Mystery, mastery and the medium in art

Dear Rashid Rana,

Thank you for introducing us — the local fan club — to the artistry and flair behind the renowned, game-changer, award-winning artist, educationist, UNESCO Chair and fashion deva. Frankly, the expression 'new media and digital art' has somewhat obscured the human sensitivity and deeper aesthetic concerns rooted in indigenous art, which is the highlight of your creative practice. Also, the grid, borrowed from traditional miniature painting in general and Zahoor-ul Akhlaq's modernist sensibility in particular, sounded cliché until I listened to the very casual talk at RSpace in Lahore last week. From exploring technology to the extent of taming it, establishing human intellect and authority over machines, to addressing the issue of environmental pollution, you think and act as a genuine, modern-time humanist.

The environmental crisis is a pressing global concern. In Pakistan, the impacts of climate change are starkly evident. The country's landscape has been transformed, both literally and metaphorically, with water scarcity, extreme weather events and floods reshaping its physical, cultural and political landscape. Similarly, your work (Beauty Lies, 2019) has changed the very idea of landscape in art.

In Academy Art, landscape is the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, rivers, trees and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view, with its elements arranged into a coherent composition. In typical Indian landscape painting, nature or the countryside is a space of possibilities where spiritual retreats, leisure activities, romantic encounters and tests of skill take place. It is also often considered the abode of the gods, where divine beings go about human-like activities. Elements of nature in these paintings are executed with wondrous detail and skill by masterful artists. The natural world, in the tradition of Indian painting, is as important as the figures who inhabit it. This is also evident in your installations and murals, which, beyond merely depicting natural phenomena, buildings and surroundings, tap into deeper conceptual undercurrents.

Keeping with conventions of Indo-Persian Mughal painting reflecting multiple scenes of one story within a single frame, you do "a poetic investigation of the relationship between the microcosm and macrocosm". Rich in metaphor, this process resonates with concepts of the collective, in which complexity arises from the multiplicity of individual components.

You also talk about the duality of space. The question of representing a real 3-D space and creating its illusion on a 2-D surface has been a fundamental concern of painterly pursuits for ages. This unity in multiplicity, the idea of an illusory space and the temporality of time remain the main concerns of almost all knowledge systems, whether Western science, Eastern spirituality or any other ordinary conscientious examinations at the individual or communal levels. Yes, the use of 'East' and 'West' here is a deliberate musing. I like the way you explained these binaries in terms of 'actual' and 'remote'. I believe actual is something available for physical examination, justifiable with five senses, while remote allows an intervention with a margin of perception or a hint of imagination — Hazir and Ghaib, physicality and believable imagination.

This amusing twofold manipulation is again found in the photo mosaics' details, where the whole surpasses its parts. It's either totally alien or intentionally opposed to the intended visual. The use of duality and paradoxes serves as a tool to negate the drama of presumed absolutes, highlighting the absurdity of binary thinking. The expansive size (Desperately Seeking Paradise, 2007 or Pakistan Pavilion, Dubai Expo, 2020) is just an attraction; the reality, truth and beauty appear only in proximity. This closeness traps the soul of the onlooker — when reflection meets mirror (shiny aluminium surface in this case), the soul is ensnared. It's about crafting an experience that's interactive, engaging and possibly even transformative. The viewers see what you want them to see and then very subtly, they become part of the narrative. My two cents: the works were mesmerising and the presentation was convincing. Bravo!

Bano,

November, 2025