Nadeem Chughtai
With a life-long fascination with the manner in which both light, shadows, forms, moods and atmosphere can cause so much positive creative devastation to a pictorial piece, leading exponent of the contemporary figurative fine art scene, Nadeem Chughtai has put to good use all that he learned during his time as a scenic artist; which served as his creative prequel to being the practising and hugely successful fine artist which he is today. In Chughtai’s own words he insists that during that previous incarnation he; “Learnt so much from the artists I worked with, they have a vast knowledge of all aspects of art, light, perspective and colour,” adding; “They are almost like modern day equivalents of the renaissance masters, taking on commissions and designs on a grand scale”.
With Chughtai’s signature work evolving around these larger than life characters he suggests that essentially they are the illustrative embodiment of each and every one of us to certain degrees and at certain times in our lives, and to his mind they graphically represent the consumer society in which we all reside whether we sign up to it or not. Anonymity is guaranteed as Chughtai never depicts anything resembling human-esque faces on his creations, yet despite lacking in facial features they are more then compensated for in terms of expression and emotion courtesy of their body language and typically narrative posturing. And at the end of the day, Chughtai leaves just a little bit to our imaginations, and an air of mystery as such, so interpretation of the situation, like their beauty is in the eyes of the beholders.
Chughtai frequently cites the works of Edward Hopper as having heavily influenced his own brand of creativity, who’s somewhat eerie imagery leaves the casual observer demand to know so much more besides what they’re initially confronted with, from a visual standpoint. Chughtai believes that Hopper possessed this gift of being able to paint the moment before the moment was even played out. Aside from Hopper and Chughtai also name-checks the one and only Caravaggio, who as the polar opposite of the aforementioned artist depicted the actual moment the master painter was privy to back in the day. He also loves how the thrust of his paintings are still seen as somewhat controversial and contain the element of shock, to this very day.
Another, more modern inspiration is Donna McLean, whose hallmark work Chughtai describes as being full of atmosphere and mood and having this ability to tap into his conscious he takes from this artist the confidence to not paint every single square inch of his canvases. Elsewhere and Chughtai is a big fan of Jack Vettriano, yet away from the painted matter he’s also creatively moved by the works of the movie-making siblings, the Coen brothers; with Chughtai gushing with regards to their carefully crafted scripts and art direction and the humour they inject into their key works, alongside of the ambience and mood their big screen adaptations visually generate.
Continually seeking out new ideas and illustrative concepts, Chughtai is almost obsessive in his non-stop sketching, writing, note and picture taking (photographically) as he relentlessly pursues his next canvas adventure as he’s going about unrelated business. Not that any business is unrelated for an artist who lives, breathes, eats and sleeps his passion in the way that Chughtai apparently does. Elaborating on such matters Chughtai explains; “I roughly sketch an image that I feel encapsulates those emotions. I can usually tell if an image will work straight away and can often see it in my mind before I have put pen to paper”.
With Chughtai’s signature work evolving around these larger than life characters he suggests that essentially they are the illustrative embodiment of each and every one of us to certain degrees and at certain times in our lives, and to his mind they graphically represent the consumer society in which we all reside whether we sign up to it or not. Anonymity is guaranteed as Chughtai never depicts anything resembling human-esque faces on his creations, yet despite lacking in facial features they are more then compensated for in terms of expression and emotion courtesy of their body language and typically narrative posturing. And at the end of the day, Chughtai leaves just a little bit to our imaginations, and an air of mystery as such, so interpretation of the situation, like their beauty is in the eyes of the beholders.
Chughtai frequently cites the works of Edward Hopper as having heavily influenced his own brand of creativity, who’s somewhat eerie imagery leaves the casual observer demand to know so much more besides what they’re initially confronted with, from a visual standpoint. Chughtai believes that Hopper possessed this gift of being able to paint the moment before the moment was even played out. Aside from Hopper and Chughtai also name-checks the one and only Caravaggio, who as the polar opposite of the aforementioned artist depicted the actual moment the master painter was privy to back in the day. He also loves how the thrust of his paintings are still seen as somewhat controversial and contain the element of shock, to this very day.
Another, more modern inspiration is Donna McLean, whose hallmark work Chughtai describes as being full of atmosphere and mood and having this ability to tap into his conscious he takes from this artist the confidence to not paint every single square inch of his canvases. Elsewhere and Chughtai is a big fan of Jack Vettriano, yet away from the painted matter he’s also creatively moved by the works of the movie-making siblings, the Coen brothers; with Chughtai gushing with regards to their carefully crafted scripts and art direction and the humour they inject into their key works, alongside of the ambience and mood their big screen adaptations visually generate.
Continually seeking out new ideas and illustrative concepts, Chughtai is almost obsessive in his non-stop sketching, writing, note and picture taking (photographically) as he relentlessly pursues his next canvas adventure as he’s going about unrelated business. Not that any business is unrelated for an artist who lives, breathes, eats and sleeps his passion in the way that Chughtai apparently does. Elaborating on such matters Chughtai explains; “I roughly sketch an image that I feel encapsulates those emotions. I can usually tell if an image will work straight away and can often see it in my mind before I have put pen to paper”.