Rashid Rana has fast emerged as a leading name among the young-generation artists on the contemporary art scene. He is known to develop a conceptually driven, well-informed art practice, which maintains a pixelated attention to formal concerns. His works revolve around a subtle simultaneous exploration of media and identity – both bound by a sharp political edge as he satirizes pop culture and looks to reinterpret varied elements of art and cultural history. His new media projects are a visual commentary and parody of socio-political scenarios.
Deftly traversing between the diverse mediums like painting, video, installation and photography, Rashid Rana has emerged as one of the leading artistic personalities of his generation, making his presence felt globally. His work deals with everyday issues encompassing a wide range of themes from urbanization and popular culture to faith and tradition. He often employs video installations and still photography. A case in point is his series of composite photomontages in which each main image is constructed out of countless smaller photos of diametrically opposite subjects. The viewer confronts a moment of sudden withdrawal after moving closer to the picture when one becomes aware of the many miniature images that constitute the larger one.
It is the aesthetic concept of the grid deftly exploring the language of minimalism and geometric abstraction that serves as the precious connecting his monumental work to his mentor Zahoor ul Akhlaq. A foray into video art has resulted in seminal installations such as ‘Meeting Point’ (2006) in which the artist recalls anticipation from terrorism by projecting two airplanes facing and seeming to collide into each eh other, with the loud airspace audio.
Rashid Rana did his B.F.A from the National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan, in 1992 and then completed his Masters from Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, in 1994. He studied fashion design in Paris. The Pakistan- born artist divides his time between Lahore and Toronto. He is the Faculty (associate professor) at the School of Visual Arts, Beaconhouse National University, Lahore.
Among his significant awards and residencies are HAT exchange program residency: Manchester Metropolitan University, UK (2006); International Artist of the Year Award (2003); Hathor Prize, 9th Cairo International Biennale, Cairo, Egypt (2002-2003), and Artist in Residence, Gasworks, London, UK (2002-2003)
Among his major solos are ‘The Politics of Fear’, Albion, London (2007); Inaugural Show (of the new venue), National Art Gallery, Islamabad, Pakistan (2007); ‘Reflected Looking’, Nature Morte, New Delhi (2006); ‘Identical Views’, Nature Morte, New Delhi and V.M. Gallery, Karachi (2004); ‘Non-Sense’, Rohtas Gallery, Islamabad (2000), and Zahoor ul Akhlaq Gallery, NCA, Lahore.
His work has been featured at the various prestigious shows and events like ShContemporary, Shanghai (2007); Thomas Erben Gallery, New York (2007); Albion, London (2007); 5th Asia Pacific Triennale, Queensland Gallery of Art, Australia (2006); Artissima Art Fair, Turin, Italy (2006); Singapore Biennale (2006); and Art Basel (2006).
Dis-Location (2007), a major solo in a range of media show of his selected works spread across two galleries including Gallery Chemould Prescott marked his return to Mumbai after a gap of three years. Underlining the artist’s importance on global art stage, an accompanying note mentioned: “He has come to represent an entire generation of Pakistani Contemporary Artists. Moreover in terms of the Indian art scene, he is the first artist from across the border to have been so thoroughly embraced since partition era artists such as Abdul Rehman Chughtai and Allah Bux. Working both on major public installations as well as gallery based works, his art is now some of the most recognisable among artists from South Asia.”
His importance in the context of Indian art scene is much beyond a simplistic cultural exchange. On the international art scene, he represents the region as a whole, and he shares a deep connection with the country. The artist had his very first international solo in New Delhi with Nature Morte in 2004. Looking back at those times, he had once stated: “India was my launch pad. I didn’t consider myself a professional artist till that show in 2004. It changed my approach.” He hasn’t looked back since then, and has now become a poster boy for the Indian art gallery circuit. At Christie’s South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art auction in September 2007, his ‘A Day in the Life of Landscape’, a digital print, was sold for $133,000, becoming the most expensive piece of art from Pakistan.
The artist does not prefer to be tagged as a photographer, sculptor or video-artist. He explains: “I trained as a traditional painter, but I like the freedom to use any kind of medium. I don’t like hard divides.” |