10 Questions with Zain Majeed

Zain Majeed is a self-taught Chicagoland-based artist and fashion designer. As a graduate of DePaul University with a business degree, it wasn’t until his senior year that he really discovered his creative passions and decided to pursue a career in art. During his time at the height of the pandemic, he had the opportunity to take an art class as an elective, where he would eventually discover the first artistic influences of Jean Michel-Basquiat and George Condo. As a South-Asian Muslim, there is a sense of perpetual navigation through diaspora in his life and work. His upbringing was centered around an internal and societal struggle in assimilation with his peers outside of his cultural and religious circles, as adulthood brought along an urgency and emphasis to reconnect with his culture and roots.

This continual learning process has allowed him to provide a more expansive outlook through his art. Stylistically, a standout element of his work is the clear depiction of both Western and South Asian tropes. Many of the concepts that appear in his work are centered around politically and emotionally charged themes of ethnicity, religion, mental health, individualism, love, and death. These themes allow him to have an outlet to communicate the vulnerabilities and anxieties that each of these concepts bring about. In regards to his creative output, Zain focuses on canvas paintings, alternating between or combining works, including oil and acrylic paints. He focuses on drawings as well, utilizing a large range of writing instruments. Many of his artistic compositions work around a combination of elements in contemporary, realist, cubist, and surrealist art. Much of his creative intention is to provide works that elicit a wide range of emotions, particularly centered around unsettling and melancholic feelings..

www.zainmajeed.com | @tafkaz_

INTERVIEW

First of all, when and how did you start getting involved with art? 

While I didn’t get seriously involved with art until around a year and a half ago, my first involvement with art was with my mother when I was a young child working on arts and crafts. She herself has always been creative, and seeing that and having involvement with it certainly established the foundation for me to become one myself. 

Are you still following the same inspiration? And how did your work evolve over time?

To an extent, I’ll always hold the inspiration that comes from my mother. I say that because, through her, she’s also my connection to my religion and, more importantly, my culture, which is now my current inspiration. I regard my work as a continually evolving process; I usually gravitate toward the artistic styles I’m most compelled to create.

As you mentioned, during the pandemic, you discovered the work of artists like Jean Michel-Basquiat and George Condo, which had a significant impact on your practice. Can you tell us more about it? 

I first learned about Basquiat in college. Looking at his work, I was moved by his utilization of different mediums, seeing how they complimented each other. The principally simplistic yet deeply thought-provoking components of his work inspired me to want to create art seriously. As I began my artistic journey, I soon became familiar with Condo’s work. Similarly to Basquiat, I was drawn in by his various uses of mediums; seeing how he manipulated them to depict different characters and complement various structures. His work quickly inspired me to start applying cubism and surrealist elements to my work.

Let’s talk about your work. What inspired you to work with painting? 

Initially, I was afraid to work with paint. I was mainly drawing in my beginning stages, using graphite and charcoal and working with a specific color gradient, so the idea of using a broader gradient seemed daunting to me. What got me into painting was the lure of how emotionally captivating the work could be, just on appearance. When I finally started working with it, I certainly felt that element present in my work, but I also felt how present it was while creating it.

Your work depicts both Western and South Asian tropes, offering a unique blend of influences. How do you navigate and incorporate these diverse elements into your artistic compositions, and what significance do they hold for you?

When focusing on those tropes, I try to incorporate them simultaneously into my works. I feel a sense of distortion between the two, which I’ve learned to generally categorize as emotional diaspora. As I continue to learn about my roots and my culture within South Asia, I feel more compelled to have them present in my work. At this stage, I’ve found it most applicable to incorporate them into Western contemporary styles.

Your artwork explores politically and emotionally charged themes, including ethnicity, religion, mental health, individualism, love, and death. How do these themes provide an outlet for you to communicate vulnerabilities and anxieties, and what emotions do you aim to evoke in your audience?

They allow me to maintain elements of my sanity and my humility. Personally, each of these components has largely been understood from a perspective that is absent of a communal structure. As I continue to learn more about myself, my community, and my society from a personal and political standpoint, I’m able to keep breaking down the guards set up that enforce an individualistic mindset. With these kinds of pieces, I aim to make my audience uncomfortable in the sense of really making them consider how and why these elements can be applied to themselves and their surroundings.

Your compositions incorporate elements from contemporary, realist, cubist, and surrealist art. How do you navigate the combination of these diverse styles, and what challenges or rewards do you find in merging these artistic elements?

I mainly see them as different avenues to discuss different emotions and concepts. I don’t necessarily see a challenge in combining these styles; rather, I see a challenge in how those different emotions have to be cohesively put together. Sometimes, I’m able to just have a piece that conveys a convoluted feeling, but the ones that need structure allow me the reward of finding a place of emotional or conceptual continuity. 

What do you hope that the public takes away from your work?

There are many different things that I hope the public takes away from my work. The understanding that my interpersonal pieces are authentically depicted, the understanding that I put my everything into creating the best pieces I possibly can, and the hope that my work is profoundly captivating in a multitude of ways. The most important takeaway I want is that my work is centralized on providing solidarity and introspective themes to the marginalized and oppressed and that my responsibility is to be a cultural worker. 

What are you working on now, and what are your plans for the future in terms of new projects? 

Given the political climate that we are currently in, I’d be remiss not to create what is weighing on my heart and spirit, as well as an entire collective community. I find it imperative that political themes are incorporated into my work, and I see now as a necessary time to do so. For future works, I aim to continue to learn more about South Asian art, as well as revolutionary art and to apply those concepts more prominently. 

Finally, what is your biggest goal for 2024?

My biggest goal is always to make strides and to improve as an artist. For this year specifically, I aim to have the opportunity to have a larger presence in exhibitions.

Artist’s Talk

Al-Tiba9 Interviews is a promotional platform for artists to articulate their vision and engage them with our diverse readership through a published art dialogue. The artists are interviewed by Mohamed Benhadj, the founder & curator of Al-Tiba9, to highlight their artistic careers and introduce them to the international contemporary art scene across our vast network of museums, galleries, art professionals, art dealers, collectors, and art lovers across the globe.