Bio

Schinria Islam is a Bengali-American abstract expressionist painter from Reno, Nevada. Schinria has had a lifelong passion for the arts and unknowingly began manifesting her artistic dream when one of her colored pencil drawings of a warm Nevada sunset was awarded at the state level and selected to be featured at the Nevada Museum of Art when she was 13. Schinria began acrylic painting in 2019 and quit her full-time corporate job to pursue painting full-time. She launched her art company, Schinria Art, in March 2020 (just before COVID-19 became a problem for her community), and has since painted several hundreds of music-inspired abstract acrylic paintings from her studio in Nevada, including a virtual museum entitled Covid: A Series of Open Questions hosted in Malloci. These paintings submitted to Create! Magazine represent some of Schinria’s most significant works, hoping to offer new perspectives to the world of modern, abstract landscapes through bold colors, shapes, and textures and unexpected uses of geometry.

Statement

hello, world! My name is Schinria, and I'm an acrylic artist currently based out of my hometown of Reno, Nevada. I make original abstract art for music lovers, producers, and causes I care about. I am a Bengali-American abstract expressionist, and my current focus is on modern landscapes. In my paintings, you'll find earth, oceans, space, and fire. Each of my pieces is inspired by a piece of music. I have chromesthesia, a rare form of synesthesia that allows me to easily hear colors in sound. For me, painting is like building a time capsule. Intentionally or otherwise, art is a reflection of us and the bizarre times we had on this planet. In spite of that reality, my goal as an artist is for you to hear and see something new.

@schinriaart

When was the first time you felt like you were an artist?

Although I’ve been making art forever, I didn’t truly consider myself an artist until March 2020, when I quit my job to focus on abstract painting full-time. It was two days before the pandemic really “hit” my community and non-essential workers started working from home, so transitioning to art as a lifestyle during that challenging period for society really solidified art as my personal identity. Art carried me and gave me clear purpose and vision when nothing about Earth made much sense. That’s how I know it’s for me and always will be.

What would you say is the underlying thread that connects your work?

Music is what inspires all of my works, and even though every song looks and feels different, I do feel like there is something magical that translates across every song, every painting. The theme, in one word, is love!

What is the most satisfying part of your practice?

Being able to paint for others is honestly my favorite part. Painting for myself was enough, but once I started taking song requests and creating pieces for individuals, couples, groups – I got to experience their music and my own craft in a totally new way. Having moments of true humanity with people by painting their favorite songs to life has made my art journey extremely deep and rewarding.

Tell us about a turning point in your artistic journey and/or career.

Deciding to share my work publicly has been a huge turning point and a point I prepared myself for mentally ever since I posted my very first paintings for all to see in January 2020. I personally hate social media, but I will admit that without it, I wouldn’t have really discovered who I am as a creator. Sharing publicly has allowed me to discover who I am, and more importantly, who I am not.

If you could show your work anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

France (a place I am drawn to), Bangladesh (my home), and anywhere else on Earth really. I’d love to be in museums, galleries, stores, streets, on random walls and scraps of paper that float into the wind, in glass bottles that wash up on the shore.