The Northville Journal

Thursday, March 6, 2008
Gallery Presents New Exhibit
Vol 8, Num 10, Page 8

By Jennifer Busch
Staff Writer

Northville art lovers will get a good look at the creative unconscious when Munazza Naeem shows her collection 'Reflections of Memory' at Starring the Gallery during the First Friday Art Walk tommorow.
Naeem, Who said that her collection of paintings and hand made prints is inspired by the random inspressions of memory, feels that her blend of stark realisn and gentle diffusion mimics the way mind actually works. "I work with memory and how memory works," Naeem said.
"If you think about any scene from your past, some of the images are clear and some are blurred. Greens will all look the same. Dreams are the same way. Thats why, in my style of paintings, some things are very, very detailed and some things are diffused. Memory and dreams are like that."
Mary Starring, owner of Starring the Gallery, said that art lovers from all walks of life are sure to find Naeem's ethereal work uniquely compelling.
"I love her work," Starring said.
"She uses a particular type of process, intaglio, on her prints and it makes them look like charcoal or a pencil drawing. Some of it is so compelling you'll just stand there, mesmerized. I try to cover every facet of art here, glass, photography, oils. You just never know what's goin to strike you, or the customer."
Naeem said that her desire to explore the perculiar path of memory was inspired by the work of some classic physiologists, and the more practical thrust of earning her masters degree in art from Wayne State University.
"When you are earning your master or bachelor degree you have to select a topic and then go for it," Naeem said.
"I was never the type to set up a still life and paint it, which is why i became more interested in memory. I've read the work of Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud, and I've read about memory and brain function and how things in our past and present tend to overlap one another. My work is generally two or three images, and I combine them in one painting. I search my childhood, and think of where i was at 5 years old, and then I paint it."
Naeem's use of intaglio involves the painstaking transference of hand drawn images to a metal plate, which is then filled with ink and used to produce a series of "prints". When creating a painting, Naeem first paints a subject, and then uses a dry brush to "mix" the edges, before painting over it once more. After years spend working in a verity of different mediums, she said that these two traditional art forms seems to suit her style best.
"I love printmaking and painting,"Naeem said.
"My parents encouraged me to explore many things in my life, drawing, painting, fabric. I work with these mediums because I love them."
As for what might have been Naeem admits that without her parent's constant encouragement, she might've succumbed to a different destiny altogethar.
"All of my friends were pre-med and I thought that maybe I should do that," Naeem said.
"But my parents never forced me. They said 'it's you decision. You have a big talent. You can do something different. You should go for it.'I finally said, 'yes,you're right.' And that what i did."
Munazza Naeem's Collection 'Reflections of Memory' will be showing at Starring the Gallery thorughout the month of March. The opening will be from 6 untill 9 p.m March7.
For more information call (248) 347-1642.

Back