About
Tehniyet Masood is a Manhattan based artist. Originally from Pakistan she moved to the United States in 1998. She studied painting, sculpture and 3D Animation at Bennington College in Vermont. After receiving her Bachelor of Arts at Bennington she moved to Chicago and spent a year at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago where she received her Post Baccalaureate in Painting. In 2006 she moved to New York City which has been home to her since.She is a formally trained painter and sculptor with extensive experience in a broad range of applications and materials. Her body of work is representative of large scale site specific installations and environments that create a mood of the piece. The space transforms and in itself becomes a piece of art that the audience gets to walk through. The process of her work starts with words, the narrative informs the building; one does not exist without the other, eventually the words merge with the installation and the music and video become layers that accumulate over time. Much like the labored surfaces of wood, glass, metal and painted panels that have built up over time. Each piece reflects an accumulated history in its polished and textured layers.
The materials and techniques that she uses inform the conceptual spine of her work.
Some themes of the work touch upon the complexity of emotion, fragility and strength, and the journey that bridges the distance between them. The materials used are symbolic of that complexity, the fragility of glass next to the strength of metal and the folds of silk, wood with layers of sanded stone mixed with pigment and oil is polished in layers over a long period of time. Her craft is about understanding the material, respecting its properties to help realize a vision. There is a rhythm between the materials and the concepts that helps guide decisions forward. The materials help tell the story.
Tehniyet Masood has built 13 site specific projects in the United States, Switzerland, Spain, and Argentina. She is the recipient of the Outstanding Women Award presented by the Women Builders Council in New York City, her work has been reviewed by the Engadiner Post, the Wall Street Journal, and VernissageTV.