a record of the
perceptual message that I try to deliver visually, they are accumulative
timeline of my progress in this field, and a chain that tells a story of my
journey throughout my life.
Any tips or words of wisdom to aspiring artists who want to pursue a similar career.
Before seeking for support, be worthy of it and it will come
naturally towards you.
Your challenges are not obstacles. Never allow negativity to disable your creativity. Keep practising, and experimenting, in order to come up with something
that’s purely and originally yours, its okay to copy in order to learn but it’s
not okay to copy and be a copy of someone else.
You are a unique individual and that should be reflected in your work, don’t ever restrict yourself in a titled box of “art schools/ styles”, experiment and come up with your own. Artists are NOT meant to vanish between the crowds they are meant to outstand.
If the local galleries rejected your work you can always go to social media platforms to showcase, exhibit and introduce your creativity not only to the local audience but also to the world. Opportunities are gems of life; grab them with everything you have.
We all go through ups and downs in life but one should always remember that resilience is the key to growth. And if you don’t stand up for yourself no one is going to do that for you.
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