Haris Ahmad

It’s about me. My work is a form of self-portraiture, even the environments I create. My drawings are reflections on my life, and currently center on images related to the memory of my mother’s recent near death. Hospitals, waiting rooms, objects from moments that punctuate my memory, myself reflected. They haunt me at times, or strike me as important, so I want to share them with my audience.

My work combines figuration and abstraction to explore and express hidden narratives. Objects and figures emerge from dark environments or a series of energetic marks. The mundane becomes charged with whatever is in me connected to the depicted image. My drawings are often minimal and can use negative space as a strong compositional element. Along with memory, time is a central component in my work, a sudden intense moment, a series of moments, or an active visual path leading the viewer both literally and metaphorically through the conveyed memory. It’s not enough for the viewer to see the objects and figures. I want them to read the passage of time and recognize it as a derivative of memory based on the visual cues I’ve placed in the drawing.

Over the years the artists who influence me have come to include William Kentridge. Among other things, his work has helped me recognize the striking power of large-scale, figurative charcoal drawings. When I view Richard Serra’s works on paper, I revel in the medium, and I want my viewer to experience that as well. Looking back into art history, I admire Seurat’s expressionistic conveyance of form in ambiguity, and Caravaggio’s ability to extract form from darkness. Their mastery of their respective techniques will always remain timeless for me.