Tanzara Gallery is delighted to present Zaam Arif, an American-Pakistani contemporary artist residing and working in Houston, Texas

The works in Zaams first solo exhibition titled “Being and Becoming” at Tanzara are far more than a series of portraits. Each work is a deep exploration of the ontological existence of the human by the societal systems. He confronts it with a penetrating interpretation of human nature, transforming it into a visceral reality. The selves who are distanced from their own selves, those that go beyond the balanced harmony, those who are detached from the law of completeness and the bodies that suffer, form the main movement of the artists’ aesthetic language. For the artist, at the core center is always the human and the difficulties that he faces in his adventures on earth, are worthy of being conveyed onto the painting language.

The 21 oil and canvas paintings on display, explore much of the same ground. Zaam expresses his understanding of the contemporary human condition along with insights garnered from his study of classical literature and psychology through his paintings that are so charged with emotional resonance that they leave an indelible mark on viewers. He is adamant in exploring the harsher truths and inner conflicts that plague us all, in this day and age, using visual contrast in all his pieces, whether through color, lack thereof, or the medium itself, to express.

Zaam is currently pursuing his BFA in Design but has been taught and been an apprentice to his artist father, for several years. His work has been published across many platforms, most recent being “Gulf Stream Magazine” in Miami, Florida and “The Gasher Journal” in Boulder, Colorado. He is the youngest Pakistani artist to be published in The New Yorker. In 2021, his work was selected to be exhibited in the Malamegi Lab Award and was awarded the Malamegi Lab Research Grant in Italy.