Lot 1017: RASHID RANA (B. 1968)

RASHID RANA (B. 1968)
Twins
chromogenic print and diasec mounted; diptych
69 x 45 in. (172.5 x 114.5 cm.)
Executed in 2007; number three from an edition of five

An edition of this work was exhibited at Geneva, Art & Public - Cabinet PH, Rashid Rana, December 2007 - January 2008

Contemporary Pakistan: Zahoor ul Akhlaq and Rashid Rana

Zahoor ul Akhlaq was undoubtedly one of Pakistan's most significant artists during the later 20th century whose profound conceptual influence has shaped contemporary art practice for following generations, including Shahzia Sikander and Rashid Rana. Zahoor's extensive knowledge and interest in the indigenous vernacular and tradition, as well as contemporary Western thought led to his deconstruction and re-appropriation of the classical miniature allowing him to be classified as one of the pioneers of the neo-miniaturist genre.

Lot 1018, inspired by New England's autumn leaves, was painted while the artist was undertaking a research residency at Yale University. It is part of a series of works using very bold color, an exceptional phase for the artist who is primarily known for his focus on black. It references American painters such as Joesph Albers, while also appropriating the frame structure of miniatures painting, considered by many to be Akhlaq's signature. Rather than rely on painterly symbolism, this work like many the artist produced, emphasizes a dialogue engaging with modernist abstraction and Islamic formalism found within the miniature genre.

It is the aesthetic concept of the grid exploring the language of minimalism and geometric abstraction which serves as the link connecting Rashid Rana's work to his mentor Zahoor ul Akhlaq. The duality of the image along with the 'double take' it engenders is a key feature of Rana's digitized imagery. Twins 2007, depicts the twin towers of the World Trade Center as a composite image made from 'pixels' of everyday street scenes from Pakistan. Playing with notions of Gestalt, Rana's images reveal multiple worldviews both formally and conceptually. A comment on geopolitics post 9/11, he visually melds two disparate cultures with irony and wit as he tackles the underlying issues of inequality and violence binding them.