artists...and my artistic practice revolves around these traces. marks on walls, doors, stains on...

ARTISTS

Hira Siddiqui

Muhammad Sulaman

Rizwan Ali

Sana Saeed

Presents of Present

Past builds present and the present shapes our future. The only defining phase is the present; that reflects the history and projects the future, which is why this exhibition has been titled as ‘Haal ke Tohfay’ or ‘the presents of present’. It is about the celebration of present in relation to the past and future. The richness of the present due to the layers of past and time happenings and the present’s occupation with the construction of the future is the main focus of these four artists.

In this exhibition, everyone is directly or indirectly linked with history or elements of time and expressing their feeling with their own perspective. Like, I work on my personal experiences from my surroundings, while raising a point that our colonial and regional history is making us bound with a single point of view on life-world which eventually causes our behavioral issues. On the other hand, Sana Saeed is talking about that nostalgia of past, feeling that reminds us of events and places in regards to past. She explores the space between present and past which holds more significance for us sometimes. Rizwan Ali is our third artist; he is manipulating historical elements from two different cultures to create a different narrative. I think it allows him to talk about our current multicultural present which is very much effected with our past. However, Hira Sidduqui is taking elements from different historical paintings and creating a different dialog or narrative. Although elements of history or past are having an important aspect in this exhibition but they together are talking about our present state which everyone is facing in their surroundings.

Muhammad Sulaman

CollaborativePainting

ARTISTS

Hira Siddiqui

Muhammad Sulaman

Rizwan Ali

Sana Saeed

MixedMediumonCanvas30x48Inches

Code No. 25

My practice is to extract the soul of worldwide famous paintings. I consciously and deliberately play with their color palate, compositional element, placement of objects specifically their narratives and recreate them in entirely different mediums and techniques. My work is a comment on museum quality art, which we access in different derived forms like prints of prints of prints and soft-copies, sometimes in a brilliant resolution and sometimes worst, what left is so ambiguous and mysterious. I challenge the authenticity of inspiration of how work transforms as it moves from canvas of the Master to the canvas of an artist, where the process of artistry results in so many diverse dimensions. Not everyone can access the original masterpiece to experience its originality. The fact is that none of us is experiencing the museum quality art. Almost all of us are inspired by second hand version of original paintings. I also challenge myself to break conditioned narrative of famous images by visually amalgamating famous narrative paintings. I enjoy the process of de-contextualizing images. In some paintings I am capturing the delicacy of different printed versions of painting. I normally use watercolors, oils, graphite and acrylics.

Hira Siddiqui

Watercolor&AcrylicsonCanvas24x18Inches

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Watercolor&AcrylicsonCanvas6x48Inches

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Watercolor&AcrylicsonCanvas5.5x36Inches

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Watercolor&AcrylicsonCanvas4.5x24Inches

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Whenever we meet someone, their appearance is the first thing that gives us an impression of their identity. I believe clothes are the most common aspect of our lives which speaks more about our personality than us. So, my whole body of work revolves around these clothes and their impression on others. It also affects our behaviors and we also manipulate our appearance to create a desired impact. My focus is more on talking about all my experiences that I cannot talk about openly. It gives me a liberty to talk about our social behaviors that are affecting my emotions. I mostly use gouache on wasli to express my feelings. But sometimes I also work in different mediums like actual clothes and change it accordingly to say things more efficiently.

Muhammad Sulaman

GouacheonwasliSize:26.5x40

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Rasin,Goldleaf,Clothes,Size:9x9x9Cube

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Rizwan Ali

My recent body of work is based on comparative analysis between east and west esthetics. I choose old masters paintings to capture the activities and re-evaluate both time periods in one frame to recall history. Using Mughal and western aesthetics I made a per formative activity with a new narrative.

Mixedmediumonwaslipaper10x13,

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Gouache,SilverLeaf,TeaStain&PowderGoldonWasliPaper(Diptic)27x21,10.5x13.5

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Gouache,TeaStain&PowderGoldonWasliPaper13x20.5,

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Gouache,SilverLeaf,TeaStain&PowderGoldonWasliPaper12x20

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MixedMediumonpaper13x10Inches

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Sana Saeed Whenever we leave we always leave a mark behind, it could be a physical mark on any surface or a nontangible mark floating in the memory. For me “to live is to leave traces” and my artistic practice revolves around these traces. Marks on walls, doors, stains on clothes, dust particles on different objects, all these surfaces are collectors of time. Someone who was once present to leave a trace behind. My work focuses on the uncertainty of life, for a moment you are present in the strongest appearance and in the second moment you are not. I talk about the “nothingness” which lies between present and past, a stage where person loses his/her sense of belonging. For me all these thoughts and experiences are traces which are left behind by people to be remembered. I use various mediums to record the presence of time which is embossed in countless surfaces around us. I never stick to one medium because I believe every memory and trace demands its own medium that’s why I have used mediums like installations, photography, film, writing and painting. My aim is to dig deep inside the surface of my memories and fears to develop a conversation with the audience because to me these are not just memories from the past, to me these are the visual records of the people who were once “present”.

OilonCanvas24x24Inches

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artists...and my artistic practice revolves around these traces. marks on walls, doors, stains on...

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