Cultural identity has been a prevailing theme through out Reeta Saeed’s international career. In her current series entitled “The World Leaders” this theme is revisited through the medium of currency and the political worlds that ebb and flow around it. Portraits of past and present political leaders spur a comparative conversation between their respective careers and the current states of their countries.
Reeta Saeed’s paintings are themselves a stylistic dialogue between traditional and contemporary visual language. By employing the ancient and measured technique of miniature painting with the theory laden use of textiles Reeta Saeed explores a dichotomous harmony of past and present in her subject matter and execution. The result is an engaging series in which the past and present swell out to the point of engulfing the viewer into her subtle but potent paintings.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2009
-Steeped in Sankskriti, Gibsone Jessop Gallery, Toronto, Canada
-No Honor in Killing: Making Visible Buried Truth, National Gallery of Arts, Islamabad, Pakistan
-Bazgashat: Traditional methods and urban myths’Art Gallery of Mississauga, Canada
2008
-Dyed Roots,Museum of Canadian Contemporary Arts, Toronto, Canada
-Biennial Fiber Works, Cambridge Galleries, Canada
-Re-Generation, SAVAC, South Asia Calling Festival, Harbourfront Centre of Arts, Toronto, Canada
-Bend, Fold, Manipulate’ 20 Artists Stitch for Peace! ACA Gallery, Toronto, Canada
2007
-Speculum Mundi, Galerie Davide Gallo, Berlin, Germany
-Video Cuts, Centre of Contemporary Arts, Glasgow, United Kingdom
-Video Cuts, Window 204, Bristol, United Kingdom
-A Thousand and One Days, Musée des Beaux Arts, Rouen, France
-Honeymoon Phase, Lauderdale House, London, United Kingdom
-Inhabiting New Spaces, Kingsgate Gallery, London, United Kingdom
2006
-Video Cuts, Lecture Theatre, Central Saint Martins, London, United Kingdom
-Creation, Scarborough Arts Council, Todmorden Mills Heritage Museum, Toronto, Canada
-Layering, Gallery 1313, Toronto, Canada
-Isolation, Installation, Artist Studio, OX-Bow Summer School, Art Institute of Chicago, United States of America
-Three dimensions of Threa, Installation, Central Saint Martins, London, United Kingdom
-Layering, instillation, Project Room, Central Saint Martins, London, United Kingdom
2005
-A Thousand and One Days, Academy of Arts, Honolulu, Hawaii
-Exhibition of Miniature Painting, Art-en-Chart House, France
2004
-Contemporary Miniature Painting, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan
-Playing with the Loaded Gun, Fridericianum Museum, Kassel, Germany
-Exhibition of painting and calligraphy, National Museum of Art, Bahrain
2003
-Playing with the Loaded Gun, Apex Art, New York, United States of America
-Exhibition of Contemporary Miniature Painting, K-3 Project Space, Zurich, Switzerland
-Exhibition of Contemporary Miniature Painting, Maison d’ Art Contemporian Chaillioux, France
-Negotiating Borders, Siddhartha Art Gallery, Kathmandu, Nepal
-Group show of Miniature Painting, Royeat Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan\
AWARDS & HONOURS
2007
-Selected Student Artist, Celeste Art Prize, London, England
2006
-Artist in Residence, Ox Bow, The Art Institute of Chicago, United States of America
2004
-Artist in Residence, Omi International Artist Residency, New York, United States if America
2000
-National College of Arts Merit Scholarship, Lahore, Pakistan
EDUCATION
2001
-Bachelor of Fine Arts, National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan
2007
Post Graduate Degree, Fine Arts, Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design, London, United Kingdom
