Karachi Literature Festival: Talking art
This was the major sticking point presented by panellists during a session on art history and its relevance during the Karachi Literature Festival (KLF) on February 11 which was moderated by art critic Nilofer Farrukh with art history teachers Taimur Suri (Islamic Art History at the Oxford University, Art History Instructor at Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture and the Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology) and Rizwanullah Khan (Art History Instructor since 1997, currently at Department of Visual Studies, University of Karachi), Amin Gulgee (artist, art history major Harvard University) and Dr Asma Ibrahim (archaeologist and Director State Bank Museum).
“Is art history relevant? More important for me is the question that who writes art history? Who is the audience — artists or the general public?”,asked Amin Gulgee, adding that much of our art history is written with an oriental perspective — “a book on the Shalimar Gardens by a western author concluded that it was all ‘bah’!”
Art history in the classroom
However, the failings of art history in our region extend further, stemming from institutions and academia of and related to art. Rizwanullah Khan said that the problem was two pronged; a narrow focus from the teaching perspective which limits itself to antiquated books restricted to progression of visual styles and secondly, the art students. “Students are not prepared, they have little knowledge of geography and cultural history, paired with poor vocabulary,” Khan lamented. To add to the problem, he said that these students had little time to reflect on the little they did manage to read.
Taimur Suri reminded the audience that the study of art history was important since it was a human phenomenon. However many others like him, who trained in the West, run into cultural barriers when in Pakistan since the West “institutionalises art, which is rigid for our form of art”. Suri added that their training and the prevalent Western format of education relied heavily on hard facts, “it is very difficult to talk facts to students here due to the different format of our art.”
A member of the crowd asked why is art history not made compulsory from primary school? Dr Asma Ibrahim, a member of the panel of the Higher Education Commission which held sessions on revising curricula, stated, “When we raise this point of teaching art history, they ask us where are the teachers to do that? “
Suri, also a panel member, offered a little more insight; “They are fine with teaching history, but when it gets to teaching art history, some say it’s against Islam — religion creeps in somewhere, I don’t know why.”
Durraiya Kazi, an artist and the head of the Visual Studies department in Karachi University, was a member of the audience and stated that as per her findings there was art curricula at all levels and programmes were offered even at the matriculation level, but the pitfall is that “schools and parents are simply not interested”.
By Gibran Ashraf – Published: February 11, 2012
Published in The Express Tribune, February 12th, 2012.
Source: tribune.com.pk
Amin Guljee, a Poignant
“I work in order to understand myself. It is a highly personal journey in which I try to discover a balance with my inner self, my culture and my God” Amin says while receiving Goodyear Fine Arts Award for thesis on Mughal Gardens.
By ADEEL MANNAN
The journey of human brain from spirituality to immortality, beauty to glory, images to reflections, faith to ritualism, visionary to vivacious, originality to chastity, notion to novelty, all can be seen and felt in the outclass sculptures and jewellery of an outstanding savant in the Pakistan art industry. Yes, it’s AMIN GULJEE, a chip off the old block.
Amin Guljee, a renowned Pakistani artist and sculptor, born in a house of paints and brushes in 1966.He is the son of famous artist Ismail Guljee.Despite of being actively discouraged from pursuing fine arts by his father; he earned a degrees in Economics and Art History from Yale University, USA. Nonetheless, Guljee ended up as an artist creating works as an expression of spirituality. Amin’s work speaks for itself.
Amin Guljee Primarily works with metal; creating sculptures and jewellery. His work has been inspired by Hindu and Buddhist Mythology as well as drawing the tradition of Islamic calligraphy using Koranic inspirations turning calligraphy to sculptures. His sculptures cast the divine in copper and bronze, fashioning objects in 3 dimensions that suggests infinite and enduring ephemeral in metal. His sculptors range from magnificent hunks of metal, the size of filling cabinets to necklaces worn by fashionable women in London and Karachi. Theme of his work is to mix the sacred.
“I create sculpture in which I am physically able to
combine the elements that traditionally do not belong
together”
His theme can be easily felt in this famous quote;
“We are like sculptors, constantly carving out of others the image we
long for, need, love, or desire, often against reality, against there
benefit and always in the end a disappointment, because it does not
fit them.”
Amin’s theme and this quote would be just like an example of a sculptor carving in snow.
Sculpture is a form of prayer to him. He wrestles with God in copper and bronze and the outcome is bold, muscular and innovative. The supreme ingenuity, perfection and execution in his sculptures depict a fine assemblage in the round and relief and made in the huge variety of media and gloominess. Skepticism is one of the themes of his work. Pakistan is a very young civilization as it is only 58 years old, but on the other hand Pakistan has a 500-year-old heritage and civilization and Amin’s work is just like a lamp in it, scaling the all edges of history, modernism and technology.
In one of his interviews; he tells about his early life that” I had no hands-on guidance from my father. Studio art was the last thing I wanted to do. In fact my parents actively discouraged me not to become an artist. They feared that I’d have to struggle.
It’s funny that I became an artist – I am non-romantic about an artist’s lifestyle. For all the pleasure and joy of work, one has to survive on one’s work. My life has been a series of accidents. I was in college, doing three majors in Art History, Architecture and Economics at Yale. Architecture was great – I got to paint and draw and create models – and at Yale you could just about do anything. In my final year at Yale I had to choose one major for my thesis. I hated Economics and thought Art History would be more interesting and challenging. My dissertation was on Mughal Gardens with special focus on Shalimar Gardens in Lahore. After my graduation I thought I’d try my hand as an artist and if I did not succeed, I’d go back and do an MBA.” He tells that “ I had my first show in Karachi-and then I went to New York to live there as an artist. That was a difficult time. I had to go door-to-door with my jewellery pieces-art jewellery and gallery-wearable art. I had some successes. Initially my jewellery was very large-it was very unwearable-in New York it became scaled down. Basically, it is a sculpture with a hole. Whenever I get stuck on a large piece, I switch scale and I move to a smaller piece. I enjoy making jewellery. Then I came home to Karachi-wanted to do larger work. I began experimenting and working with metal. Copper and the bronze are the only glorious metals that exist-they stay forever-I like that permanence “
Amin’s thirst towards spiritual enlightenment, skepticism and nepotism is simply evident from one of his sculptures called Chance- a DNA molecule with the word ALLAH inscribed on it; for him that is “God”. ”God for me is everything – it is me –– it is you –– it is the wind outside – it is the light we see – it’s everything horrible and everything wonderful – I don’t see any separations – I see God in just about everything – God for me is the process of Life and the way things are – God for me is also Chance – the element in our lives that we do not control. The three most important paths of our life are birth, death, and love – all three are controlled. What’s beautiful about Islam is its submission to God and that there is a direct link between God and a person – nothing comes in between – you create your own balance between the divine and you – or between chance and you.” what Amin says about God.
According to him, ”God has created everything and everybody. All religions teach us to be good, to be happy, and to achieve a balance – that is humanism. All religions have basic similarities. My father is a great collector of antiquity and as a child, I would touch his Gandharas and Krishna’s and talk to them – my understanding of them was not in a ritualistic way – I reacted to them as a child. I related intuitively to the Bodhisattvas. When I came back from college I wanted to recapture them and create them in my own image. When I do a sculpture of the Buddha – I am not a Muslim doing a Buddha. Today, there is a need for intellectuals to interpret religion. If one is happy, one does good things; if one is unhappy, one does bad things -–simple-minded perhaps, but that is the essence.”
“Love is the most important part of being human-Love is what defines humanity. I look at my life and feel so great that I love-Nothing else matters. ”Amin says on the essence of life. He thinks we are here for a short time-the only thing we should be taking away from this earth is love from people. So, love everyone and yours life too. This feels that for him love is just like a body without soul.
Amin Guljee, a voyeur, an extreme loner in his teenage- in fact some considered him retarded and not a great lover of poetry tells something about his interests that;
” I love Camus, I love the existentialists –I read anything that comes near me. My idea of weekend in Karachi was checking out 5 books. Reading has always been my escape. I’ll read Stephen King to Manto. I used to be in a dance troupe in college – I just love dancing. I learnt a bit of Kathak and Bharat Natyam in Karachi – just for six months – nothing serious. My sister is a good Bharat Natyam dancer. In fact the most famous Kathak dancer in Pakistan today is a man – Fasi – he is brilliant. I like travelling but I like people more than I like places. I am not a great sightseer.”
When my pen was oozing my views about Amin’s work and his personality just believe for a couple of minutes I forgot that he is a sculptor because the element of spirituality and his perceptional powers led me he is a philosopher or you can say a poignant.” I love looking at people. I can sit in a café and look at people for hours. What I really want to do is go to Sri Lanka – I have never been there – I would like to go to Sri Lanka and sit there on a beach for a week watching the stars, the sea, the colours, and feeling the wind– that would be my millennium gift to myself. I’d also like to go to Bangladesh one day. The two artists I admire most are my father and Amrita Shergill. I find Amrita Shergill’s paintings really close to me – I feel a great connection with her work.” Amin says.
Amin’s high scale-oriented work is a blend of different inspirations and cultures depicting some new visions for the people belonging to different regions .On bringing South Asia closer he says;
“There should be more communication within the subcontinent. I am more familiar with things happening in New York and Washington, than I am with what’s happening in Bombay or New Delhi. We should start looking within ourselves; we should celebrate ourselves. I think colonization has made a profound impact on the subcontinent and it is time we discovered our own heroes – up till now everything that has been considered valid, at least in art, has been coming from the west – ‘we study western art, we revere their heroes – it is about time that we start celebrating ourselves’– as far as contemporary art is concerned, there needs to be an interaction among ourselves – it should be done without embarrassment – done with a sense of confidence. In the last fifty years many walls have crumbled and come down – I hope that happens in my region too. I hope our priorities go toward education and welfare of our people. I think it will happen – there is no other way it can be. Maybe not in my generation – perhaps in the next – but it will happen.” His on bringing the nations are closer to what Leo Tolstoy said “All art has this characteristic- it unites people”.
Amin’s work is not only confined to history or religion, but a symbol of globalization and technological advancement could also be found there in which archetypal and biblical icons are used to depict a very personal vision in the work. A show ‘Dish Dhamaka’ curated by him following the same route by asking 20 artists, architects and designers to present their ideas using satellite dishes, a common place of the cityscape.
“ I love ‘Alhamdulillah’ because of its simplicity and its constant usage in the vernacular. It denotes intimacy with God, and is reflective to the fact that he is with us in our daily lives and not just confined to the mosque” Amin says. Amin Guljee’s gigantic 20ft high pieces and their miniature versions of the huge sculpture called Steps, which depicts ‘Alhamdulillah’ in square Kufic. In this regard he has produced some fascinating pieces.’Charbagh’ a geometric grid garden introduced in the sub-continent by the Mughals also inspired Amin’s thought; as its also the name of on of his exhibitions. Amin being not a mathematician presented a fine work by combining the two forms that’s are diametrically opposite to each other. Under the concept of Charbagh he produced some awesome sculptures in a period of 3 years i-e Charbagh 1 (bearing the inscription of Allah), Moon Phase 1 (a sphere divided in quarters and some calligraphic square grid) and Screaming Egg (a deviant sculpture) made of broken coloured glass bottles varying green and brown colours in it.
Amin Guljee’s new jewellery collection, ‘solah singhar,’ takes women’s eternal obsession with the mirror one step further –from looking into it to wearing it “For me solah singhar represents the mysterious power of women” says Amin. “Although the concept of singhar is for the pleasure of men, its application and interpretation lies in the hands of women.” Amin uses the mirror not as a symbol of vanity but of self-awareness. The mood is feminine, regal chunky but yet delicate. It is a collection very obviously inspired by the Sindhi tradition in costumes and textiles. Amin reinterprets the sparkle of mirrors against the barren desert. (paragraph from Karachi plus magazine).
“All seeing eye” is a symbol of truth for him. “ I see the eye as an absolute, the eye never lies”. Amin is a lover of space and changing patterns in his life. In his student life he made some fine pieces related to interior decoration constructed from environmental mosaic-discarded metal pieces and material used in the building trade. He is also fascinated by the local bazaars of Nathia Gali where, Amin delved into the markets acquiring a feast of local pots and other objects to create yet another singular decoration, on the roof of his parent’s house. It is a landmark now, well known by visitors to the beautiful gully. The artist enjoyed this work enormously, relishing the hands-on aspect of creating the mosaic, the effects of glass and mirrors inset in the fragmented pottery. He never tired of living with the results of his imaginative designs Amin explains: “It is also a nod to the great Spanish architect and artist, Antonio Gaudi, whose parks, churches, and other structures are unforgettable for me. It is my salaam to him.”(Pictures from the dawn)
Amin’s public collection can be found in The International Monetary Fund (Washington, DC, USA), Jordan National Gallery (Amman, Jordan), Hofstra University Museum (Hempstead, NY, USA), The WAH Center (Brooklyn NY, USA) and Pakistan Modern Art Museum (Islamabad, Pakistan).”The Message”, ”Minar”, ”Habitat”, “Char Bagh”,“Man and Computer”, “Balance”, “Allah”, “Cube” and “Sufi” are one of the commissions granted to Amin. Young Achiever award, First Award for Jewellery, Calligraph-Art Award and Excellence in Art Award have been awarded to him by Indus Vision, Pakistan School of fashion Design, International Calligraphy Competition and Sindh Government. He himself had curated many exhibitions by the name Urban Voices five times consecutively from 1997 to 2001 at Sheraton Hotel, Karachi. Amin Gulgee’s Sola Singhar (Sheraton Hotel, Karachi, Pakistan 2001), Alchemy (Sheraton Hotel, Karachi, Pakistan, 2000), Jewelry for Mary McFadden’s 1996 Spring/Summer Collection, Fashion Week: Seventh on Fifth (New York Public Library, New York, USA) are one of the epic examples of his fashion shows and performing art pieces. It’s not the end; there goes a long list of his group shows and exhibitions took place in different countries from Pakistan to USA.
I would like to put it up differently that Amin’s work is a present history enriching every element in it from finite to infinity. Words are not helping me to sum up his profile. Well his work is an ‘Eye’ of him for us indicating and depicting the “antiquity of his soul.” He does not sculpt to sculpt; but sculpt to make his thoughts and abstracts feelings a reality and originality by his marvelous work. Amin a maverick holding a chisel in his hand and mingling thoughts always bringing a new aspect in his work, that is an influenced one.
Source: acsmagazine.tripod.com
Cosmic Mambo by Amin Gulgee – Exhibition
The phrase “like father, like son”, applies to Amin Gulgee, son of legendary Pakistani artist Ismail Gulgee. However, make no mistake that this prominent Pakistan artist hides in his father’s shadow; his name is associated with ingenuity and originality in Pakistan and the world over.
“Cosmic Mambo” is one of Amin Gulgee’s most ground-breaking and comprehensive exhibits and it includes a series of works that has sprung from “Cosmic Chapatti I” and “Spider I” both of which were first exhibited at the Petronas Gallery in Malaysia in 2009.
Source: insing.com
Cosmic Mambo by Amin Gulgee
September and October are going to be busy months for the galleries with Amin Gulgee’s monumental solo show, Cosmic Mambo at Wei-Ling Contemporary comprising a huge collection of new sculptures and a massive installation measuring 10’x10’x4′. This museum quality show is a MUST SEE and will be on at Wei-ling Contemporary, The Gardens Mall from 12th Sept-10th Oct 2011.
World-renowned Pakistani sculptor Amin Gulgee fills us in on his long illustrious career in art, and what inspired his latest exhibition here in Malaysia, “Cosmic Mambo.”
Wei-Ling Contemporary
Unit G212 & 213A Ground Floor The Gardens Mall, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
More info: http://www.weiling-gallery.com
Source: youtube.com/weilingcontemporary
Cosmic Mambo Art Exhibition – Radio Interview
World-renowned Pakistani sculptor Amin Gulgee fills us in on his long illustrious career in art, and what inspired his latest exhibition here in Malaysia, “Cosmic Mambo.”
Source: BFM
Imaging Cities
Some of the participants have accustomed themselves to new kind of lines and colours; but for some, this is an experimental and learning process, like learning of a new language. Even the viewer has to learn this foreign language in the realm of art before he can judge their expressiveness and quality.
An interesting exhibition of image, sound, word and video was held at Amine Gulgee Gallery for two days only (February 20 and 21, 2011) attracting a large number of audience. The show was born of conversations held over nineteen months in and between cities including Cairo, Cape Town, Karachi, New York, and Paris. Amin Gulgee Gallery and SPARCK (Space for Pan-African Research, Creation and Knowledge) played key roles.
A two women team, artist and academic Kadiatou Diallo and Dominique Malaquais, founded SPARCK in 2007. SPARCK is a Pan-African initiative of experimental multi disciplinary residencies, workshops, symposia, exhibitions, publications and performances focused on innovative, ethically driven approaches to urban space. SPARCK engages with creators working in image, sound, word and video, installation, transient architectures, cutting edge technologies and emergent media on projects that question the status quo, refusing clichés and easy answers.
Amin Gulgee Gallery, established in 2000, bears the name of its founder, who is internationally known as a multimedia artist. Shows held at the gallery are anything but conventional. Amin and his gallery are not pushed about in being fashionable or palatable. As he says, “Objects and exhibitions displayed here are simultaneously explosive and imbued with spirituality, brash and private in extremes. They reflect deeply held views about the value of art as an absolute necessity- a challenge that brooks no limits.”
The show at Amin Gulgee Gallery followed the line of the collaborative galleries in letter and spirit. The artists engaged in the show used the latest tools of expression- audio-video technology, very suitable to the subject. Despite the use of new tools for expression, the inner man in the participating artists did not abandon the spiritual aspect of life and the world. As a modern artist Gulgee, through his curatorial show, gave expression to his inner vision of man and the spiritual background of life and the world.
In fact, the exhibitions at Amin Gulgee Gallery, specially the current one- “Imaging Cities” are thought provoking and raising questions. Gulgee calls the current show a South-South dialogue, which highlights the extraordinary wealth of urban practices shaping the present and future of the world full of countless possibilities. Herein Gulgee gathered around works by fifty artists hailing from some twenty countries of Africa and South Asia. All are world travelers in body or mind. They possess a universe of imagination and implementation. Their fundamental goal is to dream and build through art new, unexpected and sustainable futures in cities across the globe.
The views, aesthetics, and takes and counter-takes, however, are far from uniform. A great deal of variety and at times, elements of contradiction appear in the works opening doors for dialogue among the artists as well as artist and the viewer. This complexity has been the core of the curatorial project. These works are individual in the manner of representation, the style and quality. Some of the participants have accustomed themselves to new kind of lines and colours; but for some, this is an experimental and learning process, like learning of a new language. Even the viewer has to learn this foreign language in the realm of art before he can judge their expressiveness and quality. One can say that in this exhibition the art has gone across the limits of visual alone; it addresses man’s hearing and reading ability as well.
While judging a work of art, the critic’s mind tends to make comparisons. For instance an excellent video show of a nude male expressing agony through the twists and turns of the body in slow motion takes the mind to a painting where the painter puts hours to create something of similar depth and feeling. In this case, honesty demands that no such comparison should be sought as the two artists have used absolutely different tools. Video offers a wider space to the artist for expressing his thought than a canvas or paper to the painter challenging his capabilities.
Central to the project as well, has been a determination to evacuate clichés. Africa and South Asia both suffer from preconceived notions imposed upon them by the so-called First World – easy, inaccurate portraits of exotic, primitive and chaotic otherness. Also in need of evacuation are clichés that Africa and South Asia visit upon one another – preconceptions as to race, religion, social and economic class that result in profound and damaging misunderstanding. Here the viewer can make an assessment as to how for the artists have been successful in achieving the goal through the use of modern technology.
Source: pakistanartreview.net
Metallic Forces
View: Metallic Forces Page – 1
View: Metallic Forces Page – 2
View: Metallic Forces Page – 3
Source: The Peak
Recent Posts
Categories
- 1988 to 2000
- Amin Gulgee
- Amin Gulgee Gallery
- Curatorial
- General
- Group Show
- IMF Show
- Interviews
- Jewellery
- Locations
- Performance
- Podcast
- Print Media
- Public Works
- Solo Show
- 7
- 7.7
- Al-Nahda Royal Society
- Arabian Gallery
- Art Gallery
- Art Space
- Body and Soul
- Char Bagh
- Continuity – Kinetic Essence
- Cosmic Mambo
- IMF Show – The Search for light
- Indus Gallery
- Intercontinental Hotel
- Lahore Art Gallery
- Lawrence Gallery
- Looking for the Magic Center
- Open Studio
- Open Studio II
- Other Works
- PACC
- Rida Gallery
- Spooky action at a distance
- The Hilton Ankara
- The Search for Light
- The Spider Speaketh in Tongues
- Through the Looking Glass
- Walking On The Moon
- Washed upon the shore
- Zenith Gallery
- Urdu Press
- Wei-Ling Gallery
- Year