Najim Chechen’s love of art began with drawing & painting when he was 8 years old. At this early age, he started to win competitive art awards. His fascination with sculpture emerged during his high school years. It was at this time that he decided to pursue his studies in sculpture by competing  for admission to the Academy of Fine Art at the University of Baghdad.  In addition to his studies at the Academy, he was selected by one of his professors to be his personal apprentice in a professional studio that was actively producing important public commissions in both stone and cast bronze.

After graduation , Chechen established his own professional studio. He worked on a steady stream of commissions for clients. These commissions included public fountains, carvings in marble, work with cement, bronze castings and reliefs in wood , hammered copper and bronze.

In addition to his work for clients, he was also hired by the Ministry of Higher Education to train other teachers. During this period, each year he was encouraged  by the Ministry of Higher Education to travel for 3-4 months with pay.  Over a10 year period, his travels and adventures took him to the museums, galleries and artists studios in Italy, France, Russia and other countries of Eastern and Western Europe.   His adventures also included visiting numerous artist and craftsmen in many Near Eastern and North African countries where he discovered centuries old, low-tech methods and techniques.  From his travels throughout Europe, he encountered new materials and modern techniques.

After 10 years of teaching, Chechen was awarded the Best Teacher Award from the Ministry of Higher Education. This award included a four year Scholarship to pursue graduate studies in the US.  He chose to come to NYC and study at Pratt Institute. He graduated in 1983 with a Masters of Fine Arts degree. Before graduating, he took a leave of absence to pursue further studies of modern techniques of bronze casting at the Johnson Atelier Technical Institute of Sculpture, then in Princeton ,NJ.  It was here that he worked with the ceramic shell process using space age materials.

After graduation, he established a studio in Long Island City and worked full time as a professional sculptor completing commissions for clients while at the same time exhibiting his work in Manhattan. After 6 years, he chose to move outside of NYC and purchased several acres of land for a bigger studio, his own foundry and to facilitate the production of larger scale and outdoor work.

Mr. Chechen founded the Fine Art Studios Sculpture Center in Orange County, NY which operates both a year round series of workshops for adults as well as a bronze casting foundry.   He is also co-founder of the Hudson Valley Sculptors Society, an organization of sculptors throughout the Hudson Valley.  Mr. Chechen continues to exhibit throughout the New York metropolitan region, the Hudson Valley and out west.

Mr. Chechen’s work is highly inventive and playful. He creates sculpture in bronze copper wood, mixed media and terracotta. These sculptures transition masterfully between the intricate details of realism to the flowing forms of a playful impressionism.  The scope of his work is vast, spanning a variety of genres that includes figurative, contemporary, bas-relief, and public art.  His pieces range in size from miniature to monumental. He offesr collectors both limited editions and one of a kind pieces. All his bonze work is cast in the Fine Art Studios Foundry. In addition to producing commissioned work for private clients since the 1970’s, He also work with architects, designers and art consultants to create work for public parks, corporate headquarters and private residences.

Artist's Statement:

From the early 80's to the present, his figurative sculpture has evolved from a style that was quite naturalistic towards styles that became increasingly more impressionistic and abstract. 

Much of my work expresses the struggle for daily existence.  The figures express ambition and a yearning for hope and peace.  My figures depict simple people who are looking life in the face. I have chosen to model them in textures that are rough and even homely to suggest commonplace people who endure a life with rough edges and hardship. In my work, the viewer can feel the presence of a vulnerable human spirit.

I aim to represent the invisible spirit and soul and make it visible.  All my figures peer out at the world and ask what will follow next.  They look with anticipation, with hope. They are vulnerable but they love life and have a will to survive.

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