SAAD QURESHI
Through the various disciplines of sculpture, installation and drawing, Qureshi’s work probes issues of cultural belonging and separation – as well as universals that unite us beyond culture. Qureshi is fascinated by memory and time, and how they affect landscapes – both internal and external. He often creates large, multi-vocal objects that have resonances to differing faiths or cultures, and thus examining how relevant religion and ethnicity are in the contemporary world.
Rather than didactic, Qureshi sees his work as poetic and intangible; a bridge of communication. He seeks to deconstruct stereotypes and subvert narrow notions of belonging to only one locality or to one culture. While this forms the basis for his ideas, those ideas are fundamentally a springboard for aesthetic concerns – colour, space, form and texture. His work is drawn from the deeply rooted traditions of hand-craft, with a focus on the use of natural materials. Qureshi is inspired by those perennial artistic motifs: worlds within a world, literal and metaphorical compartments, the scales of monumental and miniature and their relation to the viewer.
Since graduating from the Slade MFA in painting in 2010 Qureshi has exhibited widely both in the UK and internationally – including New York, Hong Kong, Turin, Rome, Dubai and Istanbul. Following the Creative Cities Collections exhibition at the Barbican Arts Centre, Qureshi’s first museum exhibition took place at the Museum voor Moderne Kunst in Arnhem, Netherlands, which catalysed his career further since securing the finalist position at the BBC television program ‘School of Saatchi’ in 2010. Amongst others, his awards include the Royal British Society of Sculptors’ Bursary Award, the Celeste Prize, and Red Mansion Foundation Prize. Saad’s work explores failures of communication and notions of belonging in a multicultural society.