Collection: Abdulrazaq Ahmed 🇳🇬

Abdulrazaq Ahmed (b. 1976) is a multi-media artist and a graduate of Urban and Regional Planning from the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (2005). A self-taught expressionist whose work reflects on societal catastrophes, his work spans various media ranging from acrylic and charcoal on burnt newspaper, pyrography, pencil on paper, oil on textured canvas  to interactive physical environments and installations. His work explores themes of man’s inactions and actions on his ecosystem, the predefined expectations society has on women, global warming, and the future. Ahmed considers his art a confluence of the Zaria Art School and the itinerancy of memories from childhood. He has a precocious interest in all forms of artistic expression borrowing from materials and influences in the different locations he has lived across his country (Nigeria). Through his style, he extends a visual algorithmic invitation to correct the anomie and celebrates the beauty of our lives despite the uncertainty, as we catch glimpses and realities of the people around us. Eyes and facial expressions have become a starting point in his artistic approach, an attempt to realert  and reignite our collective awareness of these beauties and realities amid the chaos we live in. His approach is derived from his training as an Urban Planner, which continually pushes him to experiment with material until it takes a new form through regeneration. Ahmed superimposes portraits and profiles of the female gender on burnt newsprint, creating collages that are informed by both his experiences and imagination using these to draw attention to our individual realities, richness and other endowments in our lives. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, mostly in group shows, and is held in both private and public collection.