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Jamil Afridi's Profile

Jamil Afridi

Jamil Afridi was born in 1937 in Quetta, in the Baluchistan province of Pakistan. After completing two years of college in the late 1950s, he moved on to art school in France, and then to Spain.

Back in Pakistan, in 1965 he joined Pakistan Television as a designer, where he remained until 1977. For the next twenty years, he was engaged in the design and manufacture of furniture for children, first in Karachi and then in the scenic northern town of Mansehra. In the late 1990s, with a view to experience new horizons, he moved to New York City and remained there for over six years.

All this while, he has painted regularly, “-- for the sheer love of painting”, and has won appreciation of discerning art lovers. His work is to be found in many serious collections.

Much of Jamil Afridi’s work deals with subject matter that is essentially reflective of his cultural roots. Yet his treatment of his subjects is so immensely influenced by international artistic traditions that his canvases almost look like western interpretations of the east. He often uses nature’s elements to define his work, be it the sun’s rays to give his landscape spatial dimension, or the rise of a rain cloud signifying the end of a lazy summer afternoon as a gentle metaphor for a changing world. Jamil’s humility and sense of humor bring lightheartedness to his work which is augmented by his choice and treatment of color.

A life-long bachelor, he now lives a "retired" life in Karachi, his urge to create still undiminished.