Soraya Sikander
BIOGRAPHY
Soraya Sikander is one of today’s leading Contemporary South Asian
painters. Recognition for her work has come through critical acclaim and
the extraordinary popularity with the international public, making her one
of today’s most sought after artists with non-stop sell out exhibitions.
Soraya Sikander has been trained in old masters classical drawings at The
London Atelier of Representational Arts (LARA), and UCL’s Slade Summer
School. She graduated from Beaconhouse National University, Pakistan.
Her artworks are in private and public collections.
She has the distinction of being a TEDx art speaker. Soraya Sikander’s
artworks have been featured and reviewed extensively by: HELLO!,
Khaleej Times, Gulf News, The Gulf Today, Islamic Arts Magazine,
Dahabiya, Jaffat El Aqlam, Artlyst, Caravan Daily, Iris, Youlin, Professor
Gerda Roper (Dean of Fine Arts, University of Teesside) and Juliet Highet
(Art critic, Author ‘Frankincense’)
Soraya is acclaimed for a new style of painting that imbibes elements of
calligraphy into landscape painting. The fusion results in some
astounding, original works of contemporary landscape art. Her floral
paintings are rich in light, shade and tone and suggest organic patterns.
Soraya Sikander is renowned for the series ‘In, At, Around – exploring
urban space’.
She has exhibited internationally including at the Beijing Biennale at the
National Art Museum of China, Lahore Biennale 01, Dhaka Museum,
Shilpaka Academy, La Galleria Pall Mall, Royal Opera Arcade, Unicorn
Gallery, Alhamra Art Gallery, Arts Council Karachi, The National Museum
of Ras Al Khaimah, Etihad Art Gallery, Galerie Patries Van Dorst
(Netherlands) and other prestigious institutes.
ARTIST STATEMENT
“I have always been inspired by the world around me: nature in various
forms – the natural world – and I make the analogy with architecture
because that is the opposite of the organic. It is man-made. It’s
interesting for me to observe this relationship and clash, which is most
blatant in a still life; like say when you have flowers in a vase, the
formality verses the rampant organic and putting those things together.
And that exists in everything.
At the point of action, at the point of painting, all sorts of other elements
come into play. It is not totally cerebral, it is not planned on a piece of
paper and replicated on canvas. My work has the ability to surprise me. It
captures the complexities of development. There is nothing tame or
settled about the natural world. The growth of a flower involves larger
elemental forces, chemistry and carbon. I arrive at landscape through
ecology. It is the whole meaning that interests me not just surface
appearance. I am equally interested in how landscapes evolve. The still
and the everyday be it a sky, cloud, scattering, dynamism”
