ARTIST STATEMENT

As a Pakistani-American multidisciplinary artist based in New York City, my practice explores the tensions and possibilities inherent in the real – and imagined – “clash of civilizations” between east and west.

This cross-civilizational encounter continues in my Treasures of Love series, in which I layer found images of canonical works of Islamic art and architecture with bold strokes of color recalling the abstract expressionism of modern western painting. Working first at a small scale (8” x 12”), I then blow these “miniature” creations into vivid, canvas-sized works, consciously engaging the material grammars of both traditions to create a hybrid visual language informed by both.

Yet in juxtaposing the centuries-old aesthetic of Persian and Mughal miniature painting with modernist and postmodernist modes of mark-making, I seek not only to compel contrasting mediums – meticulous and spontaneous, time-consuming and instantly gratifying, collective and individual – to co-exist peacefully on the page, but to move beyond dichotomy in a deeper rumination on the human condition that binds us together.

To this end, I draw upon both my unique, multicultural perspective as an artist as well as an academic background in emotional intelligence (PhD in Psychology) to produce visual, performance, and installation pieces designed to challenge the stereotyping and violence which dominate the political conversations of our time.
Above all, in a time of heightened tension between the Anglo-European and Islamic worlds, my work represents a conscious oscillation between the perceptions and misperceptions of daily life and the culture-transcending visions of mystics to tear down layers of cultural facades, re-affirm the power of seeing others with compassion and empathy, and reveal the eternal humanity in others and myself
Qinza Najm is a Pakistani-American artist whose work has been selected for many national and international juried exhibitions. Currently Najm's large-scale work is held in several prestigious public and private art collections. She has exhibited at Dubai's Christie’s Art, Miami Art Basel, Sikka Art Dubai, Dumbo Art Fair, Governors Island Art Fair, and Times Square. Najm’s large scale hanging installation will be open to public in February 2016 for three years at Children’s Museum of Manhattan.
Najm completed her psychology Ph.D. in the United States, which enables her to explore her subconscious and bring it onto the canvas. She pursued her fine arts studies at Bath University, the Savannah School of Art & Design, and The Art Students League of New York, where she studied with well known artists like, Ronnie Landfield, Bruce Dorfman, Leonid Lerman, and Larry Poons.
Her art embodies the state of inhabiting two worlds, staying true to her traditional Pakistani roots while navigating life based in New York City.
Her work has been featured in ArtNet News, Huffington Post, NY Daily News, International Business News, Buzzfeed and Upworthy.

Selected Exhibitions:
2016 Passage of Wishes, Children’s Museum of Manhattan, NYC
2015 Treasures of Love, Miami Art Basel, FL
2015 Black and White, Place Pleiades Gallery, NYC
2015 Swirl Bridge, Pakistan Mission To the United Nation, NYC
2014 Red Dot, Miami Art Basel, Miami, FL
2014 Somewhere In Berlin, Wattis Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2014 #DamnILookGood, Dumbo Art Festival, NYC
2014 Just Politics, Con Artist Gallery, NYC
2014 More To What Meets The Eyes, Con Artist Gallery, NYC
2014 Love vs. Hate, DIFC, Art Dubai, Dubai, UAE
2014 Noun Al Neswa, Marsam Mattar Gallery, Dubai
2013 Sacred Sinister, United Nation, Auctioned by Christie’s, Dubai
2013 Morphism of Love, Art Mora Gallery, NYC
2013 Golden, Saffron Art Auction, NYC
2013 Let it go, Leigh Wein Gallery, Chelsea NYC
2013 Ego vs. Empathy, Governor Island Art Fair, NYC
2013 Analysis of Love? Rush Art Gallery, Chelsea, NYC
2013 Ego and I, Gallery Brooklyn, NYC
2013 Modern Conflict, Art Dubai (Sikka), Dubai
2013 Oscillating Reality, Green Point Gallery, NYC
2013 Dream of Love, Abu Dhabi Art Hub, Abu Dhabi
2013 East & West, SMV Gallery NY, NYC
2013 Sublime Allegory, Time Square, NYC
2012 Small Works, Manhattan Borough President's Office,NYC
2012 Love & Ego, Phyllis Harriman Mason Gallery, NYC
2012 Memories, Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD), GA
2012 Contemporary Artist, US Consulate, Dubai, UAE
2010 Blue, Art Couture Gallery, Dubai, UAE
2009 Greed, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan
2008 Passion, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan

Education:
P.hd Tennessee State University, USA
Drawing & Painting. Bath University, UK
Painting. Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD), Atlanta, USA
Mixed Media, Painting & Composition, Sculpture. Art Student League of NYC, USA
MOMA NYC, Making the Invisible Visible: Learning from the Artist as Researcher
MOMA NYC From Pigment to Pixel: Color in Modern and Contemporary Art.
Arabic Calligraphy, Print Making & Welding workshops. Tashkeel, Dubai, UAE
Painting. Miami Art Center, FL, USA