Zaeed Kala- Bio
Originally from Mauritius (a tropical island east of Africa), Zaeed grew up around different cultures, ethnicities and belief systems that influenced his interest in human interactions in the face of difference.
Zaeed is an image-based painter, who as a child learned perceptual drawing and watercolors by observing his mother. After joining a branch of the human's rights organization Amnesty International as a teen, he started honing his skills to visually depict his passion for socio-political issues. In his early adulthood, he traveled to the United States to further his education in the art field, learning to better contextualize his work, as well as the mastery of other media such as oil and digital painting.
Being a figurative painter, most of his works deal with the themes of humanness and the selectivity of empathy, while blending traditional and contemporary forms and styles. Over the years, his work has evolved from allegorical diverse portraits, to more political works about conflicts, to casual day to day artworks documenting his experience.
Education
University of Houston, Houston TX, United States, 2013-2016
Master of Fine Arts- Studio Art (Painting-with 18 credit hours in Art History)
Cameron University, Lawton OK, United States, 2009-2013
Bachelor of Fine Arts- Studio Art (Concentration in Painting)
Awards
• Granted the position of Content Team Leader for high school Art in the Houston Region KIPP Network.
• Awarded the Joan Hohlt and Roger Wich Scholarship
• Awarded the Carey Schuart Scholarship
• Awarded the Graduate Teaching Fellowship
• Awarded the non-resident tuition waiver for four consecutive years.
• Awarded the McMahon Fine Arts Scholarship-Art for three consecutive years.
• Awarded First Place at the VAA 29th Juried Open Exhibition.
Exhibitions
Solo
-"Fabula Diversis" Pop up show, G Spot Gallery, Houston TX, United States, 2016
-"Tableaux Morts- Works by Zaeed Kala", Project Gallery U of H, Houston TX, United States, 2016
Juried
-Leslie Powell Gallery, Oklahoma: Centerfold 2012 Juried Art show, Lawton OK, United States, 2012. Juror: Kristy Deetz
-National Oil & Acrylic Painters’ Society (NOAPS), 22nd Annual 2012 Open -‘Best of America’ Exhibition, Dunnegan Gallery of Art MO, United States.
-Visual Arts Alliance, “Twenty-Ninth Juried Open Exhibition”, Smith (formerly -Continental Center I), Houston TX, United States, 2012. Juror: Wade Wilson
-Oklahoma Art Guild, Oklahoma Friendly 2012 National Juried Show, IAO Gallery, Oklahoma City OK, United States, 2012. Juror: Dr Mary Ruth Smith
Group
-"38th Master of Fine Arts Exhibition", Blaffer Art Museum, Houston TX, United States, 2016.
-“What is the What”, Project Space, Houston TX, United States, 2015.
-“Connect Five”, 4411 Gallery Montrose, Houston TX, United States, 2014.
- “One Degree of Separation”, Spring Street Studios, Houston TX, United States, 2014.
-“18 and Under”, Project Gallery, Houston TX, United States, 2014.
-“Nipples- Erotica Show”, Heights Gallery and Studio, Houston TX, United States, 2014.
-“Unorthodox”, Museum of the Great Plains, Lawton OK, United States, 2013
-“Art Night”, Group Exhibition, Springhill Suites Marriott, Lawton OK, United States, 2013.
-Duncan Art Exhibitions, Simmons Center Duncan OK, United States, 2010-2013.
-Wade Wilson Art, VAA Inaugural Invitational, Houston TX, United States, 2012
-“Love, Life and Death”, Group Exhibition, Simmons Center, Duncan OK, United States, 2012.
-“Kids At Heart”, Group Exhibition, Mabee Gerrer Museum of Art, Shawnee Ok, United States, 2011.
Selected Biography
-Voyage Houston, Meet Zaeed Kala of Z Art Studio, Houston TX, 2023
-Shoutout HTX Meet Zaeed Kala | Artist, Instructor and Founder of Z Art Studio, Houston TX, 2022
-M. Soogund, Zaeed Kala- A master of the brushstroke, Le Defi Media Group, Mauritius, 2013
-Leslie Powell Gallery, Oklahoma: Centerfold Biennial Catalog, published oil painting “Scar of Mother Gaia”, 2013
-E. Morlett, Unorthodox will highlight work, The Lawton Constitution, Lawton OK,2013
-M. Thompson, CU Student wins Art Exhibition, The Collegian, Cameron University, 2012
Languages
Fluent in English, French and Mauritian Creole.
Intermediate Japanese
Notion of Hindi/ Urdu