Saad Qureshi
Mixed media sculptor
Oxford, United Kingdom
Where memory builds its house
- Saad is a mixed media sculptor working primarily in wood, sand and plaster
- Born in Pakistan and raised in the UK, his current work draws on sacred architecture from across cultures
- He has completed major public commissions, including a 15-metre high tower for Bradford City of Culture 2025
Saad Qureshi arrived in the UK at eight years old without a word of English, but quickly found his footing in the art room. “Craft was already in my bloodline,” he explains. His grandfather was the Indian British Army’s finest tailor. He passed on his skill to Saad’s mother, who is both tailor and weaver, and who brought up her three children to understand the world through stories. Although Saad began with painting, his practice shifted. “I realised that I needed to experiment with space, and the physical experience of walking around something that moves,” he says. His works give form to the ideas, memories and stories by which we lend meaning to human existence. His sculptures knit together fragments of sacred architecture, from synagogue domes to the Tower of Babel.
INTERVIEW
Historical architecture is a vessel of human existence, so I wanted to use it as a metaphor to tell human stories. My towers take their motifs and influences from across the globe; they invite you to identify and interpret, whilst alluding to places beyond themselves.
Materiality and colour have to become one: I mix sand into the plaster for a slight texture, but the absence of applied colour roots the work in a distant reality. Like a monochrome flashback in a film, you immediately believe it happened long ago. I love the innocence in this.
It comes from a very personal place. My whole life, I remembered the house I was born in as a mansion: soaring ceilings, massive pillars, a huge courtyard. I went back to it at 26 and could touch the ceiling with my hand. I grew up and the house shrank. Perspective changes everything and this informs my creative approach.
I have to have fun. The idea always comes first, and once I have chosen my materials, the concept moves into the background. I put Qawwali music on, often Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. That is when the magic happens, when I stop putting pressure on myself and focus on the joy of making.
Saad Qureshi
Mixed media sculptor
Oxford, United Kingdom
ADDRESS
Address upon request, Oxford, United Kingdom
AVAILABILITY
By appointment only
LANGUAGES
English
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