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UID:46@beebesatthegallery.com
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260116T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20260116T210000
DTSTAMP:20260114T174103Z
URL:https://www.beebesatthegallery.com/events/opening-reception-muhammad-z
 -zaman-surrender-to-mercy/
SUMMARY:Opening Reception: Muhammad Z. Zaman\, "Surrender to Mercy"
DESCRIPTION:Why make art when you know you are going to die?\n\nPerhaps thi
 s question does not make much sense to an artist. While gallery visitors m
 ay arrive with ready answers\, much of our lives are spent in quiet denial
  of our own ending. Nearly all of us will experience it: lying in a bed wh
 ile our bodies fail or\, and maybe worse\, sitting at its edge while someo
 ne we love goes\, slowly or quickly. Muhammad Z. Zaman was given the quest
 ionable gift of knowing—not without hope—that his time was limited. As
 ked what to do with that time\, his response was simple and unwavering: Ho
 w could I ever not make art? Surrender to Mercy is Zaman’s answer.\nPlea
 se join us for the opening of Surrender to Mercy\, an exhibition of final 
 works by Muhammad Z. Zaman\, opening Friday\, January 16\, 2026\, from 6
 –9 PM at Hunt Art Gallery\, 403 Main Street\, Buffalo\, NY. The exhibiti
 on presents paintings and drawings created as Zaman faced the knowledge of
  his limited time\, reflecting his unwavering commitment to life\, beauty\
 , and human connection. The exhibition will remain on view through March 1
 4\, 2026.\nIf you had spoken to Zaman a year ago\, after he came to unders
 tand the shape of his remaining days\, you could not help but notice the j
 oy braided tightly with sorrow. He was living more directly with the essen
 tial: more love\, more family\, more meals shared\, more trips taken\, mor
 e art. In a moment shaped by renewed political cruelty and public fear\, Z
 aman’s response was simple and insistent: Keep going. As if to ask\, are
  you increasing the share of mercy in the world? Why weren’t you before?
 \nThis question sits at the heart of the exhibition. In the year leading u
 p to his recent death on December 9\, 2025\, he worked with extraordinary
  clarity\, urgency\, and care—deepening both his studio practice and his
  vision for shared creative experience. Chemotional 2\, a community-center
 ed project series generously funded by ASI and NYSCA\, served as a key sou
 rce of inspiration for the exhibition. The project’s public engagement w
 as carried out through publicly shared works and videos documenting the ar
 tistic process. This format supported the project’s goals of prioritizi
 ng creative connection and intimate access to the creative process\, foste
 ring reflection on our shared humanity through illness\, grief\, and hope.
 \nZaman’s work solidified over a decade ago around an affirmation of lif
 e. Layered compositions rooted in public engagement\, Calligraffiti\, tens
 ions between language\, legibility\, and meaning in sprawling English\, Be
 ngali\, and Arabic\, inviting viewers to “read the illegible\,” encour
 aging curiosity\, mutual respect\, and reflection despite the impossibilit
 y of fully understanding one another. Again and again\, in moments when vi
 olence was carried out in the name of power\, slaying innocents as collate
 ral to a nation’s war against its own shadow\, Zaman's work—insistent\
 , undeniable—was to say there is beauty in the lives that we ignore\, an
 d humanity. That innate sense of the preciousness of life takes on new dim
 ension now.\nIn this body of work\, Zaman followed the mark on the paper d
 ay by day\, allowing color\, shape\, and gesture to map fear\, hope\, exha
 ustion\, determination\, and grace. Chemotional 2 lives within Surrender t
 o Mercy as a legacy of that process—an affirmation of art as a communal\
 , healing act and a reflection of Zaman’s enduring commitment to connect
 ion\, mercy\, and shared humanity.\nThe works in Surrender to Mercy were a
 ll made while Zaman knew that he was going to die. Some of these were made
  on good days. He relocated his studio from his longtime residence at Buff
 alo Arts Studio to his home\, where he could paint whenever it was physica
 lly possible to do so. These paintings are evidence of will and vision. Za
 man says his hand has become more assured in this time\, less careful plot
 ting of his calligraphic script\, less time wasted in doubt and bullshit. 
 Some works\, Zaman’s drawings made in the waiting rooms of Roswell or in
  hospital beds\, are the literal inscription of time lived. Taking a line 
 for a walk\, it leads you by the hand\, out of fear into grace.\nWe would 
 like to thank M. Delmonico Connolly for his assistance in writing this sta
 tement\, following a recent intimate interview with the artist\, and ASI a
 nd NYSCA for their support.
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