Paul Smith’s (Year 3)

PAUL SMITHS, NEW YORK – On the busy calendar of artist Aquil Virani, there is always a week at the end of August that is circled months in advance with a big green marker. For the third year straight, Paul Smith’s College has invited artist Aquil Virani to create a collaborative artwork with hundreds of incoming freshmen students. On Tuesday, August 25th, the 2015 edition of the “We Are All Artists” project will be unveiled at a freshmen ceremony at Paul Smith’s College, featuring the re-drawn doodles of every single freshmen student.

Artist Aquil Virani creates live art at Paul Smith’s College.

This is the live painting commission I created at Paul Smith’s College Welcome Week.  I learned that there are some beautiful people in upstate New York and I can’t wait to get back there to reconnect.

I was brought in to work with the new freshmen on a collaborative art piece. It was a 4 x 6 acrylic painting that I created in the Students’ Centre based on contributions from over 200 incoming students. The art piece took several days and was finished just in time to be unveiled at the College’s Opening Ceremonies.

“Aquil’s ‘We Are All Artists’ project was a perfect fit for the college,” says Curt Stager, Professor of Natural Sciences at Paul Smith’s. “It beautifully captures and contributes to the spirit of community, and it shows that the arts are an important part of who we are and what we do here.” The collaborative art project attracted the attention of several local press organizations, including a 10-minute radio spot on NCPR and a front-page article in the Adirondack Daily Enterprise.

Click here for the summary PDF of my visit.

Babson Entrepreneurship Forum Art Project

During mid-November 2015, I was invited by a former colleague and friend from McGill University to create a collaborative artwork at a 1-day conference near Boston, Massachussets. Bryanne Leeming, an MBA student at Babson College, had seen my work many years before and wanted me to infuse some artistry into her event. The theme was “What does innovation look like?” and participants doodled their contributions during the morning, giving me several hours in the afternoon to produce the piece for a 5:00pm unveiling! Check out the video to see what was made!

And of course, email me any time if you’d like me to create some artwork at your event!

Artist Aquil Virani creates live painting at restaurant launch.

This is an acrylic painting I created live at The Nest (cafe)’s grand opening event in Montreal. I learned that using the same colors as the venue in your painting can really pay off.

The artwork itself is 30 x 40 inches (about 2.5 x 3.5 feet), featuring the brand’s colors of brown, blue and green. The top portion features a “mandala” – a repetitive circular design used in Hindu and Buddhist imagery – with geometric forms and the words “student-run; the nest; le nid” hidden inside. The bottom portion features doodles created by dozens of event participants who contributed a doodle related to their vision of The Nest in the future.

Featured in several places, the prominent “n” is borrowed from The Nest’s logo.

I aimed from the outset to keep the composition simple. The circular mandala is quite impactful in my opinion, drawing in the eyes of cafe visitors effectively. On top of that, I am happy with the balance I’ve achieved between detailed, busy areas and empty resting spots. The manager was thoroughly satisfied with the result and so was I.

This is a 10-minute painting I created for L’Oreal (Matrix) using hair color products and acrylic paints. I learned that just because something works on hair … does not mean it will work on canvas!

The idea was to show that the haircolor products could be used straight out of the tube similar to paints. After creating the artwork live, I was approached by Sylvie Forest who asked if I would donate the painting to her charitable cause. I read a bit about it and quickly agreed, making sure to create an artist statement that she could post up at her silent auction.

This is the French artist statement: Crée en direct sur ​​place lors d’un événement L’Oréal (Matrix Canada), cette œuvre montre qu’il y a la créativité où il y a la passion. Le personnage féminin de déesse émerge de sa mer colorée de cheveux en prenant une respiration dans un moment d’inspiration.

[UPDATE!] The artwork sold at the silent auction and raised over $500.00 for Mathieu Mon Ange (Mathieu, My Angel)! I got a nice thank you from Sylvie who was very pleased all around.

Below, you see another live painting I did for L’Oreal a few weeks later at a similar event (with different distributors). Many of the guests appreciated this one for the more realistic nature of the face. While I was painting, the attendees were given markers and portraits with no hair so that they could sketch in their own hairstyle. Afterwards, we put together all of the artwork – my painting along with a collage of their drawings – and unveiled it to a roaring applause!

Artist Aquil Virani commissioned to create mural painting.

This is the “Three Bares Mural,” a large wall painting that stands about 11 by 7 feet and lives in McGill’s McConnel Engineering Building. I learned that it’s best to keep it single when working on such a large scale.

After the EUS approached me directly to paint the mural, I began a several-week process of interviewing different Engineering students about symbols that represented McGill Engineering. It was inspired by a well-known statue that is displayed in Three Bares Park on the downtown campus of McGill University. It is a symbol associated with the pride of Engineers and their ability to think through problems and work together in order to achieve extraordinary things.

It was commissioned by the Engineering Undergraduate Society of McGill University (EUS). On a pillar beside the wall, there is a plaque that reads: “Commissioned by the 2011-2012 EUS Executive, this mural was painted by McGill Artist Aquil Virani. It exists as an important homage to a celebrated symbol of pride and strength for McGill students in the Faculty of Engineering.”

Artist Aquil Virani creates all sorts of acrylic paintings.

This is an acrylic painting titled “Ambiguous.” I learned that my mom will email me right away if she really wants a painting of mine.

Ambiguous (adjective): (1) equivocal: open to two or more interpretations; or of uncertain nature or significance; or (often) intended to mislead; (2) having no intrinsic or objective meaning;

For this work, I started with a few figures in mind, and went from there, using curved lines and a limited pallette to craft a unified painting. I wanted different things to appear to different people. I wanted to focus more on the colour choice and texture. I wanted to use interesting materials like saran wrap and paper towel.

The meaning that you interpret might be uncertain. But I’m definitely satisfied with the artwork.

And so is my mom.

Artist Aquil Virani’s 24 Project

These are stills from the CTV segment.

This is my CBC Radio Interview leading up to the project.

And below is the full CBC News segment!

Artist Aquil Virani creates “Tronald Dump” balloons.

How would you express yourself with the balloons?

Back when Donald was just a half-joking Republican candidate, I created satirical “Tronald Dump” balloons to display my disapproval of his calculated and xenophobic behaviour. It was an open-ended experiment to see how people might express themselves when offered satirical balloons mocking Donald Trump.

This is the face of the NEW reinvented Biolage, Canada’s #1 professional haircare brand! I learned that you have to keep improving to stay at the top!

What you see above is a DPS (“double page spread”) I designed that was printed not only in trade magazines like Salon Magazine and Canadian Hairdresser, but also in consumer media like Elle Canada and Chatelaine. If you haven’t heard of Biolage, it’s the most widely distributed salon-grade haircare brand in Canada.

I also created a ton of print ads, merchandising items, web ads, website backgrounds and banners for the relaunch campaign. One of the main focuses of the reinvention was visiblity which meant a generous budget to make sure everyone received the message.

Discover the beauty of nature, decoded by science.