{"id":479249,"date":"2026-02-20T04:58:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T04:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/479249\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T04:58:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T04:58:12","slug":"aunia-kahns-lush-portraits-depict-a-playful-inner-landscape-colossal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/479249\/","title":{"rendered":"Aunia Kahn’s Lush Portraits Depict a Playful Inner Landscape \u2014 Colossal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cFor me, it always starts with joy,\u201d explains Aunia Kahn<\/a>. The Detroit-based artist uses a handful of materials\u2014gouache, pastels, pencils, and gold ink\u2014to create rich, velvety portraits that evoke folk art patterns, surrealist themes<\/a>, and celestial iconography.<\/p>\n

Reclaiming the importance of play in the creative process has been a powerful catalyst for Kahn, who had previously experienced a loss of joy in making amid life-threatening health challenges. \u201cThat playfulness led me straight back to my roots, to growing up in Michigan and spending time in Canada, to the German and Polish folk art that filled my grandparents\u2019 home,\u201d she says. \u201cI realized that world of bold color, rich pattern, and maximalist symbolism had already shaped my home, my wardrobe, and the way I moved through life. My art just needed to catch up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>\u201cDissolved Into The Spirit That Outruns Fear\u201d<\/p>\n

When she\u2019s not in the studio, Kahn is busy curating exhibitions as the co-owner of Poetic Tiger Gallery<\/a> and is Editor-in-Chief of Hyperlux Magazine<\/a>. Find more work on the artist\u2019s website<\/a>, and keep up with her many adventures on Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>\u201cWhere the Eye of the Heart Watches Over Every Living Thing\u201d<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>\u201cWe Hold Every Goodbye in Our Body Like a Landscape\u201d<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>\u201cHistorical Altar Of Ones Own Becoming\u201d<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>\u201cLitany of Twilight Beyond Karmic Prophesies\u201d<\/p>\n

\"a<\/a>\u201cThe Impossible Physics of Staying Whole\u201d<\/p>\n

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