ARTIST BIOAbdushakur (b. 1985, Queens, New York, US) is a Stoke-on-Trent, UK–based artist working in non-figurative pen-and-ink drawing. His practice is defined by a strictly manual, rule-based method in which each work is executed by hand using a 0.30 mm technical pen on archival paper. The drawings are constructed through sustained, incremental mark-making without preparatory composition, mechanical aid, or digital mediation, producing dense, continuous fields that foreground duration, material consistency, and procedural control.This body of work is organised as Ṣaḥīfat al-Ṣabr (The Scroll of Patience), a single, cumulative manuscript in which individual drawings function simultaneously as autonomous works and as sequential components of an unbroken primary record. Developed following his conversion to Islam in 2011, the project operates through an aniconic methodology derived from Islamic legal principles, in which figuration and expressive authorship are refused in favour of repetition, constraint, and continuity. Precision is treated as a condition of correctness and accountability, and each completed work registers time, endurance, and compliance with the governing procedure.Abdushakur maintains an integrated self-archival framework that documents the execution, classification, and custodial status of each issued work. Compliance with the method is a prerequisite for inclusion within the record, and deviation voids eligibility for issuance. His drawings have been presented through independent and digital platforms and are held in private collections.
CURRICULUM VITAEABDUSHAKURBorn 1985, Queens, New York, United States
Lives and works in Stoke-on-Trent, United Kingdom
(Previously exhibited under an earlier name.)Website: www.abdushakur.com
Instagram: @artaftersubmission
Email: [email protected]EDUCATION2008 — Scholarship Program, National Academy School of Fine Arts, New York, USA
2003 — Summer Program, Cooper Union, New York, USAPRACTICE2011–Present — Saheefatus Sabr (ongoing serial drawing corpus)
2026–Present — Founder, Origin and Record Authority (ORA)EXHIBITIONSPre-2010 (early activity)2006 — Madhappy’s Fuck Yea!, Mission District, San Francisco, USA
2002 — Isamu Noguchi Museum, Long Island City, New York, USA
2002 — MoMA PS1 (Long Island City, New York, USA)(Early group exhibitions prior to the development of the current procedural drawing practice.)SELECTED COLLECTIONSWorks held in private collections.SELECTED PRESS2006 — MADHAPPY’S Comix News Paper, Johnerick Lawson
2004 — Sophie Crumb Presents T.P. Comix, no. 1, Sophie CrumbPROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE2026–Present — Origin and Record Authority (ORA), artist-run registry and archival framework
2011–Present — Independent studio practiceREPRESENTATIONAbdushakur — independent
Origin and Record Authority (ORA) — artist-run registry