The Elegance of Soirées: Adeen Habib’s Artistic Muse

What inspires you? Might it be music? The visual arts? Maybe nature? Or perhaps the modernized world we live in?

For Adeen Habib, it’s society.

Pop Artist Adeen Habib accounts in her recent exhibition at Dominion gallery that, “soirées seem to have become more and more necessary for [her] to paint as an artist.” She explains that her soirées with friends and family are not only an essential part of her life, but now acts as a great source of inspiration, a necessary component for her painting process. Habib has seen much of the world’s chaos and devastation, and when struggling in dark times, looks to celebration to cast light. To her it is like a silver lining amidst the thunder, that celebration is just around the corner, ever-present. This is likely linked to her identity as a Pakistani artist, particularly the cultural tendency is to have big family gatherings frequently, which are often full of love, happiness, and laughter. Her national identity also seems to tie into her view of the world, as later in the Dominion Gallery artist statement she writes, “Pakistanis have always powered through.” Habib uses her Pakistani identity to overcome challenges, assosiating the turbulent yet successful weathering of chaotic storms in her life with her nationality and her ethnicity. She explains that “through calm, through the storm… there is always enthusiasm towards the celebration,” which proves to be a strong influence throughout her artworks.

Another artwork of hers titled ‘A Soirée: Party at the Minaar’ depicts a large gathering with eight discernable figures, and alludes to multiple others with white silhouetted shapes off to the sidelines. Similar to the previous piece, each subject is dressed well and adorned with over-the-top hairstyles or tophats. Behind the enigmatic cast of subjects is Minar e Pakistan, shining brightly between two chandelier-like objects hanging from the top of the canvas. This soirée at a site that sybolizes Pakstian’s struggle for independence actively links the celebratory aspect of Habib’s character to her national identity, depicting a party which due to the site seems to be in celebration for Pakisatni independence. It may have been inspired by an event held for Pakistan’s Independence Day. Once more this piece uses hot pink, this time covering nearly the entire frame with both the color and the canvas subject dripping into the other surface. This piece focuses on the bold and vibrant blue, teal, and pink, aided by the dimmer golden tan of the corners, and of course the white base and black lineart of the subjects and fixtures.

Habib’s first piece with the Dominion Gallery collection titled ‘Till Kingdom Comes’, presents five individuals in formal attire in what seems to be a formal drawing room or perhaps even a ballroom. The many men and women are packed close together, decked out with their cigars, caps, monocles, and hair-dos. This piece is held within a golden frame stained with patches of hot pink paint in the corners which bleeds out onto the canvas, and respectively so, the artwork contained within the frame seeps out as well. This magnificent piece is created through the mixing of media visible through the different textures, as well as the variation of color blocks and lineart. The gathering depicted in this painting may be a creative re-imagingin of a scene she saw, or a cast of characters she constructed in her mind after her parties. Such fancy and large social events brings people together as shown in this painting, and from the characters expressions and the colors in the painting, foster a happy environment. This painting was created and sold this year for 95,000 Rupees.

This mixed media piece was also sold for 95,000 Rupees this year and is just another insight into the personality of Adeen Habib, and how she uses her soirées and celebrations to remind herself of better days to come.

Artist Adeen Habib has many more works on her instagram @adnhabib, most of which are similarly inspired by her soirées. This young talented artist will surely go on to make more incredible work, so be sure to visit her work when it’s next displayed at a gallery, and get your hands on some of her art!