Splits and Passes (Ink, Tea, Watercolor on Paper)

sleeping on a tongue (Ink on Paper)

Dehiscence (Stained Tracing Paper on Canvas)

Bheja Sharee (Ink on Tracing Paper)

Hurt (Ink on Tracing Paper)

Hurt (2) (Ink on Tracing Paper)

as the moon drowns in tears...(Ink, Watercolor on Paper)

spilling its stains over me (Ink, Watercolor on Paper)

Dehiscence (2) (Stained Tracing Paper on Canvas)

Surfacing (Ink on Paper)

Nostalgia (Ink on Paper)

bold little bird fly away home (Ink on Paper)

Syed Zaman

Biography:

Born in Sylhet, Bangladesh, December, 1982. Has lived and resided in North America since the age of eight. Considers art to be a means of communication between men, a reflection of the self, and ideas consumed by the mind. Currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, in Philadelphia, PA.

Statement:

My figurative work is created in response to dreams and multiple perspectives about identity and place, and originates from both memory as well as photographs. I'm constantly on the quest to finding a lost sense of place and identity in juxtaposition with those re-occurring dreams.

The more recent abstract works are derived from fragmented memories of abuse and destruction. My ideas are executed both emotionally and physically, and the concept is experienced through the vicissitudes of the process. Just as the figures depict sensuality and destruction, the creative process of covering an ink washed surface with the delicacy of tracing paper becomes destructive.

To express the uncertainty involved with personal identity, I don’t hesitate to transform clarity into catastrophe. The mark making on the physical surface of my work allows intuitive, impulsive actions to take place. They teach me how to keep mistakes and interface unexpected results, offering the potential for becoming lost in the abusive past, the dreams of moments where the body immerses into vessels of water, which hold pieces of my life and me.