Nimit Malavia
Age: 21
Email: nimit@nimitmalavia.com
Website: www.nimitmalavia.com

1. What type of medium do you work with and explain how you use it? (Paint, design, photography, collage)
With the majority of my personal work I try to explore and utilize a large variety of traditional mediums. I work with acrylic a lot, usually layering it with different dry mediums on top, like pencil crayon, chalk, and at times collage, to offer depth and give the image a more finessed quality. With my black and white work I use graphite a lot, usually with layers of acrylic placed over top.

2. What was your main interest in producing this artwork, or is there a statement you wanted to convey?
I usually try to work from what I know, in an effort to depict the ‘human experience’, or at least my perception of it in the most honest way possible. I often try to develop my work based off of emotions and ideas I have, sometimes fleeting dreams. A lot of the time, I find myself creating from feelings of suffering and strife, to try and understand and appreciate the quiet beauties of moments lost.

3. Tell us about your creative process, do you have any rituals, routines you follow? How does your artwork come together? (Do you use found objects, image banks, etc)
Each piece begins with a concept or feeling in mind, from there I like to work up a few very loose black and white roughs, usually rather small. Once I am happy with the basic design and gesture of the rough, I gather any reference I may need, usually photos or textures, and jump right into the final. I try not to finesse my roughs too much, I find if I work up a rough too much, I become really attached to the way it is represented in the sketch and I kind of lose some of the energy in the final. So I try to keep most of that for the final piece.

4. How did you get started with your artistic career?
I was fortunate enough to be able to take an internship with a gallery in LA, it gave me the opportunity to show with a number of galleries across the States, Canada, and even in Europe while I was still in school. It opened a lot of doors for me which have since led to a number of illustration and design opportunities.

5. What would you say is one of your greatest accomplishments?
I think being able to showcase my work to people, and to just be able to create work for a living is something I’m thrilled about. Not many people get to do what they love, and I feel extremely fortunate that I’m able to do that.

6. Where does your inspiration come from? Or is there any particular movement, artwork or artist you find yourself influenced by?
My inspiration comes from just about anywhere. Sometimes it’s something I hear, a song I listen to, conversations, a feeling, something I read, etc. My experiences, I guess. Lately I find myself looking at a great amount of sculpture work, mostly from the greats like Rodin, Bernini. Some other artists that I am particularly inspired by would be J.C. Leyendecker, N.C. Wyeth, Ryan McGinley, Klimt, to name a few. I’m also really fascinated by older package design as well.

7. How do you see your artwork evolving from now?
I’m looking forward to working on a much larger scale, hopefully I can work life-size, if not larger!! I’m hoping to continue to explore different mediums and surfaces, and really just grow myself. I think if I allow myself to develop personally, and hopefully the art will do the same. - IC