AMNA NAQVI OF GANDHARA-ART, KARACHI AND HONG KONG, DISCUSSES WHAT TO EXPECT AT ART DUBAI 2010

AMNA NAQVI OF GANDHARA-ART, KARACHI AND HONG KONG, DISCUSSES WHAT TO EXPECT AT ART DUBAI 2010

Aisha Khalid, Divided, 2009, Gouache on Paper (36 X 24 inches each) X 3(Triptych)

Gandhara-art is a curatorial and art publishing organisation, based in Hong Kong, engaged in showcasing the work of Pakistan's pioneering Modern artists, as well as the Contemporary Art of Pakistan's next generation. Gandhara runs its gallery program in Karachi as well as Hong Kong and also works on collaborative projects with art institutions and runs an active art-publishing program. Gandhara–art will be exhibiting Pakistani Contemporary Art as well the work of one of Pakistan's modern artists.

Gandhara-art's contemporary focus will be on showcasing the works of the pioneers of the neo-contemporary miniature painting including Imran Qureshi & Aisha Khalid. Their work is instrumental in the contemporary resurrection of this traditional art form. Their oeuvre is all encompassing. It include paintings, sculptures as well as large scale installations which are exhibited in galleries, museums, art fairs and biennales in Europe, Asia, the UK and the US and was most recently shown at at the East-West Divan at the Venice Biennale (2009).


Gandhara-art also be showcasing the work of Faiza Butt, a UK based Pakistani artist, whose paintings are beautifully rendered and engage the viewer with their ironic dialogue. Butt also exhibits widely internationally and her work was just recently shown in Hanging Fire at the Asia Society Museum in New York (2009).

Imran Qureshi, Story of two, 2009, Gouache & Gold Leaf on Wasli, 21cm X 30cm

Along with these stalwarts of Pakistani Contemporary Art, Gandhara-art will also be showcasing the work of younger artists such as Attiya Shaukat whose paintings has been compared to those of Freida Kahlo for their powerful imagery. Shaukat has also been shown internationally and her work is currently being shown at the Devi Art Foundation - an exhibition of Pakistani Contemporary Art (2010), which was curated by contemporary artist, Rashid Rana.

Gandhara-art will also be showing the work of one of the icons of the Pakistani Modern Art. Ismail Gulgee, lived large on the landscape of post-independence Pakistani Art. His forte was abstract expressionism, but he differed from his pioneering American counterparts as this art form was not limited to abstraction for him. He introduced Islamic Calligraphy and the gestural flow of this calligraphy has resulted in some uniquely powerful works.

The work of these artists is unique in its painstaking skill as well as its metaphors, which are the manifestation of their social, political, religious and national identities.