Moeen Faruqi

By the NuktaArt Team

Moeen Faruqi’s own paintings and mixed media assemblages are  displayed throughout his home along with the art that he has collected since the 80’s, and each visit to the Faruqi home gives one a sense of being in an artist’s studio, where there is almost always  another artist visiting.  The creation, discussion and living amidst the work therefore create immediacy in the relationship to the art that is on the walls. Within the understated earthiness of the Faruqi residence, conceived by the architect Kamil Khan Mumtaz, there is plenty of creative energy that flows due to the focus on art, music and books.  Mahvash, his wife is involved with the activist theatre of Tehrik-e Niswan, so there is a constant flow of actors and writers, and many practice sessions held at the house. Their two teenage sons who have learned to play the piano from an early age now have their studio in the house where they play the drums and hang out with their friends. 

The artist’s studio occupies the central space in the upper storey of the house, overlooking picturesque patios on the ground floor. The architecture allows for plenty of natural light and air to flow across the  spacious studio, where there is enough space to lounge around, see some of the work in progress  and older work that is constantly reshuffled to allow for more work to be seen by the artist. In this private space, parts of his collection, which inspires him, such as Nagori’s paintings from the 70’s, some early work of Tassaduq Sohail and a recent purchase that is a self portrait by Iqbal Hussain can be seen.

The rhythm, movement and iconography of Moeen Faruqi’s paintings are largely drawn from the energy of the metropolis. Most of the others artists’ works that surrounds his living and working space speak of a similar kind of human angst that is familiar to his own paintings.  His art collection has evolved out of a natural choice to acquire works that speak to him; some are closer to his own aesthetics and others relatively different, but when seen as a collective, this collection is the essence of the contemporary.  Some of the works have been exchanged from other artists for his own paintings, while most of the other work is of peers that he has acquired from galleries. 

There is a sense of intimacy with some artists particularly the ones whose development the collector has followed and several works from different periods are in now in his collection. For example, there are prints, coffee drawings, and paintings in acrylic by Anwar Saeed, conveying the different media used by the artist to address social taboos interwoven with the political and social commentary of the Zia era.  Similarly, an oil painting by SheherBano Hussain and a later mixed media work on glass by her allow the viewer to understand her artistic and stylistic concerns; the engagement with the work in his collection is therefore based on a connection by an artist to other artists; This collection, says Moeen, has built itself and as such he does not see himself as the average “collector”.  

Most of the work that Moeen has acquired is not decorative in the conventional sense.  Priceless early works of A.R Nagori and Souza hang along side an acrylic by Nafisa Shah, two large oils by Unver Shafi, Ali Azmet, and a photomontage by Tapu Javeri. Besides contemporary miniature works by Nusra Latif and Murad Khan Mumtaz there are other experimental works in mixed media acquired at thesis shows.  According to him the strength of the art that he has collected is the diversity that it offers and that he does not go for “brand names”. One is inspired to see the work of unknown artists, or even his sons’ childhood artwork hanging along with Wahab Jaffar, Mehr Afroze, Laila Rahman, Farrukh Shahab and others. Ceramics by Mian Salahuddin share the same space as terracotta collected from different markets while traveling. An outstanding feature of the art at the Faruqi’s is the proximity of it within the living spaces. There are no special cabinets to contain the art.

Each visit to the house brings a new dimension to the collection, because both Moeen and his wife rotate the placement of the work, allowing for new purchases and his new paintings to be seen outside his studio.  A lot of his purchases remain packed in storage for lack of display space. 

Human interaction, portrayed by the past trauma and isolation of dysfunctional relationships, forms the main element of Moeen’s compositions.   It is no surprise then, that he possesses many works of Tassaduq Sohail. Infact the first work in the artist’s collection was a small Tassaduq, bought for a mere five hundred rupees at Ali Imam’s Indus Gallery at its old location in PECHS, Karachi.  It was Ali Imam who cultivated Tassaduq and found him permanent collectors and admirers in Pakistan, who would buy his paintings regularly during the winter visits of the artist from London. Moeen was a frequent visitor to the Indus Gallery and got to know Tassaduq and his work.  On some level Tassaduq must have mirrored Moeen’s own creative energy. The two artists maintained their friendship over the years, and it is this connection to an artist that Moeen says inspires him to purchase the work of others working around him.  The Tassaduqs in this collection are from the same period, in which the compositions are tightly packed into small rectangles not bigger than 5 x 8 inches.   A composite of small squares or rectangles each of which is worth a fortune now, were sold as one work and mark the peak of Tassaduq’s oeuvre. Later works on paper, with more open spaces and vibrant colors can also be seen in the collection. Also purchased from Ali Imam is an early Mehr Afroze print from the 70s, secure in its original simple wooden frame. 

Moeen regularly visits the established and the lesser known galleries in Karachi on the lookout for good buys. Just recently, he was able to purchase Iqbal Hussain’s self portrait for a reasonable price. At the same time, he looks out for unusual work that speaks to him. For example, he picked up a crow made out of black garbage bags by Ruby Chishtie, which shares the space with an electronic photo assemblage by the Chinese Artist Luo-Yong-Jin. This eclectic collection not only brings the sense of experimentation and unpredictability of contemporary and urban voices, but also represents the dissident dialogue in art. In the absence of a museum, such collections become critical sources of documentation of the Art of Pakistan.