Pakistan at Hong Kong Art Fair 2010

Pakistan is well respresented at the Hong Kong Art Fair 2010 - ArtHK10 with Gandhara art and Green Cardomam representing Pakistan Galleries. Artists represented are Aisha Khalid, Imran Qureshi, Bani Abidi, Faiza Butt, Imran Mudassar, Attiya Shaukat, Hamra Abbas; amongst others.

Shazia Sikander is also represented in the Fair by a London based gallery.

Gandhara-art at ArtHK10

Gandhara-art at ArtHK10 - facebook photos

Green Cardamom at ArtHK10 - facebook photos

Imran Qureshi - Side By Side short film

by Raking Leaves

This short film was made to accompany the release of the Raking Leaves artist’s book project Side by Side, by the artist Imran Qureshi. It is intended to complement the books by exploring their meaning through the form of a fictional documentary.

In the film, children are introduced by the artist to the two books brought together in Side by Side, a concertina dot-to-dot book and a collection of watercolour portraits, produced in the traditional Mughal style of miniature painting. Later, the students work in small groups to complete the dot-to-dot exercise in the first book, The True Path, and afterwards design similar concertina-style books of their own. In the spirit of the project, the children’s participation was embraced as part of the art-process, a fulfilment of the notion explored through the course of The True Path of learning again, like a child, how to choose our life’s path, its shape, while acknowledging the restriction of directive, latent in the trail of dots, that precludes our freedom – that is, the information and opportunity available to us.

A warm thanks is extended to the teachers and the students of the Millbank Primary School who participated in the production of this short film, whose help and generous support made this project possible.

Close-Up: Pakistan's truck art

Close-Up: Pakistan's truck art - Great four minutes video clip

BBC News series focuses on aspects of life in countries and cities around the world. What may seem ordinary and familiar to the people who live there can be surprising to those who do not.

The tradition of painting trucks in Pakistan is long and colourful.

It started out as a way for truck drivers to take reminders of home with them on long journeys, and over the years drivers have used everything from wood, metal, jangling chains, shiny objects and even 3D creations to decorate their trucks.

Pakistan correspondent Aleem Maqbool soon discovered the more elaborate and vibrant the better.

Pakistan – Where civilizations meet – 1st - 6th centuries - Gandharan arts

Musée Guimet Exhibitions Current exhibition Pakistan – Where civilizations meet – 1st - 6th centuries - Gandharan arts

21 April -16 August

Exhibition organised by the Guimet museum of Asian arts and the National Art and Exhibition Centre of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn.
The Paris exhibition commissioned by Pierre Cambon, head curator of the Guimet museum, replicates, in a modified form, the exhibition designed by Professor Michel Jansen and Doctor Christian Luczanits, presented under the name Gandhara. The Buddhist Heritage of Pakistan Legends, monasteries, and Paradise

The Gandhara is a former kingdom with a Hellenistic influence which spanned the North West provinces of today’s Pakistan. This civilisation contemporaneous with the Romans in the west and the Chinese Hans in the east, peaked between the 1st and 3rd century AD, in the era of the successors of Alexander the Great and the Kushan Empire.

A land of encounters, a land of Buddhism, invasions and exchanges, but also a land of ancient culture and diversities, Gandhara witnessed the birth and development of a brilliant civilisation combining Greek influences, resulting from the conquests of Alexander the Great, and Persian and Indian inspirations.

In this exhibition, statuettes or statues of Buddha and revered deities (bodhisattva, etc.), low reliefs of temples and stupas, will appear alongside terracotta and stucco items from monasteries or palaces.

Gandharan art bridges the gap between continents, between western and eastern cultures, offering a multiplicity of artistic forms which invite us to discover a world where beauty and humanity prevail.