Mahmood Hayat
Mahmood Hayat is a Pakistani artist and teacher. Raised in Lahore and descended from the warrior tribe Punjabi Pathan, Hayat began learning his craft from a young age, seeking inspiration from his brother's library collection and his father's workshop. He trained under Pakistani portrait painter Saeed Akhtar, and became influenced by his style. He graduated from the National College of Arts, and became a lecturer of Furniture Design at the Pakistan Institute of Fashion and Design.
Hayat holds strong philosophies regarding his artwork; in particular it offers him solace from an often violent or frustrating world. At one point, the antagonism from his peers, who questioned whether an art career was commercially viable, caused him to lose faith in his abilities and destroy many of his works. Hayat has held two exhibitions which have met with positive reviews, and has a piece currently featured at the 2017 Venice Biennale. He has been compared to Renaissance artists, as well as the Pakistani artists Saeed Akhtar and Collin David, by English-language Pakistani broadsheet The International News.
Life
Early life
Born in 1981 and raised in Lahore, Hayat asserts that his interest in pursuing art descended from his lineage – Punjabi Pathans in the tribe of Mohmand – which were known as warriors who crafted their weapons like artisans. From a young age Hayat began to draw on objects such as matchboxes and paper, and he first saw art in the pages of his brother's library collection. At the age of six, his elder brother taught him to paint surfaces with a brush. He would later recall that his family would often observe him "drawing cartoons on walls and doors". These experiences led to him to visit his father's French antique style interior furniture workshop Messrs Sharif Hayat, or Hayats' Furniture, where he observed his elders using various techniques, such as painting on wooden tables, mirrors, and stained glass. In particular, he watched a style called Trompe-l’œil, a technique which uses optical illusions to depict three-dimensional scenes on two-dimensional surfaces. It was here that Hayat honed his skills and matured as an artist, learning to create what he terms "both commissioned portraits and stylised works of art". Trips to Europe with his family cemented his love and appreciation for both art and architecture.Later life
Hayat trained under Pakistani portrait painter Saeed Akhtar, building on the foundations of academic art to develop a distinctive contemporary representational style that encompasses portraits, landscapes, and fantasy-oriented subjects.During this time, he dabbled in other forms of artistic expression such as architectural murals, and became a pioneering figure in Pakistani art video making. He also became enamoured by the theory of the golden ratio, and frequently placed it into his work. Hayat was faced with challenges from those who questioned if he was pursuing a financially secure career; of this time he said: "I was in a state of denial which made me lose most of my magnificent art works". He graduated from the National College of Arts, and became a lecturer of Furniture Design at the Pakistan Institute of Fashion and Design. His work Muse of Hope was auctioned off by the Polish auction house Sopocki Dom Aukcyjny. In 2013, he converted his home into a private arts studio, where he currently teaches.