Drowning Flamingo, hand-dyed found fabric on panel

American musician and visual artist Hisham Akira Baroocha creates works in photography, collage, and gallery installation. Much of Baroocha’s work revolves around themes of memory and emotion, with a focus on the transience and chaos that is inherent in the imagery of the mind.

Unforeseen Conversations 2, collage and ink on paper

I really enjoy the way Baroocha weaves collage pieces with textural, patterned abstractions throughout his portfolio and in each exhibition of his work. The imagery of Baroocha’s practice is incessantly chaotic and sometimes psychedelic, though given a grounding in playfulness and introspection it never seems to become overwhelming.

Utilizing familiar motifs like a tie-die pattern and blocks of bright, tropical colors, Baroocha creates a kind of visual meditation that seems upbeat and inviting, rather than overly sombre. I also really enjoy how the ideal of temporality comes into play in the artist’s portfolio, with Baroocha creating gallery-specific murals that can only be seen for a limited time.

Mural painted for Control (installation view at Snow Contemporary, Tokyo, Japan, 2013)