Artist Jacqueline Chanda’s journey into painting began not with a brush but with a pencil. At a young age she found herself gravitating toward drawing—an inclination of which her parents soon took note. When Chanda was in high school, they transformed their one-car garage into an art studio for her, setting the stage for her to experiment with her talent. She honed her skills by replicating the eccentric works of Picasso and renowned portraits by Thomas Gainsborough—a curious combination, she admits, but one that helped her find her own style of representational realism.  

Representational realism is a style rooted in perception, where the tangible world is interpreted through the lens of ideas and personal vision. While it might seem paradoxical to describe reality in such abstract terms, that’s exactly what Chanda hopes to capture—life through her own lens.  

“My compositions are analogous to snapshots,” she explains. “This means that I create genre paintings— scenes of everyday life, of ordinary people in work or recreation, the way that I see them either in real life or in my own imagination.” 

Chanda draws endless inspiration from the world around her, particularly in the quiet beauty of human interaction. She captures the essence of the lives and moments she observes with fluid brushstrokes and layered paint, imbuing her work with a sense of life and movement. “I find opportunities for inspiration wherever I go,” she says, highlighting that daily life is always brimming with stories waiting to be told. And when her external surroundings don’t provide enough, Chanda turns inward, relying on her imagination to spark new ideas. For her, it’s the simple, often overlooked scenes of everyday life that fuel her creativity and shape her artistic vision.

For Chanda, oil is the perfect vehicle for her creativity. Her mastery of its multilayered essence is evident in every piece. “I love working with oil because it’s such a malleable medium,” she says. “It’s forgiving, rich in texture, and offers endless versatility, allowing for lots of layering to help me bring my work to life.”

For the past two years, Chanda has been represented at Artnova Gallery in Chatham. Her work pays particular attention to color. “As an artist, I’m always looking for opportunities to experiment and challenge myself,” she says. “I would say the most significant change in my work over the years is in my use of color.” In fact, viewers can pick up on Chanda’s reference piece simply from noting the color scheme she uses. When painting from life, Chanda hones in on local color palettes. As she puts it, “I paint what I see.” When working from her own imagination, her palette leans towards using similar, complementary colors and chromatic grays. The result is work that is at once aesthetically pleasing and realistic.

“My hope is that my paintings encourage the viewer to connect with life on a different level and see themselves and everyone as an integral part of the human experience,” says Chanda. “I want my artwork to evoke a sense of place.” In Alone in the Crowd, one of Chanda’s award-winning pieces, she reflects on the dichotomy of a woman at a sporting event, surrounded by people, yet still separate. It’s an interplay between connection and loneliness, a universal experience of isolation and disconnect. The painting serves as a stark reminder of not only Chanda’s mastery, but her unique ability to represent just that: the vulnerability that makes us all human.

Jacqueline Chanda’s work is on display at Artnova Gallery in Chatham or at artnovagallery.com.