Mueen Saheed is an internationally celebrated abstract artist and jewelry designer based out of Sri Lanka, who received the prestigious “Kala Bhooshana” award by the Department of Cultural Affairs, as a lifetime commemoration of his contribution to the field of art in Sri Lanka.
Mueen has been featured at many exhibitions in venues around the world, such as Delhi, Kuala Lumpur, Oxford, The Maldives, Bordeaux, Florence and Paris and his works have found their place in the collections of high profile individuals, including the Sultan of Brunei and the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
In a brief interview with him, Mueen spoke on his background, thoughts and experiences as a professional artist, as well as his views on the Sri Lankan art community in general.
Meaning
Mueen described himself as an Abstract Narrative Expressionist. He explained that his art leaves its meaning and themes as unclear, allowing people to derive their own ideas and meaning from how they feel when perceiving it.
But behind its abstract nature, Mueen instills his works with a narrative, with which he tries to express a specific story, vision or message through. Mueen’s preferred medium is through his paintings, but has dabbled in others as well, such as sculptures and various other art installations.
Speaking of his personal relationship with art, Mueen expressed that he enjoyed his work, as he was passionately committed to it. He hopes that with his art, he can provide something thought provoking, something that connects and communicates with those who experience it endlessly.
Mueen feels that those who view his work will keep trying to figure out the puzzle in the painting. As he puts it, “even if you have a painting of mine for 10 years, each time you see it, it talks to you in different tones, different languages, in different passages, depending on what you are going through in life.”
As his work is abstract, the themes and messages conveyed by each of his works vary greatly for each person who sees it.
Should ten people look upon his work, it is likely that they will reach ten different explanations for the same piece of art.
Learning
Mueen Saheed is a self taught artist without any formal training or teacher and he believes that he is still learning. Despite all his accomplishments, accolades and recognition he has received, Mueen still sees himself as an amateur artist and student. In his own words, he has “only just dipped the tip of my toe in the mighty ocean of art. The ocean of art, the knowledge of art and the beauty of art is endless.”
Relative to what he has achieved throughout his life, Mueen has not been an artist for very long, having picked up the brush for the first time around 15 years ago. Before he became a full time artist, Mueen was a world renowned jewellery designer, and owned a lucrative jewellery design business with around 20 stores and over 200 people working for him around the world.
“I used to fly from Tokyo to Vegas to New York to London totaling around 38 countries in my young age. I was doing very well.” However, he eventually lost his passion for it and let his business end, and now does not design jewellery at all anymore.
Since Mueen made the choice to become a full time artist, he said how his entire life changed. He mentioned how as a jewellery businessman, he was rubbing shoulders with clientele from all across the globe, but over the course of the past 15 years as an artist became completely introverted. “I disconnected all these people and l learned within me what I have to give”.
Haunting
Mueen Saheed dropped everything to go into art, which he said had been haunting him, calling out to him for ages by that point. He recalled that he had never painted as a child, without even a primary school understanding on how to paint. “It was something like a new adventure for me, learning how to paint. In 2007, was the first time in my whole life that I ever painted on a canvas,” He described his experience as having thrown himself into the ocean without learning how to swim, and that even now he is still just only managing to stay afloat.
Mueen spoke of how, initially he had approached a couple of potential teachers, veteran Malaysian painter Salleh Dawam in 2007 and professor at the Colombo Art Faculty, Jagath Ravindra in 2008.
Both of them urged him to not learn from a teacher and to figure out his own style and his own path, Mueen credits this choice as being what made him into the artist he is today.
When asked about his experience with the Sri Lankan art community, Mueen said that while he would love to get involved more, there isn’t a proper platform for that but expressed interest in creating one himself. He also noted that the few platforms there are, he isn’t comfortable involving himself with as he feels they are a bit too commercially oriented for his liking.
Speaking more generally on the state of art in Sri Lanka, relative to the international art scenes that Mueen has had the privilege of being a part of, he said that art appreciation here is severely underdeveloped. “The reason is that we don’t have excellent art galleries where children can go to view, learn and enjoy art.
Opportunity
If we had a grand museum, with maybe 1000 art works from world famous artists, that people could spend hours to see, then people could have the opportunity to understand art.”
Commenting on his career as an artist and the many accolades he has received, Mueen made it a point to say that while he appreciates that his work is getting recognition, that recognition is not something he actively seeks.
Mueen does not see himself as a popular, celebrity artist but is happy to accept any opportunities to help people or to give back to the community. He sees himself as an introverted artist and spoke of how he cannot speak of the experiences of other artists, but based on his 15 years of experience, the number one bit of advice Mueen had to give is, “Don’t ever copy. Just don’t ever copy. Create. If you read about somebody’s story and try to create a blueprint on that, you will never create your own style“.