Women Empowerment
Tanya Momi
United States
BIOGRAPHY
Tanya Momi, an inspirational artist whose journey is as diverse as her work itself, stands as a beacon of resilience and creativity. Her artistic endeavors transcend mere visual representation, delving deep into the realms of realism, cubism, abstract, social realism, and spiritual art. Through oils, acrylics, and sketch, she weaves narratives that resonate with the human experience, drawing from her own life's triumphs and tribulations. Born in India and armed with a Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts from Chandigarh in 1982, Tanya's path was marked by adversity and resilience from the outset. Her journey took a tumultuous turn when she migrated to the United States, only to find herself ensnared in a marriage marred by abuse for nine and a half agonizing years. Yet, fueled by an indomitable spirit, she summoned the courage to break free from the shackles of oppression and rebuild her life anew. In the bustling corridors of Silicon Valley, where she established her own salon business in 1989 while raising her two children, Tanya's artistic pursuits took a backseat for over two decades. However, fate had other plans in store. Encouraged by the unwavering support of her close friends, she embarked on a journey of rediscovery, finding solace and purpose in the strokes of her brush. Her painful past became the crucible from which her artistic expression emerged, transforming her anguish into a source of inspiration and empowerment.
ARTIST STATEMENT
To evoke in oneself a feeling one has experienced, and…then, by means of movements, lines, colors, sounds or forms expressed in words, so to transmit that feeling—this is the activity of art.” is how Leo Tolstoy defines art. This perfectly encapsulates my process when it comes to art. I take my experiences and personal struggles and translate it onto the empty canvas. One of the most important aspects of my work is to empower women. I observe and paint human behavior on the canvas. I want women to regain their strength, power and confidence. And I want women to band together and unite themselves. I use mediums of acrylics and oils in order to convey my powerful messages as they allow me to paint bold stories with my self expression. I was originally trained to paint with oils when I was studying for my Bachelors. I like its layering techniques and thickness as well as its blendability. As some of my paintings fall into the category of realism and social realism, I have come to find that realism is better depicted using oils. You can create a lot of texture using oils and that helps when it comes to realism because life can be captured through texture. I learnt and adapted to paint with acrylics in 2007. Since I was painting about a 100 paintings per year, I started to gravitate more towards acrylic as it allows me to be able to store my many paintings. One of my favorite colors when it comes time to populate my canvas is burnt umber. I really like to start building my canvas with burnt umber. It transforms from light to dark quite easily , My brush automatically gravitates towards burnt umber. I like to start my work with rag technique, add the brush strokes and then I start adding colors. I am crazy about painting large canvases. I paint on 6 yard long canvases. My messages are so big that even 6 yard long canvases are too small for me.
