120-121 / 188
118
NOVEMBER 2016 | THE TIES THAT BIND
119
Born in 1972, Imran Qureshi’s work incorporates
contemporary themes and motifs into the tradition
of miniature painting. According to curator and writer
Hammad Nasar, “In
Easy Cutting
, as inmany of his small-
scalepaintings, Qureshi deconstructs and rearranges the
materials and compositional elements of the miniature:
he eliminates the border and brings the contents of the
margins – scribbles, squiggles and blotchy smudges of
pigments being tested – into the centre. By using found
paper from secondhand bookshops as the top layer
of his
wasli
, he reverses the hierarchy of the text and
image of conventional miniature; rather than image
illustrating or embellishing text, here the text is a mere
artistic trope serving the image. But perhaps Qureshi’s
most significant contribution is in challenging the
historical expectation of what a miniature ‘should’ be: a
precious, ‘jewel-like’ object carrying historical narratives.
Qureshi’s work allows for symbolic readings: the
scissors are a violent instrument, cutting and shaping
into predetermined designs; the beautiful spheres of
blue foliage (echoing Basohli paintings) reference life;
the letraset transfers of dots and small circles and the
scribbles transferred through carbon paper suggest
a cartographic exercise; and the rubbing down of the
text with sandpaper gives a palimpsest effect, signifying
a look through layers of history.
Easy Cutting
could be about the post 9/11 world order
being built on top of colonial fault lines. Or it could
simply be – as the art historian Virginia Whiles has so
memorably suggested in writing more generally on his
practice –Qureshi playing the Zen archer: where his aim
is to have no aim.” (Rimli Borooah, John Xaviers, Reha
Sodhi and Jaya Neupaney eds.,
Resemble Reassemble
,
New Delhi: Devi Art Foundation, 2010, p. 61)
103
IMRAN QURESHI
(b. 1972)
Easy Cutting
Signed and dated 'Imran Qureshi 2006' (on the
reverse)
2006
Mixed media on wasli paper pasted on board
10.5 x 7 in (26.8 x 17.6 cm)
$ 9,095 - 12,125
Rs 6,00,000 - 8,00,000
PROVENANCE:
Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi
EXHIBITED:
Muhammed Imran Qureshi
, New Delhi: Anant Art Gallery,
February 2006
Imran Qureshi: Artist of the Year 2013
, Berlin: Deutsche
Bank KunstHalle, 18 April - 4 August 2013
PUBLISHED:
Muhammed Imran Qureshi
, New Delhi: Anant Art Gallery,
2006, pp. 16-17
Imran Qureshi: Artist of the Year 2013
, Berlin: Deutsche
Bank KunstHalle, 2013, p. 177