Shakeel Siddiqui

I was born in Karachi.
My Parents belongs to Hyderabad Dakkan India, we migrated from India
my father was very fond of paintings
he was a sunday painter, used to do his painting on Sunday
we kids also used to do paintings on Sunday holidays
since my interest was also in painting although I did my matric from science, but I did not have interest in it.
my father told me if want to go in this then go for it, but do it sincerely
then I took admission in Karachi school of arts after matric.
I went to Arts Council and got my diploma in 1975
I went to the US for two years training in painting
when I came back from the US, the same profession continued

Your Medium?

I mostly do oil and canvas almost 90%
sometimes I use mixed media, pencil, but mostly oil and canvas

Tell us about you restoration work.

I am very fond of restoration and I have passion for it
when I held my exhibition in London in 2001, I did a short course related to restoration like there is a big 60 X 8 mural of Sadequain in State Bank, I did complete restoration of it.
I restored more than hundred paintings of Sadequain
I worked for quite some sometime with Sadequain when he used to be in Frere Hall, so I become passionate about Sadequain’s work
his lines, how he used to hold knife, because I observed it myself with him
therefore it is quite convenient for me to Sadequain ‘s restoration work.
I started super realism work when I was in America from 1970 to 1973
there used to be an artist named Andrew Wyeth, who died four or five years ago, he used to do this type of super realism work
our art college visited his studio, and from there I got a lot of fascination from his work.
The first painting in super realism I did after I came back in 1979
Ali Imam Sahab encouraged me a lot and from there my painting started to be sold by the grace of Allah.

Tell us about your exibitions.

The first solo show I did at Bashir Mirza gallery in Karachi in 1978
it was in 1996 with Ali Imam, and in 2000 it was held at Chaukandi, then 2003 in Karachi
it was in 2001 and 2004 in London, and In Holland it was in 2003, In Canada it was in 2008 and 2013.
since I was in Dubai for twelve or thirteen years, I used to have many shows there as well, I mean solo shows.
A lot of group shows were held quite often, in States, London, Dubai, and Karachi and Canada.

Message to youth.

you see that this art field is quite challenging
if you want to make it your profession you have be very serious, and be ready for everything, like there will be ups and downs
it is not like medicine, once you complete it, get a job and start making money
it happened to me as well I pass out in 1975, and first 10 to 12 years are very difficult for living
once people start to know your work and your work start getting sold then you get a good response.
Youngsters wants shortcut in everything, they start doing painting and it becomes first class, but they don’t concentrate on drawing at all, although drawing is the backbone of painting sculpture or any other fine art form
there is no shortcut for success as far as I know.
I always say, observe it what you are doing and drawing, keep a sketchpad with you while you are watching TV, keep on drawing.
until and unless you do a realism work you cannot do abstract, without learning of grammar you cannot do poetry in a particular language, it is mandatory to learn the basics then get command on it
you have to be commercial, because without selling paintings how you will survive? But be honest with your work.