Raz Forh
Your portraits remain recognizably human while often moving toward abstraction. What interests you about this tension between the visible figure and the subject’s inner emotional world?
What interests me most is how my perception of a thing can almost become a reality thats completely in my hand.
There’s something about just attacking the canvas with brushstrokes that seem like I’m just making a mess, until all of a sudden I can recognize who or what I’m looking at.
I can always keep rendering my strokes to make it hyper realistic but I have a resonance with the primal look that abstraction gives my paintings. I want the human touch to be in my work I dont care if its technically perfect like a Mona Lisa I might mess it up on purpose just so you know a human did it.
As I get better there will be less abstraction in my works but for now its good to experiment with as I hone my artistic voice as a painter.
Having already developed a distinct creative identity through music, how has becoming a visual artist changed your understanding of your own artistic voice?
Thats a great question.. I have to say its been somewhat of a revelation for me to see the choices I make when I create visually as opposed to audibly. I realize my “voice” resides in everything I create. Maybe this is because I was forced to cultivate my own touch as a rapper and beat maker. Its frowned upon to do anything like someone else in hip hop so every painting has to feel like me alone.
It sounds like a lot of pressure but it’s very liberating for someone like me.
Raz Forh | Britney | 2026
Was there a particular moment when you realized that painting could express emotions or ideas that music could not?
Yeah once I began to understand things like impasto and the difference in the mediums. Something about the texture of a painting can give you the same feeling as looking at a picture or video of your favorite food. A painting of your childhood home can make you shed a tear. Basically thanks to some of my paintings I’ve been able to find out about how inanimate objects can evoke an emotional response in someone.
If I scream on a song I have an idea how youll respond, but theres someone I can show a simple painting of a sunrise that might bring them to tears. The beauty is in the eye of the beholder but it’s still very interesting.
Many of your works feel intimate and introspective. Are they rooted in personal experience, observation of others, or a combination of both?
I would say a lot of my works are rooted in emotions I’ve felt. My life has been a absolute rollercoaster and I think thats what makes me an interesting painter mostly.
The attitude in my work. The fearlessness.
I would have only been painting for 2 years this September so it’s not that I’m super skilled it’s all just raw willpower and dedication to the craft.
But to keep it simple everything inspires me a little bit.
Raz Forh | Ballerina | 2026
Your paintings convey strong psychological intensity even when the subjects appear still or restrained. How do you create this emotional charge through gesture, composition, and brushwork?
As I’m painting the figure it almost feels like the closer I get to finishing the figure the more life I’m breathing into them. It’s as if I have an inner compass telling me how this character or that character’s energy would be and it helps me translate it in paint.
Red splashes and marks repeatedly interrupt otherwise muted palettes in your work. What does the color red represent for you, and how consciously do you control these interventions?
The red splat is my signature. I put it on my very first painting and just honed it. Lately I see a lot of people biting the aesthetic from me. I only started painting a year ago and now I see it being used more and more by others, but its very unique to my personality.
As a rapper I used a lot of Japanese samurai aesthetics in my covers and videos and I think it just bled into my paintings. Red is just such a powerful color when used correctly and it feels right for me.
Every splat is different because I’m in a different mood with each work and I’m also communicating a different thing in each so somehow my spirit just knows the way that I need to throw the paint on the finished piece. The splat is my garnish.
Raz Forh | Farida | 2026
As an artist at the beginning of your visual practice, which themes, techniques, or subjects would you like to explore more deeply in the coming years?
I just got into oil a few months ago so I’m just keeping my ears and eyes open to any teachings I can find right now. I would love to learn how to do the thing Caravaggio does with shadows one day but I dont see that happening for a few years.
I’d like to study abstract art a little bit more too. It looks like a big mess especially when you’re not a painter but once you start it begins to look some kind of language like hieroglyphics or something.
I plan to step my portrait game up big time in the coming years also and eventually get to painting real life subjects that can pose for me. I’m hopeful that I’ll find the right mentors, friends and residencies to hone my skills.