Abdul Qadim Haqq

Haqq
Education	Center for Creative Studies Alumni 1991
Known for	Illustration Futurism Detroit Techno Photography Author Classic EDM Album Covers
Notable work	Requiem for a Machine Soul 25 Years of Techno Art The Technanomicron

Abdul Qadim Haqq (born December 24, 1968), also known as Haqq and The Ancient, is an American visual artist who was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan.

Haqq's artwork has been featured on records by Detroit Techno artists Juan Atkins, Metroplex, Derrick May, Transmat, Underground Resistance, Kevin Saunderson, and Carl Craig. Abdul Qadim Haqq has been serving the techno music community through Techno Visual Art since 1989. His artwork continues to inspire fans all over the world.

Haqq, founder of Third Earth Visual Arts, bases his futuristic concepts on time travel. His love for fantasy art was inspired by childhood pastimes such as watching sci-fi and Japanese animation. "Japanese cartoons were all I watched when I was a kid, like Speed Racer, Battle of the Planets and Robotech," says Haqq. "I watched them constantly; I never missed an episode." As a youth growing up in Detroit, Haqq was often sick from asthma and had to stay in the house, which caused him to spend a considerable portion of his time watching science fiction and fantasy shows on TV. These in turn led him to create and illustrate his own stories. Haqq majored in graphic illustration at the College for Creative Studies, originally called the Center for Creative Studies, in Detroit. After graduating in 1991, he committed himself to working as a futurist artist.

Career

Haqq completed his first work for Derrick May's record label Transmat in October 1989. Later that year, Haqq met Mike Banks and UR.

"Abdul Qadim Haqq & Shinichiro Watanabe Joint Exhibition" held an Art exhibit from April 24, 2010, until August 1, 2010. The exhibit was opened in the Netherlands at the "GalleryIKOI" and in Tokyo, Japan June 24, 2010, the booklet was published by Storyriders in Japan.

In 2014 Haqq published a book titled, 1989–2014: 25 Years of Techno Art in 2014, featuring photography and illustrations of the Detroit Techno scenes important work including Drexciya, Gerald Mitchell, Dj Rolando, This work contains a comprehensive record of activities and historical documentation that records the Detroit Techno community in one book.

The "Technanomicron" is a 30-paged art book in 10" size entitled "The Rise of the Technolords". It contains abstract illustrations of important artists from Detroit, as well as short biographies written in Abdul's own unique science fiction style of Storytelling. Prolific and highly respected Detroit techno artist, Abdul Haqq, shares a selection of personal favourites and undisputed Detroit techno classics from the archives of Underground Resistance, Carl Craig, Derrick May, Jeff Mills and Suburban Knight. Over the years, Haqq has undertaken a whole foray of artwork for the aforementioned recording artists and their related labels. He was responsible for producing some of the earlier artwork for Transmat, closely followed by various projects for Planet E, including the well known Intergalactic Beats cover art. Subsequently, Abdul has worked very closely with Underground Resistance and still producing much of their label artwork to this day, remains the key figure in creating the unique imagery for the ultimate techno institution. If you are unfamiliar with Haqq's painting style, then this compilation provides an excellent starting point, for a taster of this artist's work is depicted in the enclosed thirty-two-page artbook. This limited edition includes printed artbook.

External links

• Abdul Qadim Haqq discography at Discogs
• Detroit Promo TV - Abdul Haqq - Techno Artist
• "Techno Art" - Abdul Qadim Haqq meets Techno & Philosophy collective in Detroit for London Art Exhibit
• Abdul Qadim Haqq at the Hubb | Birmingham UK for Soul City Arts