Brut for Men: Hearts is a relief sculpture by Abdullah M. I. Syed that was recently acquired for the Rotational Collection in the Parliament House Art Collections.

The work’s title is a reference to the artist’s upbringing in Pakistan, where he observed men in his family using Brut cologne. For Syed, Brut represents simultaneously ‘a traditional masculine strength of character and its extreme binary signified by the word ‘brute’’.¹

The work is made using the Chamak Patti technique, a tradition of hand-beating metal and hand-cut sticker-crafts commonly used to decorate trucks. In Pakistan, trucks are often decorated with signs, symbols, poetry and religious texts reflective of the owner’s tastes and beliefs. The artwork’s shape mimics the crown of the truck, which is normally a large wooden overhang above the driver.²

Cross-cultural reflections of the masculine role are also reflected in the ‘form and the structure of the large medallions which pay homage to the hand-crafted tradition of body (breastplate) and face armour (helmet) in Islam’ explains Syed. The designs also take ‘inspiration from the elegant and fragile traditional craft of flower garlands, called Sehra, a headdress worn by the groom and popular in countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and India.’³

Abdullah M. I. Syed
Dr Abdullah M. I. Syed (born 1974) is a Pakistani-born contemporary artist and designer working between Sydney, Karachi and New York, who has exhibited widely within Australia and internationally. Trained in diverse disciplines, he works in a variety of mediums and techniques including sculpture, video installations, drawing, performance and writing to investigate collisions between art, religion, economies and politics.⁴ He holds a PhD in Art, Media and Design (2015) and a Master of Fine Arts (2009) from University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. He also holds a Bachelor of Art in Design (1999) and a Master of Education (2001) from University of Central Oklahoma (UCO), Edmond, Oklahoma, USA. Syed is part of eleven, a collective of contemporary Muslim-Australian artists, curators and writers.⁵ 

References
1. Syed, Abdullah M. I., "Artist Statement", provided by Gallery Sally Dan Cuthbert, February 5, 2024.
2. ibid.
3. ibid.
4. Abdullah M. I Syed, “About”, accessed March 24, 2025. https://abdullahmisyed.com/bio
5. ibid.