Alizey Khan

Colour and vibration reign supreme in my work. I use dots and dashes layered quickly and expressively using an optical mixing technique coupled with thin glazes of colour to create my non-objective abstract acrylic paintings, each of which uses simple, vaguely circumscribed geometric forms to convey the similarities in a variety of imagery from the natural and man-made world such as cells, stars, flowers, planets, viruses and globes, combining the microscopic with the macroscopic.

I also paint faithful renderings of astronomical phenomena, as a member of the International Association of Astronomical Artists (IAAA). I am drawn to the imagery of space for its incomprehensibly vast beauty and the challenge of attempting to capture the depth and scale inherent in astrophotographic images within the confines of a 2-D canvas. I prefer to stick to scientific data when creating these images; I feel that when it comes to the beauty of outer space, nothing I could invent could possibly rival what already exists. The breadth of scientific knowledge behind each phenomena I paint interests me greatly; I like to research the astronomical objects while painting them to fully understand the processes involved in what I am depicting.

Biography

Born 1990 in Farnborough, Kent, UK. Raised in Redbourn, Hertfordshire, UK; relocated to Karachi, Pakistan in 2002. Relocated to Greenville, South Carolina, USA in 2005. Currently resides in Charleston, South Carolina, USA.

Education

College of Charleston, Charleston, SC, December 2012
• Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art
• Bachelor of Arts in Arts Management

Group Exhibitions

• College of Charleston Young Contemporaries Juried Exhibition, Charleston, SC, March 2012
• College of Charleston Visual Arts Club Student-Curated Gallery “Salon des Refusés (des Refusés)”, Charleston, SC, March 2012
• College of Charleston Visual Arts Club Student-Curated Gallery, Charleston, SC, January 2012
• Jailbreak 2 Arts Festival, Old City Jail, Charleston, SC, November 2011
• Pocketfest Arts Festival, The Village Tavern, Mt. Pleasant, SC, October 2011
• College of Charleston Visual Arts Club Student-Curated Gallery, Charleston, SC, May 2011
• College of Charleston Visual Arts Club Student-Curated Gallery, Charleston, SC, September 2011
• College of Charleston Young Contemporaries Juried Exhibition, Charleston, SC, April 2010

Publication

“Phytoform 3″ featured on the Charleston City Paper website, February 2012

Collections

• Over 10 private collections, Charleston, SC
• Private collection, Karachi, Pakistan
• Private collection, Surrey, England
• Private collection, San Jose, CA
• Private collection, Spokane Valley, WA
• Private collection, Eugene, OR
• Private collection, Playa Vista, CA
• Private collection, Dearborn, MI

Related Experience

Visual Arts Club President
College of Charleston – Charleston, SC
2011-Present
• Organize and lead fortnightly campus art workshops, film screenings, group discussions and student shows
• Market events through a blog, published and social media, and design flyers and posters advertising the club
• Organized and marketed a fundraising art auction for the club which raised $1,000
• Created and distributed posters and flyers around campus and downtown Charleston, solicited in-kind donations of artwork from student artists, created over 60 individual bid sheets for a silent auction, and managed the winning bids by following up with each bidder to receive their payment

Volunteer Assistant
Redux Visual Arts Center 2010-11
• Assisted with the installation of the Carson Fox: Ice Storm exhibition