Today we’d like to introduce you to Amir Mubarak.
Hi Amir, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My creative journey honestly started at birth. I was born into a family of six, so I was very observant of everything and had a lot of people to learn from. As a toddler, I vividly remember playing in my dad’s office and seeing his business papers filled with random doodles, and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Not only that, but my 2nd oldest brother Ali is insanely good at art and is probably the sole reason I create today. However, I was just a child, so I never took art that seriously and was only drawing random stuff on the office floor with my sister.
I believe things started to shift once I hit 3rd grade. During this part of my life, I made one of my first true friends and he was really good at drawing. Seeing his art was very inspiring and it made me want to get better. As a result, I began tracing over coloring books, creating my own comics, and overall, just using pure imagination with no limits. This was probably one of the most important stages of my art journey because it allowed me to just create and have fun. I’m pretty sure this was also the year hurricane Sandy hit the east coast so, I was truly locked in the house creating whatever came to mind for two weeks straight. Everything was smooth sailing until teenage depression hit, and I started to slow down on creating. Nothing was inspiring to me, and weeks became months without making anything new. That was until I met my middle art school art teacher who saw something in me that I didn’t. He really believed in me and always challenged my limits as an artist. He taught me some of the basic principles of art like perspective, lighting, and coloring. Also, during his class I was able to paint and do pottery for the first time ever. In fact, he is the reason I won my first award within art for a silly color pencil and acrylic paint drawing I did of Spider-man. Winning the award was bittersweet though because it was for 2nd place. I personally believed that I should have won, so it quite frankly ignited a fire inside me to just keep getting better.
Eventually I began creating my own personal projects again and started doing acrylic paintings. After sharing a few pictures of the art I was making on Instagram, people were actually impressed and were willing to buy my artwork. After selling three or four I figured I could really make something shake with this, so I started taking it even more seriously and only focused on acrylic paintings. One night that I will never forget was when my brother Ali was watching me paint. He randomly stopped me and gave me a bag of his old oil paint. He believed that if I made that switch, I would be able to do so much more and man, was he right. Painting is honestly a way for me to meditate and express myself, but using oil really amplifies it. Since then, I have been able to attend art shows, create music covers, and work with some of the people that inspire me to create in the first place.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Not at all. For starters, oil painting was extremely difficult when I first began using it. It didn’t dry as fast compared to acrylics, so I have smeared multiple paintings on accident. Also, it was just annoying, and a lot of my early paintings were a muddy mess. Another thing is that I just turned twenty-two recently, so I’ve practically been managing my own art business since seven-teen. I have always had support from my older brothers or even my art homies that have more experience than me, but it has been hell of a ride. I’ve dealt with projects that failed, difficult clients, a webstore that flopped, and even the feeling of giving up completely. During 2024 I actually had to take a three-month break from creating cause the business side of it made me truly hate everything on this planet.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I create art. I specialize in oil painting, but I am also talented in other mediums such as airbrush, alcohol markers, acrylic paint, and mixed media. I am most proud of the style I have formed throughout the years of making art. It’s pretty dope when people can see a painting of mines and know I created it without my name being displayed. I believe what sets me apart from others is just my mindset and how unique it is. People may call me weird or crazy because of what I create but personally, I love that because they are correct and it just means I am executing my ideas properly.
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
I have so many favorites but if I had to pick one it would be the time I went to Disney World and Universal Studios for the first time with my family. I was like ten years old, so I was too scared to ride any roller coasters but just the vibe of the whole trip and spending time with my family was amazing.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://mirsfroat.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mirsfroat/?hl=en
- Twitter: https://x.com/mirsfroat
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@mirsfroat
