Volume 3, Issue 1 (May 2008)

Essays

From Africa, Developing World Art Denied, Misrepresented
by Chuka Nnabuife
The art world is still structured in the servant-master arrangement of the West and the rest. Even if a hundred big art events are held in a year in the developing world, they hardly get even a footnote mention in major art reviews, gallery publications and scholarly art history texts in leading European and North American cities.

The Secret of the Feline Form
by Sangeeta Thapa
Temples and religious paintings in Nepal are replete with the image of the tiger and whenever these images occur, they are synonymous with divine power or shakti. In Sril Lanka the ancient kings of this island were supposed to be the descendants from the union between a lion and a princess, hence the name ‘Singhala’ or ‘lion people’.

The Dissident Dialogue
by Niilofur Farrukh
As orthodox interpreters insisted on seeing figurative sculpture only through the prism of Islamic injunctions on idolatry, ignoring broader interpretations which recognize a form to be an idol if only it is worshipped - a fact that excludes secular three dimensional figures. It is interesting to note that unlike creative expression, the three dimensional portraits based on the bust and head somehow escaped the extremist’s wrath and were extensively commissioned by newly established institutions to immortalize political and social figures.

Avatars of the Object
by Nancy Adajania
The values privileged by sculptors practicing in the extended realm are provisionality, fluidity and virtuality rather than solidity, monumentality and stasis, values still conventionally associated with sculpture. Indian sculpture took its next revolutionary step forward in the mid -1990s, with the eruption of Conceptual and neo-Conceptual practices, especially among younger artists, who began to subvert the accepted notions of representation in art.

A Sculptor of Substance
by Niilofur Farrukh
One such hero is Shahid Sajjad, a sculptor of substance who has lived quietly amongst us for decades. Shahid is a modern thinker with the soul of a humanist, and a true heir to this land’s legacy. He has spent a lifetime discovering himself through his work and learning a vocabulary to carry out a visual conversation with others.

Photo Essay

Shahid Sajjad - Retrospective Exhibition 2007
Zahoor ul Akhlaq Gallery, National College of the Arts, Lahore, Pakistan
Photography by Malcolm Hutchison and Nadeem Wahid

 

Dance

When the Medium is the Message
by Alka Raghuvanshi
Making it big as a solo artist is a lonely journey fraught with massive perils. The time span for the performer to make it and stay there too is limited - hence the desperation and clamoring. Interestingly enough, the public perception of the arts has seen a significant paradigm shift – from esoteric spaces of classical platforms to a more approachable contemporary idiom that is easy to relate to.

Art Global

Ceramics in America Enters the 21st Century
by Chuck Wissinger
It can be argued that in America the primary patron for ceramics has become the higher education system itself. Making a living as a dreamer and adventurer in clay is a tough pursuit. Very few clay workers support themselves solely through clay production. Since graduate ceramic programs began to be established in significant number in the mid 1900s, an MFA degree has been viewed as a ticket to higher education teaching or technician jobs that will support the clay habit.

Emphasizing the Power of South Asian Art
by Maheen A. Rashdi
The Royal Ontario Museum’s (ROM) new South Asian Gallery in Toronto, is a visual pleasure, which has enhanced the scope of art in Canada. Curated by art historian Dr. Deepali Dewan, who joined the ROM team in 2002 as Associate Curator of South Asian Civilizations, the South Asian Gallery will expose the vibrancy of the region’s cultures which for most part have remained obscured in Canada and North America.

Making Waves: The Art Districts of Beijing and Shanghai
by Rumana Husain
Questions of artistic independence, the role of art in society, and the relationship between East and West, were all issues that were passionately debated during the New Wave of the late 1980s. The New Wave exhibition at UCCA gallery with its fervent idealism, resistance, and experimentation cannot help but inspire new generations of Chinese artists.

True to the spirit of the 21st century, genetic engineering has been taken from the gene lab to the art studio, as the amalgamation of biotechnology and art stimulates the artists’ imagination.

Conservation

The Shish Mahal: Saving Heritage at Risk
by Pamela Rogers and Rustom Khan
As a result of neglect and the passage of time, the world almost lost this invaluable iconic heritage and the time-line almost came to a tragic end. The final methodology for conserving and re-hanging the Shish Mahal’s decorated ceiling was imaginative and practicable, while following closely the international standards set for conservation of important heritage sites.

Art Collector

Nukta Visits Habib Fida Ali
by The NuktaArt Team
If Habib Fida Ali’s home is a reflection of his dedication to preserve heritage and respect for local material and design through a career spanning five decades, it is his art collection that truly reveals his aesthetics and his passion for history. It is his keen sense of color, form and a natural flair to seek beauty that has enabled him to acquire the most unusual art, its financial value not being the primary determinant.

Book Review

A New City with an Old Soul
Author: Fauzia Minallah
Reviewed by Rumana Husain
As the reader turns page after page, old Banyan and Peepal trees of splendid characters spread out their arms and aerial roots to engulf her/him into a warm embrace, reminding one of all the historical accounts that these living things must have witnessed.

Narratives of the Second Millennium
Author: Salvat Ali
Reviewed by Niilofur Farrukh
Even though most of the material may not be new for the reader but its collective presentation creates an impact and makes visible the diverse trajectories along which art has evolved in Pakistan in this century.

Nukta-e-Nazar

NuktaArt in Conversation with Shahid Sajjad
by The NuktaArt Team
His mantra ‘doubt everything, investigate and question to find your own answers’ has been a driving force which has helped this self-taught artist to understand his work, his materials, shaped his world view, and brought clarity about life.

Art @ Nukta

Romancing Impressionism: Izdeyar Setna
One Person Exhibition at Canvas Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
Review by Nafisa Rizvi

Emphasising Multiplicity: Rashid Rana at Chatterjee & Lal Galleries, Mumbai, India
Review by Deepanjana Pal

Interventions of the Art Space
A group Show at Rohtas 2 Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan
Review by Ateeqa Ali

Elegant Subterfuges: Duo Exhibition of Musarrat Mirza & Meher Afroz at Nomad Gallery, Islamabad, Pakistan
Review by Aasim Akhtar

Lines that Recall: Safdar Ali Quereshi at Croweaters Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan
Review by Laila Rahman

The Alive and Inanimate: Naseer Ahmed Burghari at V.M. Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
Review by Sumbul Khan

A Virtual Exhibition: Never Been to Tehran
Review by Rumana Husain

Beauty and Truth: Seminar Organized by the Baytunur Trust and Iqbal Academy, Lahore
Report by Murad Khan Mumtaz

Language of the Line: A Group Show at Chawkandi Art, Karachi
Review by Niilofur Farrukh

New Media: Florian Thalhofer, Berlin Based Artist Visits Karachi
Workshop Report by Amra Ali

Art Dubai: Optimizing Art Opportunities
Review by Niilofur Farrukh