‘Of Paradise and Other Places’, Saad Qureshi
HS Projects is delighted to present Of Paradise and Other Places, an exhibition of recent works by Saad Qureshi that have not been shown in London before. Described by Laura Cumming in the Observer as “one of our most pensive and poetic artists”, Qureshi’s sculptures give form to the ideas or stories by which we lend meaning to human existence.
The exhibition includes a striking element of his monumental sculptural installation Something about Paradise, commissioned for the Chapel at Yorkshire Sculpture Park in 2020. Saad travelled around the country talking to people of faith, as well as atheists and agnostics, about what the concept of Paradise represents or looks like to them. Descriptions of indistinct and imagined places, as recalled from their memories or envisaged in their dreams, were then interpreted and woven together into sculptural forms. These towering and sprawling organic forms are punctuated by a diverse range of landscape features and architectures drawn from across the world. From temples and churches to modernist houses, these structures reveal the spiritual and the earthly in unison and without geographical borders. The monochrome palette gives the work an otherworldly feeling that is further emphasised by a fanciful and inconsistent use of scale to create fantastical and dreamlike mindscapes. Opposite the lifts, the ornate, hand-cut, wooden Gates of Paradise II – VII evoke the often referred to threshold or gateway to the heavens. Something About Paradise and Gates of Paradise are an invitation to reflect on areas of commonality in our frequently polarised society and to open up possibilities for a profound and hopeful dialogue between people.
Flanked by foliage, Abaabil, 2020, made of painted bronze, speaks of the universal human desire to fly and the fascination with feathered beings. Birds took root in Qureshi’s imagination through the myths of his childhood. According to an ancient tale, the abaabil birds are a divinely-inspired flock, who defeated a large army by dropping burning pebbles upon them. The abaabil can be said to combine matter and aura, existing in two different dimensions – one physical and one cultural. Abaabil also alludes to metaphorical flight: that of the mind through imagination and learning, activities which we engage in both privately or collectively and which hold a special fascination for Qureshi as an artist.
Saad Qureshi received his BA in Fine Art from Oxford Brookes University in 2007 and an MFA in Painting from The Slade School of Fine Art, London, in 2010.
Recent solo exhibitions include: The Djanogly Gallery (at Lakeside Arts, Nottingham University) (2024); Sharjah Islamic Arts Festival (2024); Nature Morte Gallery, New Delhi (2022), Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield (2020). Group exhibitions include the Aga Khan Centre Gallery, London (2023); Kunsthall 3,14, Bergen (2021); Museum Arnhem, Netherlands (2020); I’Institut des Cultures d’Islam, Paris (2019); Drawing Room, London (2019); White Project Gallery, Paris (2014).
Winner of The Frieze & The OWO Sculpture Prize, Convocation is on view at Raffles London. In 2023, Saad Qureshi was commissioned to realise a permanent Organ Donor Memorial for the Royal London Hospital at Whitechapel. He was shortlisted for the 2021 SkyArts LANDMARKS public art prize, and has realised public commissions at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford and for LandSec at Victoria, London.
‘Of Paradise and Other Places’ is at Howick Place from June 2024 to December 2024.