Bradford-born artist Saad Qureshi’s first solo outing draws on ideas of heaven for those of different faiths

Turning off the road from Wakefield on to the Bretton estate, you pass a sign in motorway blue and white reading “ARCADIA”. The work of contemporary artist Leo Fitzmaurice, this announces your arrival at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. With its verdant pastures dotted with trees and grazed by sheep, the 500 acres surrounding former stately home Bretton Hall perfectly fits the classical idea of Arcadia as an unspoilt pastoral paradise. But from now until March, competing views of paradise have colonised the park’s eighteenth-century chapel, courtesy of Bradford-born artist, Saad Qureshi.

“Saad Qureshi: Something About Paradise” (until 15 March) is the first solo museum show of this young Slade-trained artist whose paternal grandfather, a tailor by profession, made uniforms for the British Army in Pakistan before settling in Bradford. His grandmother on his mother’s side, meanwhile, was an accomplished potter. Handicrafts are in Qureshi’s blood, as is immediately obvious on stepping into the intricate wonderland he has installed in the chapel.