Uzma Sultan
Born in Karachi, Pakistan, she is a contemporary artist who lives and works between London, Berlin and Karachi. Her practice begins with taking intuitive photographs on her phone - casual observations that later evolve into paintings. She received her MFA from the Slade School of Fine Art in 1999 and has since developed a distinctive approach to oil painting grounded in material experimentation and instinctive mark-making. Her work has been shown internationally. Solo exhibitions include Life Room at Koel Gallery in Karachi (2011) and Mishmash at Rohtas 2 in Lahore (2012). She has participated in numerous group shows, including the 2005 Mostyn Open in Wales, and won the Fine Art Prize at the 2006 Inspired Art Fair in London, judged by Marcus Harvey. She was shortlisted for the John Moores Painting Prize in Liverpool in 2008 and took part in the Winter 2013 Takt Residency in Berlin.
Materiality sits at the centre of her work. She experiments with aluminium, vinyl, fabric, and traditional canvas, choosing each surface for how it disrupts, absorbs, or resists oil paint. This interest in how paint behaves - dragging, slipping, clinging - drives her process. Her paintings often emerge from impulse, guided by a commitment to exploring texture, resistance, and the unpredictable dynamics of oil on unconventional or abrasive grounds. Her style blends immediacy with deep technical sensitivity, creating images that feel both spontaneous and meticulously attuned to their material foundations.
The paintings are made on impulse using my intuition
She continues to deepen her exploration of oil paint on unconventional surfaces, driven by an enduring fascination with texture, gesture, and the intuitive process of making. Her current work expands on the tension between spontaneity and control, using material behaviour as a lens to explore emotional and sensory states. Future projects involve further pushing the boundaries of surface experimentation and developing a new series informed by her international studio life.
