Sayedah Ahmed’s artistic sensibility was ignited by the saturated jewel tones of her native Pakistan, hues that glistened during the monsoons and shone in the heat. Her childhood in Middle Eastern city of Dubai, with its muted palette of browns, beiges and creams, had a different, but still powerful, effect. “Until then, I had never realized there could be a deficiency, a lack of color and richness,” Sayedah explained. “You might as well have put a blindfold on me.”

The pieces she creates today in her Southern California studio are the result of a visual evolution honed by the tension of growing up amid two contrasting palettes. Her intricate works of acrylic painted cardboard are a marriage of color and construction, dimensionality and design, precision and playfulness. “In a way they are the opposite of me,” she said of her pieces. “They’re more cheerful and playful. I’m more, ‘Let’s talk philosophy.’

Not everyone who sees her stylized pieces will see the same thing. But she does hope to evoke a particular response: “For me, art should be something that grabs you, makes you think, react, wonder, listen, create."

Profile by Cindy Schreuder

SAYEDAH