Said Adrus is an Ugandan-British artist born in 1958 in Uganda.
During the 1980s, his imagery has been described as computer paintings on canvas. He later turned to mixed media and multi-media ways of working, experimenting with the moving image and screen projection. Since 2015, he's been combining his digital media work with various materials that allude to his voyage from African and Asian coastlines to the Western hemisphere, describing migration and emigration in the modern setting.
He references Andy Warhol as an influence to his collage work, comparing Warhol's parodying of Western art conventions to his pushing of the boundaries of painting while keeping its elements.
Adrus lives and practices in the UK, Switzerland, and other countries in Europe.
Biography
Adrus was born to Gujarati Muslim parents in 1958 in Kampala, Uganda, in what was at the time known as ‘British East Africa’. His family moved there being part of the British colonial project of moving South Asian people to East Africa to build railways. They then moved to Switzerland, where they still live. Adrus then moved to Britain, due to Idi Amin expelling the descendents of Gujarati indentured labourers, many of whom moved to the UK.
Adrus has a BA(Hons) in Fine Art awarded by the Nottingham Trent Polytechnic.
He is a polyglot, speaking German, French, Hindi, Gujarati and English.
Works
Group exhibitions
1985: Eastern Views: Works by Young Asian Artists from the Midlands
1985: Three Asian Artists
1988: Black Art: Plotting the Course
1988: Paintings by Said Adrus - Ceramics by Louise Block, Horizon Gallery, London. 1990: In Focus 1990: In Sight, in View 1990: "Let the Canvas Come to Life with Dark Faces” 1991: History and Identity: Seven Painters 1992: Black People and the British Flag 1992: Crossing Black Waters 1993: Transition of Riches 2008: Next We Change Earth 2011: Recreating the Archive
Reviews, articles, and texts
1990: ‘It Ain’t Ethnic’, Black Arts in London, no. 128, (1 - 30 September), 5.