Nai Azar's collection

This collection is curated with the art of Lebanese-Canadian painter, filmmaker, and screenwriter, Nay Azar.

Fly Away

Fly Away
Umbilical Cord

Umbilical Cord
Snow Globe

Snow Globe
Tree

Tree
Pain

Pain
Fly Away, She Reads

Fly Away, She Reads
Albedo

Albedo
Rubedo

Rubedo

Rubedo

Desde $44.95

Nai Azar's favourite quote

You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it.

— Robin Williams

A closer look

Hello, my name is Nai Azar

Nay Azar was born in Lebanon and now lives and works in Vancouver. She has drawn since childhood and took her first class as a teenager. A scriptwriter and tango dancer as well as a painter, she begins with an idea or a feeling and looks for the form that can carry it. In her paintings that form is often a symbol and her work returns to roots, containment, transformation, and the moment something is about to change. Each piece is an attempt to make an invisible inner state something you can stand in front of and recognize.

— Read my interview with Arabiyon

Nai Azar's favourite design

We asked Nai Azar to pick one design and share it with everyone

I created this piece shortly after completing the first painting of the same theme, titled Fly Away. It felt like there was more to discover, as though I needed to see what was inside the balloon.

In its earliest version, the balloon held a couple sleeping together, safe within their own bubble. But something about it never felt quite right. Eventually, the woman reading alone appeared in its place, and instantly I knew she belonged there. She felt like the truest expression of what I was trying to say.

Reading has always given me a feeling unlike anything else. I transcend time and space. I become weightless, carried somewhere beyond the world around me, yet I never truly leave. The ground remains right there beneath me, holding me steady, even while my mind is somewhere else entirely. For me, that's the magic of reading, and what this piece is really about.