Volume 3 - Issue 2 (Oct 2008)

Essays

The Wahab Jaffer Collection Goes Public
by Rumana Husain
Some great masters are hidden away only for private gratification, while others reach millions due to the generosity of their collectors. Recently one of Pakistan’s important art collections, that of Wahab Jaffer, himself an artist, and the scion of the Jaffer family, was sold to the Rangoonwala Trust.

Artmart Inc.
by Saquib Hanif
In Pakistan, this (the art market) has meant a heightened awareness and interest in art, resulting in the emergence of young artists as well as a new collector class who are ready to pay top-drawer prices, administering a badly needed shot in the arm for a field that was sluggish, some even moribund, for a long period.

Songs in Clay: Native American Pottery
by Ilona Yusuf
The continuum of Pueblo Pottery is taken up in Songs in Clay: Native American Pottery which takes into account the dilemma facing its 21st century creators. Torn between purism and innovation, the choice becomes difficult when a break from rules is seen as a betrayal of tribal conventions.

Personal Perceptions of Contemporary Art in Iran
by Christine Bruckbauer
A great number of artists use their art to create ‘parallel universes,’ some of them choosing to paint surreal, fantastic ‘dream worlds’. The rich treasure of Persian poetry serves as a big pool of inspiration. Many innovative and exciting art projects take place in the underground, in garages and living rooms, outside the purview of established galleries and museums.

Constantin Brancusi at Targu-Jiu: The Local Context of his WWI Memorial
by Maureen Korp
An in-depth article on Constantin Brancusi draws the great sculptor out of the history books to focus on his monumental work the Endless Column. The writer, whose roots can also be traced in Targu-Jiu - Brancusi’s birth place - offers an insight into the folkloric significance of his iconography on this unusual homage on local war heroes.

Art Activism

Art with Heart
by Adnan Lotia
The Machar Art project puts working professionals in such direct contact with the students and their grim daily lives that the connection is established both ways with real personal meaning.

Architecture

Global Capital and the Cities of the South
by Arif Hasan
Local governments are obsessed by making cities “beautiful” to visitors and investors. The most serious repercussion of this new development paradigm is that the overwhelming power of international capital and consultants and their local partners has weakened government institutions and the democratic political process.

Art Collector

Ali Azmat
by The Nukta Team
The same urgency and experimental zeal in his music is reflected in his preference in art. While listening to Ali Azmat, it is apparent that it’s not the name but the strength and appeal of the iconography that guides his selection.

 

Book Review

Lubna Agha- Points of Reference
Authored by Marcella Nesom Sirhandi
Reviewed by Zohra Yusuf
Over 30 years ago Lubna Agha with her white paintings commanded the attention of her peers and art critics. In a recent biography of Lubna Agha, Points of Reference, Marcella Nesom Sirhandi takes readers back to the vibrant 1970s in Pakistan.

Nukta-e-Nazar

NuktaArt in conversation with Rashid Rana
by The NuktaArt Team
An important artist of his generation, Rashid Rana’s meteoric rise on the international art scene in the last decade has generated immense interest in the ideas that influence his art practice. In Nukta-e-Nazar, the artist discusses his views on contradictions within self and society which he calls ‘the perpetual paradox’, a theme central to his work that has found resonance with global audiences that live in an anxious century.

Art @ Nukta

New Media Voices Question Identity Stereotypes
New Media Art show curated by Moti Roti in UK
Review by Shalalae Jamil

Engaging the Past: Clay Can 2
Ceramic Art Exhibition Curated by Kaif Ghaznavi at the V.M. Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
Review by Niilofur Farrukh

Questioning Neo-Miniature: The Genesis 2008
Group show at Gandhara Art Space Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
Review by Sumbul Khan

Challenges in the Sacred Journey of Life: Labyrinth – Recent Works of Waseem Ahmed
Show at Ejaz Galleries, Lahore, Pakistan
Review by Rumana Husain

Coded Images: Ayaz Jokhio Drawings
One Person show held at VM Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
Review by Sumbul Khan

 

Dinner with the President: A Nation’s Journey: A Documentary by Sabiha Sumar
Recently screened worldwide
Review by Rumana Husain

Questions in Transition: Roohi Ahmed
One person show at Canvas Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
Review by Amra Ali

Colombo-Karachi: The Men from Colombo
Exhibition by 7 Sri Lankan Artists at Artscene Galleries, Karachi, Pakistan
Review by Rumana Husain

Unclaimed Territories: Talha Rathore
A One Person Show at Aicon Gallery, New York, USA
Review by Asma Husain

Not Quite How I Remember It: Restoring Authenticity
14 Artists from Europe, North America and Lebanon at the Power Plant, Toronto, Canada
Review by Niilofur Farrukh

Locked within History: Lal Mohammad Pathan
One person show at the Alliance Francaise Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
Review by Nafisa Rizvi

No-Knock: Khalil Chishti
Solo Exhibition at Green Cardamom Gallery, London, UK
Review by Shazia Zuberi

Emerging Talent 2008:
Young artists’ show at the V.M. Art Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
Review by Nafisa Rizvi

Semantics of Space: Imran Mir
One Person show at VM Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
Review by Niilofur Farrukh

Photo Essay

Anxious Century as perceived by three photographers