An A.I. scent generator; a collaboration with a cutting-edge fashion designer; NFTs made to support ocean conservation and a vintage textile collection to rival the most established fashion atelier: welcome to the expansive world of Shezad Dawood, the British artist whose work is not just multi-disciplinary: it's multi-sensory.
“I like to break and remake things.” Calling himself-medium-agnostic, London-based British-Pakistani artist Shezad Dawood interweaves stories, realities and symbolism to create richly layered artworks, spanning painting, textiles, sculpture, film and digital media. The breadth of Dawood's output is quite astounding, and his ability to jump across an omniversal divide is worth the time spent listening to this alone. Dawood currently has a solo exhibition of ambitious new work entitled ‘Night in the Garden of Love’ at Wiels art centre in Brussels. This new body of work is inspired in part by the music, writings and art of the late legendary jazz musician Yusef Lateef, who coined the term auto-physio-psychic music to describe music that comes from the mental, physical and spiritual self, and with whose work Dawood felt an intense connection. Ahead of this exhibition, Danielle visited Dawood at his studio in Hackney, East London, where he showed her his latest work and discussed his extensive vintage textiles collection; his collaboration with the British fashion designer Priya Ahluwalia; his thoughts on NFTs; and how he’s working to support his passion for marine conservation through one of his manifold creative partnerships.