‘‘The creative art is not performed by the artist alone; the spectator brings the work in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualifications and thus adds his contribution to the creative art.’’1 In ‘The Creative…
In 1990 Arjun Appadurai wrote a seminal article called “Disjuncture and Difference in the Global Cultural Economy”; expanding upon the ramifications of a global village within a cultural context, Appadurai introduced readers to the dynamic diasporic strands of globalization that…
Critics and historians seldom know what to do with art practices that evolve along an unpredictable trajectory. They are difficult to pigeonhole and discuss in relationship to established frameworks. The discourse around such art practices, however challenging, can also be…
A solo show in New York is a big deal for any artist and a museum show is the stuff that dreams are made of. This summer, Shahzia Sikander accomplished just that. However, the challenges in this path for any…
While standing face to face with Faiza Butt’s large scale romanticized painting at Grosvenor Gallery, London, the artist’s trajectory echoes in my mind. The works are an ode to nature, where the title Super Natural doesn’t refer to otherworldly beings;…
The Bangladesh Window Commemorating the Patriarch Author: Abul Mansur Originally published in NuktaArt, inaugural issue, May 2005 Cover Design: Sabiha Mohammad Imani Source of inspiration: Painting by Zubeida Agha, Karachi by Night, 1956 The 90th birth anniversary of Zainul Abedin,…
Manuscript making and illumination in the Indian Mughal courts has been a well-recognized high-art form in South Asia between the fifteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Emperors, such as Akbar (b.1542-1605) and Shah Jahan (b.1592-1666), frequently posed on terraces of their…
A. R. Nagori once proclaimed that he had “earned the distinction of being the first painter in the Subcontinent to be censored.”90 He certainly wasn’t the last. How a state attempts to censor and censure artists ultimately reveals not only…
The area of Anarkali extends south from the Lohari Gate of the old Walled City to across the British-era Mall—a wide tree-lined boulevard. Therefore, it encompasses a large swathe of the city and consists of colonial structures, a residential area101 and…
Fabric, flowers and identity are the threads that plait together the work of artists Adeela Suleman, Bushra Waqas Khan, David Alesworth, Liaqat Rasul and Ruby Chishti in the exhibition Patterns of the Past, Weaving Heritage in ‘Pakistani’ Art. Held at…