For twenty-something year old New Yorker Rei Ahni, the end of 2018 is just the beginning of her artist life. She makes her debut next month with a solo art exhibition “Dreaming of Another World” running from December 1 to 31, 2018 at Klimat Lounge NYC. All are welcome to join the artist for the show’s free opening reception on Tuesday, December 4, 2018 from 7pm to 10pm. Please follow the link for more information: https://www.reiahni.com/dreaming-of-another-world.html
In her first show, Ahni invites you to escape to another dimension through her collection of surreal paintings guided by her love for science fiction, existential exploration, and 50’s pin-up culture. The featured body of work is a fantastical narrative of the young multicultural woman’s philosophical journey as she finds tranquility, solace, and beauty within reality’s chaos, unpredictability, and routine played out through a cast of robot and humanoid proxies. Layered with juxtapositions, her pieces are whimsical, yet ominous, as the artist conveys her abstract musings with literal symbolisms rendered in a playful illustrative painting style often dominated by her distinctive use of striking blue, luscious pink, and silky purple shades.
A product of East Asian, North and South American cultures, Ahni uses her eclectic background to inform her artistic language. She reinterprets motifs and themes from traditional Chinese watercolor paintings (“guohua”) and Japanese tattoos (“irezumi”) with sensibilities from contemporary Western art and underground movements to construct the dream world in her art. Particularly inspired by Modernism, Pop Art, Street Art, Retro Aesthetics, plus Designer Vinyl Toys, she takes cues from each and establishes her own stylistic canon of rich colors, bold contrast, sharp lines, sturdy forms, and crisp textures, which are complemented by her exclusive use of acrylic paints.
Despite being a newcomer in the industry, Ahni saw herself as an artist starting at a very young age. At eight years old, she began formally drawing and painting and won a few national young artist competitions by the age of eleven. Throughout her upbringing, Ahni continuously evolved her creative talents and eventually went on to study architecture at UC Berkeley and Columbia University. After working in both creative and non-creative fields in the US and Europe, Ahni has recently rediscovered her purpose as an artist and is now excited to share with you the beginnings of her renewed life.
Ahni’s journey in the arts comes to a full-circle on December 1, 2018 when she debuts her month-long solo art show at Klimat Lounge NYC. Have a chance to meet the artist on Tuesday, December 4, 2018 for the show’s opening reception. Please visit her website for more information about the exhibition, its featured paintings, and the artist herself: www.reiahni.com.
