Syed grew up in a very unique family environment and local culture, Arts and portraits were taboo. There was no education available beyond the middle school in any form of art. Yet everyone in Syeds’ family indulged in multiple forms of arts and enjoyed linguistics.

 

With all this inspiration around him, Syed doodled his way into creating his first oil paintings at the age of 13.

 

In 1982, he moved to California with his wife he met while in college. They had three daughters.  Professionally his career involved managing multiple automotive manufacturing plants and required significant travels supporting supply base productivity over Europe, Puerto Rico and USA. This also limited the opportunity to be creative artistically.  In between he worked with local companies as a consultant for productivity, and for Fisker supporting production of the first electric vehicle Karma. In 2013 he joined the United Technologies Aerospace division and reduced his travels giving him more time to paint until a couple years ago.  

 

While living in Laguna Hills in 2005 he started indulging in art sessions available at various local studios and at LCAD wherever, live models were available. In Corona since 2011, every Saturday he still practices sketching figures at the Laguna College of Arts and Design

 

Thriving on “moments in time" focusing on human interaction, capturing people in routine activities. He also can be found at National parks, Beaches and sites where a good scene can be realized on a canvas.

 

Syed also contributes thru his charitable work that started in 2019, in response to a massacre in Christchurch New Zealand, where 51 lives were lost.  Wanting to help the families in their grief. Syed connected with the prime minister of New Zealand and eventually the families, offering a portrait of the deceased, created from images that the family chose. Many families collaborated and became a recipient of Syeds rendition of their loved one. Realizing the impact on the families, he continues to support, now on a limited basis, chosen at random, families of people that die to violence or an unforeseen tragedy. Any portraiture artist/s that would enjoy devoting their time on this project should contact him directly.

 

Last year, Syed had the opportunity to successfully offer weekly Art Classes in Drawing and also Portraiture to seniors at the ISCN Center and at the Corona Senior center.