Hallwalls is pleased to present an exhibition of new work by Buffalo artist Edreys Wajed. Included in the exhibition will be a series of large-scale paintings, many dozens of drawings rendered over the past five years, a collaged (but silent) compilation of music video clips, and a new 50-foot wall painting designed specifically for Hallwalls’ gallery space.

Wajed’s artistic output evidences unique and particular strategies of image-making, both abstract and representational. Paintings often springboard from the rhythms and cadences of specific songs, though the songs sourced are never paired with the final imagery but rather serve as a catalyst for expression. In these painted works, Wajed employs broad and unpredictable movements within his mark-making, emphasizing the external gestures of internal emotions. These painted works are contained by a sharp sense of formal composition and frequently use text or haikus to prompt the viewer within an emotional space.

By wild contrast, Wajed’s drawing work demonstrates an almost uncanny control of line and mark making—while the drawings are as spontaneous as the paintings, this effect is drawn from the curious amalgam of images and ideas represented, while the line work and specificity of his drawings is acute and precise. For every big, bold painted work that reads as its own symbolic language, there are drawings filled with quixotic humor and curiously specific musings. This duality of expression between Wajed’s drawings and paintings depicts the style of an artist who has defined their fluid understanding of expression over time.

Bookending one side of the exhibition will be an entirely new, spite-specific wall painting. As of this writing, details unknown.

Anchoring the exhibition as a specific nod to both source material and the flow within them, a collaged video work culled from old school hip hop videos will reiterate themes in the work but also evoke the quality of the painted and drawn works in a manner that could almost be said to be stochastic in execution. Though not entirely—Wajed is not functioning randomly but rather with an openness that allows for broad planes of expression.

Edreys Wajed has transitioned through several crafts and artistic media throughout his life, working as a visual artist, jewelry maker, craftsman, musician, graphic designer and educator.

Wajed was born and raised in Buffalo, NY, coming from a family of multifaceted artisans. His father was a jeweler and craftsman, and his mother would hand sew the family’s clothing. It wasn’t long before Wajed began to develop his own creative talents. At a young age he taught himself how to cut hair and quickly built his clientele as a barber. He would soon begin to develop his voice as a musician and writer, creating rhymes, hip-hop beats and spoken word poetry. He would also venture into his other creative pursuits, including customizing hats, clothes and designing logos. He took these skills and further developed them in college, graduating with a Bachelor’s in Graphic Design from SUNY Buffalo State.

He has pursued many of his creative endeavors professionally and made himself known as a multitalented force within the Buffalo community. Combining his assorted skills under the company By Edreys, his work has included establishing himself as a successful hip hop musician, developing arts education programming initiatives, working as a visual arts teacher and running Gallery 51 with his wife Alexa for three years, a minority owned art gallery and boutique. Wajed and his wife continue to sell merchandise through their online store Eat Off Art. The concept and subsequent naming come from the “starving artist” cliché and attempts to break that trope by inspiring artists to strive and make a living from their creative pursuits.

His work has been exhibited in group shows at the Main Street Gallery, SUNY Buffalo State and the Buffalo Center for Arts and Technology. His solo exhibition, White Lines Matter, was featured at the Western New York Book Arts Center in 2017.

Wajed has also completed public works projects. In collaboration with the Albright Knox Art Gallery and NFTA Metro, Wajed participated in the completion of the Freedom Wall at the corner of Michigan Ave. and East Ferry St. with fellow artists Julia Bottoms, Chuck Tingley and John Baker in 2017.