Saied Dai RP NEAC

Saied Dai is Persian by birth, Saied Dai was born in Tehran in 1958 and came to England at the age of six. He began his seven years of art training at Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and Design and shortly after was awarded a place at the Royal Academy of Arts for his postgraduate studies. There, he was privileged to come into contact with artists of real distinction such as Peter Greenham, Norman Blamey and Roderic Barrett.

He was regarded well enough to be invited back to the RA Schools to teach under Leonard McComb’s Keepership, where drawing was seen to be the cornerstone of all the disciplines. He says, “I was fortunate enough to be taught art as architecture. Drawing reveals the way an artist thinks. It is the means by which one makes visual relationships.”

On recommendation from Norman Blamey RA, Saied was also placed to teach at the Prince of Wales Institute of Architecture in Regent’s Park at its idealistic inception.After being elected to the Royal Society of Portrait Painters in 2004, he won the prestigious Ondaatje Prize for Portraiture and the Society’s Gold Medal in 2006, followed by the Prince of Wales Drawing Award in 2007.

SAID DAI PRICE GUIDE

OIL: Starting at £15,000

DRAWING: Starting from £3,000

The prices are an approximate guide for a single portrait. Much depends on content and complexity.
Frame, travel, accommodation expenses and VAT are not included. For double portraits or any other considerations, please ask for a quote.

METHOD OF WORKING

I require approximately four to seven sittings from life. Thereafter, I work substantially from the drawings and studies made, thus alleviating the number of sittings required for the painting. I am willing to travel if necessary.

• The Very Reverend Christopher Lewis, Dean of Christchurch College, Oxford (in progress)
• Major Charles Marriot, Yeoman to the Queens Body Guard
• Sir Christopher Frayling (Chairman of ‘The Arts Council’, and Rector of ‘The Royal College of Art’, London)
• Michael Portillo MP
• The late Norman Blamey R.A

• The late Cecil Collins RA and Elizabeth Collins
• Jonathan Stedall (Documentary Film Maker)
• Sir Sidney Mason F.S.V.A
• Dame Monica Mason
• Dr. Jonathan miller
• Prof. Alan Rowlands
• Jasper Rose
• Dame Carol Black
• Jonathan Stedall

Selected Exhibitions:

• 2011 – ‘Pure Gold: 50 Years of the Federation of British Artists’, Mall Galleries, London
• 2010 – ‘The Discerning Eye’ Mall Galleries, London
• – Royal West of England Academy, Open Exhibition, invited Artist
• – Messum’s Gallery, Cork Street, London ‘The Magic and Poetry of Everyday Life’
• – Brian Sinfield Gallery, Burford, mixed exhibition
• 2009 – 2010 – The New English Art Club, Mall Galleries, London
• 2009 – Brian Sinfield Gallery, Burford, Solo Show
• 2000 – 2010 – Royal Society of Portrait Painters
• 2009 – Frost and Reed, London, Three Man Show
• – Brian Sinfield Gallery, Burford, mixed exhibition
• 2005 – 2009 – Petley Fine Art, Cork Street, London, mixed exhibitions
• 2008 – Anthony Hepworth Fine Art, Bath, mixed exhibition
• – Alan Cluckow Fine Art, Sunningdale, Berkshire, Three Man Show
• – Girton College, Cambridge, Peoples Portrait Collection
• 2007 – Quest Gallery, Bath, Solo Exhibition
• – Royal Society of Portrait Painters, The Prince of Wales Drawing School Award for Portrait Drawing
• 2006 – Holburne Museum, Bath, The Holburne Dukes Portrait Prize
• – Petley Fine Art, Cork Street, London, Solo Show
• – National Portrait Gallery, Selection of work from the Royal Society of Portrait Painters Exhibition, (Winner of Ondaatje Prize for Portraiture)
• 2005 – Petley Fine Art, Cork Street, London, Solo Show
• 2004 – The Holburne Contemporary Portrait Prize Exhibition, Holburne Museum, Bath
• 2000 – National Portrait Gallery, Selection of work from the Royal Society of Portrait Painters.
• 1990 – 2000 – Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London (regular exhibitor)
• – Nairi Sahakian Gallery, London
• – B.P. Portrait Award Exhibition (Prize Winner) National Portrait Gallery, London
• – ‘Young Contemporaries‘, (Prize Winner) Christies, London
• – Sue Rankin Gallery, London
• – Agnew’s Fine Arts, London

Miscellaneous:

• 2009 – Elected to The New English Art Club
• 2006 – The Prince of Wales Drawing School Award, for Portrait Drawing,
• Royal Society of Portrait Painters
• 2006 – Winner of Ondaatje Prize for Portraiture, Royal Society of Portrait Painters
• 2004 – Elected to The Royal Society of Portrait Painters, London
• 2002 – BBC Documentary on Elizabeth 1, (‘Great Britons’ series) 35 pieces of artwork
• 1990 – 2000 – Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London (regular exhibitor)
• – Nairi Sahakian Gallery, London
• – B.P. Portrait Award Exhibition (Prize Winner) National Portrait Gallery, London
• – ‘Young Contemporaries‘, (Prize Winner) Christies, London
• – Sue Rankin Gallery, London
• – Agnew’s Fine Arts, London