Nidhi Chanani's "Everyday Love"

(Originally published here at The Sunday Guardian)

Blame Kafka. Blame Dali. Blame every self-respecting young writer or artist who has ever reeled off the word "postmodern" ever-so-casually, most likely to impress a pretty young thing over cocktails. Blame whoever you like, but it has to be said that contemporary art is dominated by works which hammer home a Larger Message through irony, allusion, surrealism or any one of the do-it-yourself bag of tricks used and abused ad nauseum. This is just one of the many reasons why Nidhi Chanani's work hits you like a breath of fresh air. A freelance artist and designer based in San Francisco, Chanani's Everyday Love series of digital paintings has a cult following on Facebook.

Achieving a watercolour-like effect with her scanned paper textures and digitally created brushes, Chanani masterfully depicts merry, content couples, children and often cherubic animals as they laugh, sing and share, or simply stop and stare at the gifts life has to offer. In her own words, "When I decided to pursue art, I simply wanted to make people happy. I began to create an image every day and share it with friends and family, and I called that everyday love. I see it as a way to connect with an image that feels like coming home."

Born in Kolkata and raised in suburban California, Chanani already had a degree in Literature when she quit her 9 to 5 job in order to join the Academy of Art in San Francisco. However, she dropped out after more than a year to start a freelancing career. While acknowledging the fact that her stint helped with the basics, she points out, "I don't believe that art school is essential. In all creative pursuits there is a point where you must trust yourself to break away from school, mentors, books, and simply create."

Chanani counts Craig Thompson, Marjane Satrapi and Gene Yang among her influences, all of whom shot to fame after publishing autobiographical works which did not shy away from the darker aspects of their authors' respective childhoods. But unsurprisingly, Chanani isn't one to jump on the bandwagon. "I created a 200-plus page graphic memoir of my life. I had a very traumatic childhood and in the end I decided that highlighting that part of my life isn't how I want to share my story. It will never be seen by the public but I am happy that I created it," she explains.

Despite her prolific output of digital art, Chanani manages to find time out for more traditional mediums; her brilliant wood burnings can be seen at her website. She hopes that in the future, the art community starts giving due credit to digital artists. Like a true maverick, she remains quite happy with the artistic path she's chosen. "Looking at my romantic, whimsical artwork won't start a revolution, but I did make a conscious decision to create the kind of work that reminds people to stop, look and see that beauty is everywhere," she adds.