Today we’d like to introduce you to Saiful Haque.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, grew up in Tulsa Oklahoma then Tucson Arizona, and eventually moved to Southern California. I’ve always had a fascination with art, it has been a way for me to make sense of both the physical world and vivid dreams I would have. As a child, I found reading challenging and gravitated to books with illustrations of exploded views of planes, tanks, cars. If a book illustrated how something in science or engineering worked, my nose was in it. I aspired to be an engineer as a child. In high school, I convinced the school to purchase a Sony VX 2000, with the promise I would record and edit school activities like games, sports rallys, which I did. The camera also allowed me to shoot and edit my films.
Coming from a low-income family the idea of having a camera was unattainable. I found film-making exhilarating. To see the eyes of your audience react to a movie you had just made was a new feeling for me. It wasn’t so much about receiving praise, or even attention, It was this feeling that someone’s heart, mind, and breath was undulating to the waves of light you designed on screen. When graduation was on the horizon, my mind had changed. Film-making was my goal…. and I didn’t do it. When I applied for college, at the time I had heard that each student needed to own a camera and have the funds necessary to film their course assignments. My family was very poor, and film-making was a rich man’s dream. After a year of community college I decided to apply to Art Center College of Design for Entertainment Design, this major would allow me to design film productions without having to dish out the money to actually make one. Being the artist, I could design the sets, props, characters. Fast forward 3 years and I was lost again. I missed the challenges, and exhilaration of actual film-making. Fortunately Art Center allowed me to design my own curriculum and my last two years were spent taking courses in film and fine art. Fast forward two years and I have directed a commercial, and a music video and am currently working as a concept artist for James Cameron on the Avatar sequels getting the best damn film-making education I could imagine, surrounded by the best people in the world in every department. The way I see it, I’m still in film school, and I’m happy and still learning.
Please tell us about your art.
My work is usually illustrating films I’ve written or dreams I’ve had. Usually, in the form of a painting, I try to capture a moment in time in a fictional place, world. My favorite genre is sci-fi, due to its ability to be slightly left field of our reality. In a world filled with stimulating imagery driven by data, I hope my work inspires young adults. I hope it resonates with them and that they feel something when they see it. My artwork is strategic, or at least I think it is? I don’t paint just for me. I am very careful with the decisions I make and pay close attention to how they make people feel. I plan to take what I am learning from my artwork, and one day translate them into short films on screen to see if my theories hold up.
What do you think is the biggest challenge facing artists today?
Big data. The small glass window in your pocket today is more effective at reaching an audience than any gallery space has been in history. Speaking as an artist, we are inherently insecure. When we finish a piece of art and post it on the internet, and like, lack of likes, comments, hit us right at our core. Are we worthy? Is our work good? Do you like it? This is normal, you are an artist, and you are spilling your guts onto the page. You’ve got to drown that out. You can chase what will make your art trend, and eventually surface to appeal to the masses, but then you’ve just allowed the internet to shape your work. Fuck that. You are more complex than that, and if you concentrate on what makes your heart pump when you do your work, you will begin to unravel who you are. ultimately you will find your voice. THAT voice can attract attention, and I would argue the more authentic kind. Don’t drown in the noise.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
My work can be found at https://saiful-haque.com
and: https://www.artstation.com/saifulhaque
My film work can be found at:
https://saiful-haque.com/Film
Contact Info:
- Website: https://saiful-haque.com/
- Email: saiful@saiful-haque.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saiful.haque/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/saifulhaqueart/
- Other: https://www.artstation.com/saifulhaque
Image Credit:
Saiful Haque
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