Artist · New York
I paint where
people gather.
I'm Anam Ahsani Safdar, an artist in New York. I paint murals and canvases for the cafés and restaurants they hang in — a whole wall in a day — and I work events: sold-out art classes for rooms of a hundred or more, caricatures drawn live in minutes, and commissioned pieces for weddings.
Murals & Public Art
Walls, cafés & restaurantsI make work for the places that serve it. A man dreaming of chai on a restaurant wall. A woman holding a Qahwah House mug, hanging inside Qahwah House. A portrait with a Philz cup, sitting on the counter at Philz. The venue's own cup ends up in the painting, and the painting stays in the room — work you meet while you're waiting for your order, not in a gallery.
The Mural
San FranciscoChai Dreams
Painted along the staircase wall of a San Francisco restaurant — a man stretched out on a charpai, hookah at his feet, dreaming of a cup of chai. The stripes climb with the stairs, so the piece moves with you as you walk up. Start to finish in one day.
- Medium
- Acrylic on interior wall
- Painted in
- One day, start to finish
- Location
- Restaurant, San Francisco, CA
- Year
- 20XX
On Display
Hanging in cafés nowPaintings made for the cafés they live in — each one holding that café's own cup.
Art Classes
Large-scale & charitableI teach large-scale charitable art classes — including one event with more than 200 people painting in the same room. They sell out.
Teaching at that scale sharpened the things I care about most: making people feel welcome the second they walk in, keeping a big group moving together, and getting everyone out the door with something they made themselves. I've run them on both coasts — the West Village and East Village in New York, and San Francisco.
Live Caricatures
Drawn on the spotI've drawn live caricatures at Macy's and at the Creative Communal Art Fairs in San Francisco and Oakland — expressive portraits made in minutes while talking with the person in the chair and keeping a line of guests moving. At Macy's I ran my own stall on the beauty floor, drawing a free caricature for anyone who made a purchase: the art was the draw, and the queue was the point. Fast, loud rooms. People tell me what they love, I put it in the drawing, and everyone leaves with something.
Drawing Live
VideoMy Own Wedding
I painted every pieceWhen it was my turn, I made all my own wedding art — the welcome sign for my shaadi, and the visuals for my mehndi. If you're trusting someone with the art for the biggest day of your life, it seems fair that they've done it for their own.
@anamahsani
@anamahsani
Wedding Commissions
Sample piecesA few samples. Couples commission me to draw them before the wedding, and the piece is set out for guests on the day — a welcome sign by the flowers, a framed portrait on the gift table, something that stays on their wall long after. Every one is drawn from scratch for the couple, so yours won't look like these.
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Gallery
Selected artworkA wider selection of paintings and drawings — animals, portraits, and a few pieces shown next to the sketch they started from.
About
StatementMy grandmother taught my mother to paint, and my mother taught me. That's the whole origin story — no art school, just a kitchen table and someone willing to hand the brush over.
My family has always been my first and most loyal audience, and I think that's why I've never been drawn to making art that sits quietly in a studio. The version of creativity I grew up with was something shared — it happened alongside conversations, family gatherings, and everyday life. To me, art has always been less about displaying something finished and more about creating moments that bring people together.
Public art and community work feel like the closest way to recreate that on a larger scale. Whether it's a mural that brightens a street people pass every day, a classroom full of adults who arrive convinced they can't paint and leave proudly carrying something they made, or a live portrait sketched in the middle of a busy event, the goal is the same: to make art feel welcoming, participatory, and accessible. I want the work to be handed over, not simply observed.
Over the years, I've been fortunate to paint murals, teach sold-out large-scale painting classes in New York and San Francisco, and create live caricatures and portraits at weddings, corporate events, and community gatherings. Each experience has reinforced how meaningful it is to create alongside people rather than apart from them.
Looking ahead, I'd love to continue expanding that work through public-facing commissions, partnerships with community organizations and cultural institutions, and classes that reach people who may have never been told they're creative — or that making art is something they're allowed to do. If my work can help someone feel a little more connected, a little more confident, or simply bring a moment of joy to a shared space, then I feel like I'm carrying forward the tradition that began around my family's kitchen table.
Let's make something
Get in touch
Available for murals and café commissions, art classes, live caricature at events, and wedding pieces.