Omar Zingaro Bhatia

Auto-Cosmos

Auto-Cosmos, A4, mixed media, 2015AD. £80

This piece was made from components of an animation I was working on with my brother who is a very talented film-maker and all round effects wizard.

Emerging Artist - it's a funny term isn't it? As if us artists are like butterflies just waiting to break out of our chrysalis', spread our wings and gorge on the sweet nectar of life. I suppose any metaphor becomes ludicrous if scrutinised closely enough. Have I emerged? Am I still emerging? I really have no way of telling. During the time of my degree show, I think I tried to emerge a little too quickly...like a diver surfacing too rapidly and being struck with the bends. Ooh, that was a good metaphor. Take it from this diver...um...I mean artist - Take your time, and enjoy your journey. The destination is but a trifling matter.

MultiKulti

MultiKulti, 12"x10", inks, 2015AD. £180

Well...it's been a good few months since my last public artwork. I took an extended paternity hiatus to spend time bonding with my beautiful son Cosmo. He's almost 6 months old now and daddy is back at work in a bold new direction. I was beginning to bore myself with endless paintings of men with moustaches so I thought I'd try something a little different. It feels great to be doing the artwork again. It's a strange feeling when you give up something, like painting, that has come to define who you are. You'll see me creating many more weird and wonderful things from this point forward. Glad to be back my friends!

"Not all those who wander are lost." ~ J.R.R Tolkien

SOON

Pacific Northwest

The Passage, LTD Edition Photographic Print, A3/A2. £50/£70.

The Raven, LTD Edition Photographic Print, A3/A2. £50/£70.

Presenting two limited edition photographic prints (matt or gloss finish available). Taken this year in the environs of the British Colombian Pacific Northwest in Canada. Please click on images to enlarge.

Forthwards!

At this historic moment in time, I want to make a statement as a Scottish artist and citizen within the current United Kingdom. On the 18th of September we will learn if Scotland is to take the bold new path to sovereignty. Whatever happens, the movement will continue and we will eventually create a better society.

Forthwards!, 13 inches across, acrylic on Scottish Oak, 16th September 2014. £200

Detail of signature and paint-texture.

Detail of Mr and Mrs Empire.

YES - For Cosmo.

PATERNITY

Those of you who follow this blog may have noticed that it has been a little quiet of late. Those of you who know me personally will know why that is. Long before now I had intended to announce that I was to be a father but alas, I never got around to it. So here I am, writing this at 4:23am if the clock is true. My partner has not had an easy pregnancy (if such a thing exists) and I have tried to take the time over the last few months to really be there for her which is why creative projects have taken a back burner for the time being. The only reason I have had time to write this post is because my littlan-to-be is having a long lie-in. Perhaps they take after me in such languidity? Fruitbat, (as we have been calling our unborn baby) was supposed to, according to the current medical practices, come out to greet us 7 days ago....but we are happy to let him cook a little longer as the expression goes. Fruitbat's in good health it seems and delights in flamenco dancing in his womb. Sometimes life really is a waiting game...

So, staggering to the point...my seasonal job at the Citizens Theatre has come to a close for summer (quite handy!) and I have stopped producing new artwork for the time being. I intend to be on an unsolicited/unofficial paternity break for the next 7 weeks or so. While your initial instinct may cause you to buckle in terror that there will be an Omar-shaped void in your cultural landscape...fear not! There are still things happening and ongoing projects that will be resumed. My exhibition in Edinburgh (at the Victoria Bar on Leith Walk) is still on for a week or so and I am still selling original artworks and prints HERE. For the summer period I am also offering free delivery anywhere in the British Isles.

For the time being I am in hiatus....waiting impatiently on these balmy nights for the new life we have created to come gasping and blinking into light. A challenging chapter draws near a close, let another begin!

Yours paternally,

Omar x

p.s I will post a picture on here of the new baby when they finally arrive!

Our announcement poster.

Poetry Book Launch

In the years of 2012 and 2013 I took part in a writers residency in the mountains of Transylvania in a very strange place called Borsec. The Romanian poet Florin Dan was the organiser of the residency as well as both a contributor and co-creator of this anthology. He was very kind to include my poems in this, the second edition. He is coming all the way from Romania with a suitcase full of books for two launches in both England and Scotland. Join us for the Scottish event in The Old Hairdressers on Renfield Lane (Across from Stereo Cafe Bar). The book will be on sale for the special price of just £5.

VENUE ~ THE OLD HAIRDRESSERS

The Scenographer

For the past two and a half years I have worked as a member of the Front of House staff at the Citizens Theatre, presenting a welcoming environment to theatre-goers and facilitating their various needs. This allowed me to subsidise my freelance artistic pursuits as well as working in a job which is within the creative industries. For a while though, I found myself wondering if my talents could be utilised back-stage. After some time sniffing around I tracked down the scent of the head set-designer/scene-painter and he was pretty enthusiastic about my recent history in mural painting. I was delighted to learn that I was to have a job as a scene-painter working on the production of a new show. And so it began...say hello to Omar Zingaro Bhatia - Casual Scenographer. I have included some pictures of the painting workshop I took hurriedly between working on the set. Of particular note are the giant canvas winches that date back to the Victorian era! I really look forward to developing new skills in this frontier.

Victorian canvas winch.

The pulley system.

The sinks.

First days training.

Sea Serpents

Sea Serpents, A3 LTD Edition Photograph (1 of 3). £50

The Elvis Comb

Pablo Picasso took an old bicycle saddle and handle-bars and combined them to create the form of a bull. It was a ludicrously simple act, but one that went down in history. Two ordinary objects became something else when combined...something sprinkled with the magic dust of that old leviathan of the art world. This is my offering, 72 years after the bull was born in Picasso's mind.

The Elvis Comb, 12"x13", framed photograph & comb, 2014AD. £80

Original Romanistan Design

This colour sketch marked an important moment in my journey as an artist. I consider it to be a marker of my genesis from a graduate artist into one of a more international standing. This was the bones from which I constructed a major European commission. I'd never attempted a design of such complexity and ultimately, such scale. To take a drawing of such a humble size and transform it into a 19-metre-long mural was quite the task but, once completed, made me the artist I am today. Now, 8 months later, I'm ready to let one fortunate person own the original design. Enquiries - zingaromar@gmail.com

Romanistan, 12"x17", watercolours & inks, 2013AD. SOLD

The Panelist

I'm tremendously humbled and excited to have been invited to contribute to a stage discussion in Zurich, Switzerland in June this year. I am being hosted in my role as a contributing artist to the Bodvalenke Fresco Village Project and a Roma rights advocate. The event will be a unique mixture of stage forum discussion, a Punk/Celtic/Balkan/Gypsy benefit concert and a photographic exhibition of the Bodvalenke Fresco Village Project (including my own mural Romanistan). All profits will go directly to support the project in Hungary.

Read the full press release HERE.

Magic Carpet Mural

I was delighted to receive my first Scottish mural commission in the Leith area of our capital city of Edinburgh. Part of The Shutter Project, the mural was facilitated by LeithLate and the the City of Edinburgh Council's Leith Neighbourhood Partnership. Special thanks go out to Morvern Cunningham at LeithLate14.

The decorative mural, painted in acrylics, took me approximately 20 hours to complete and features psychedelic-esque magic carpet patterns in a visual celebration of Leiths evident interculturalism.

I am very keen to secure my next mural commission so if you are looking for a mural for your business, home interior, or feel your community could benefit then please do not hesitate to contact me for enquiries, rates...etc.

Enquiries to: zingaromar@gmail.com

BEFORE.

AFTER.

The finished Magic Carpet Mural.

Photo: Eoin Carey

Inside Zone - A Poetry Book

So there we have it, I am now officially a published poet. All the works by five poets are collected in this second edition of Inside Zone. The poetry was created along a number of years at the Borsec writers residency in the mountains of Transylvania in which I took part in the early summers of 2012 and 2013. Right now, I just have this one copy but it is very likely that we will have an official book-launch in Scotland in the very near future.

The book is published by Zidul de Hârtie.

Cover by George Serdiuc.

Delivered from Romania to Scotland by Florin Dan.

Reading our tome.

Mithraic

The Mithraic Portal, 8"x14", pencils & watercolour, 2014AD. £150

Creep

Creepy Terry, 5"x6", watercolour, pencils, ink, 2014AD. £40

International Women's Day

Frida, 7"x10", acrylics, inks & watercolours, 2014AD. £150

L'érotisme

L'érotisme, A4, acrylics, 2014AD. £120

Mt. Heffer

Mount Heffer, 7.5"x10", collage, 2014AD. £50

B.P.D

B.P.D, 7"x12", acrylics, 2014AD. £150

Black Caesar

Black Caesar, 7.5"x9", pencil & watercolour, 2014AD. £100

The dread pirate Black Caesar was said to have taken part in the slave uprising on the Caribbean island of Haiti in the early years of the 19th century. After escaping his slave-masters, he took to the high seas and began a successful but albeit savage career in piracy that lasted for more than 30 years. Although there were many tales passed down through buccaneers, privateers, navy men and sailors; historical evidence of the existence of Black Caesar has never been found; the same goes for his silver and gold treasure buried throughout the Caribbean. The legend lives on.

The Hand That Feeds

I have a few pieces in this show. Pop along to see a vast array of artists work in a fantastic new arts space in Glasgow. Friday, 13th December, 6-9pm. It's next door to Mandors on Renfrew Street, up what must be the steepest wheelchair ramp in Scotland.

UPDATE: SHOW NOW CLOSED DUE TO STORM DAMAGE

LTD Edition Prints

There have been many people over the years since I graduated that have really wanted to buy a painting but have perhaps been unable to afford an original. It is for these people that I have had these premium prints made. I hope the one you've always wanted is there.

Limited Edition Fine Art Prints.

No.1 - 'Malice' / 12"x16" / £50
No.2 - 'Lupus of Ukraine' / 14"x16" / £70
No.3 - 'The Dude' / 12"x16" / £50
No.4 - 'View in Blue' / 17"x21" (or 6"x8") / £70/£20
No.5 - 'Waitress' / 13"x16" / £50
No.6 - 'Niet Mondrian' / 13"x16" (or 8"x10") / £50/£25
No.7 - 'Sitting Bull' / 13"x16" / £50
No.8 - 'Flavia' / 17"x21" / £70
No.9 - 'Vulturescu' / 9"x12" / £30
No.10 - 'Woland' / 17"x21" / £70
No.11 - 'Kenneth' / 17"x21" (or 8"x10") / £70/£25
No.12 - 'Vanity' / 13"x16" / £50
No.13 - 'The Batman' / 15"x15" / £40
No.14 - 'Death Letter' / 12"x17" (or 6"x8") / £50/£20

Premium Fine Art Giclée Prints. Ultrachrome HDR Inks. Full colour calibration with X-Rite Spectroproofer. Printed on Innova 315gsm paper. All prints come numbered, signed, wrapped and boarded with a wood backing. Please email zingaromar@gmail.com to purchase.