Nasser Azam (born 1963, Jhelum, Pakistan) is a British contemporary artist, living and working in London.
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Nasser Azam was born in Jhelum, Pakistan in 1963, and moved to London with his parents in 1970. He began painting seriously in 1980, and in the same year embarked on a business degree at the University of Birmingham. By 1983, his reputation as an artist of considerable talent had been established through a number of exhibitions in Birmingham and the West Midlands, including the The Barber Institute of Fine Arts. That year he also featured in a BBC documentary.
In 2007, after an extended period living and traveling in Japan, America and Europe, Azam became Artist-in-Residence at the County Hall Gallery, mounting a major exhibition of early and recent work. Subsequent exhibitions included the 'Anatomica' series of paintings, made from illustrations taken both from fashion magazines and medical textbooks. Sculptural work has notably included the large bronze sculpture The Dance, unveiled on the South Bank on 21 February 2008. Recent sculptural projects have included work for the National Botanic Gardens of Ireland, in Dublin.
Azam's expressive semi-abstract style of painting has been compared with that of Willem de Kooning. His paintings show the human figure encoded in bio-morphic forms and gestural marks, and typically use a restricted but intense palette. The semi-natural, perforated appearance of his sculpture has given rise to comparisons with the work of twentieth-century sculptors such as Archipenko, Hans Arp and Henry Moore.
Azam is also active as an entrepreneur in the art world. In 2009 he launched The Azam Collection, an investment fund for contemporary art, to invest in, mentor and exhibit the work of younger artists. In 2010 Azam purchased the Morris Singer Art Foundry, the oldest bronze foundry in the United Kingdom, and relaunched it as the Zahra Modern Art Foundry.
Many of Azam's works during the period 2008 to 2010 were made as part of the 'performance painting' project. His purpose was to find the most extreme conditions in which to make paintings, and to use a work of art to document the moment and location in which it was made. In July 2008 Azam embarked on Life In Space, the first major painting 'performance'. Aboard a specially modified ILYUSHIN 76 MDK parabolic aircraft, Azam experienced totally weightless conditions similar to those in space while he completed two new triptychs, Homage to Francis Bacon: Triptych I and Homage to Francis Bacon: Triptych II. Azam's 'Life in Space' series of paintings was exhibited in London in Spring 2009.
In February 2010 Azam conducted an artistic expedition to Antarctica, where he endured extreme weather conditions to produce 13 large abstract oil paintings responding to different Antarctic landscapes, including ice lakes, ice caves, glaciers and ice deserts. Azam prepared for the Antarctica trip with a series of artistic trials in the freezers at Billingsgate Fish Market. The expedition was accompanied by a cameraman to document the mission.
On his return Azam continued elaborating the motifs discovered in Antarctica, in particular with a series of works on paper using maps of the Antarctic continent.
John-Paul Stonard (2008-03-20). Azam: A Short History of Sensation, Volume I. Follow this link to purchase on Amazon [1]
The Independent on Sunday, Arts Review, Close-Up Nasser Azam, 4 January 2009
Nasser Azam is a patron of the British branch of Child In Need India (CINI UK)[1].