Adil Akhtar
Quick Facts
Biography
Dr. Adil Akhtar (born 1961) is an oncologist physician and is a recognised painter artist in Michigan, United States. His paintings and art work have many themes including the religious themes.
Early life and career
Adil Akhtar was born in Karachi, Pakistan in 1961. He had a modest start in life because his father, a government officer, died when he was two years old. In his immediate family, Adil Akhtar had a sister as well as his mother. His uncle, who was a vice-chancellor at the University of Karachi at the time, arranged for the family to live in a small home near the university campus. This childhood home address 'E-31' is hard to forget for Adil Akhtar because he grew-up in that home.
After completing his basic education plus two years of college, he qualified, on his merit, and earned an admission in the prestigious Dow Medical College, Karachi. After graduation from this medical college, Adil Akhtar came to Baltimore, Maryland, USA for further studies in medicine. While studying medicine there, he started visiting the world-famous art museums in nearby Washington, D.C. Visits to those museums inspired him tremendously and had aroused the hidden artist in him. Thus he decided to become a self-taught painter-artist.
In 2016, he is a successful physician in Michigan. Adil Akhtar has a large area set aside as his painting studio, in his basement at home. As painting tools, he uses brushes, pencils, charcoals, crayons and even his index finger. He sometimes even uses his palms and feet ! It's quite an experience to watch him do his work. Dr. Adil Akhtar lives in Michigan with his wife, Almas, and three children. Talking about the above-mentioned small house that he grew up in, he said in an interview in 2015 to a major English-language newspaper in Pakistan, "His life in the house has had a major impact on him and that impact keeps revealing itself in his life as well as his art".
Paintings exhibits
Adil Akhtar is a recognized artist in the community and nationally. Exhibitions have been held for his work in both the United States and Pakistan:
- Canton, Ohio Exhibition: "Sacred Voices" ( December 5, 2013 – March 2, 2014 ) at the Canton Museum of Art
- Karachi Exhibition ( March 2015 )- Karachi Commune Gallery
- Grand Rapids, Michigan- Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum ( September 2010)
- ArtExpo – New York ( March 2011)
- "Canton Museum of Art – EXHIBITION: "Sacred Voices"". Cantonart.org. Retrieved 2016-11-19.
- "A doctor Turned Artist – Adil Akhtar". Meanwhile in Pakistan. Retrieved 2016-11-19.