Quddus Mirza

2 months ago | thenews.com.pk | Quddus Mirza

merican art critic Leo Steinberg thus begins his essay Art Conquers All: “If there was ever a conflict in the home of a painter, his wife’s portrait would be the last place to confess it.” In the same vein, one can argue that home is the last resort for producing artistic work. This belief underpins the common practice of looking down upon the home in comparison to the studio.

Jan 18, 2025 | thenews.com.pk | Quddus Mirza

eeing artworks in a studio is vastly different from viewing them in a gallery space. In a personal and private setting, they remain in dialogue with their maker; once displayed in an exhibition, they communicate to a diverse audience. Some viewers may be familiar with the artist’s practice, previous work, inspirations, influences and origins; even conflicts and contradictions. However, many might be unaware of these details, as well as ignorant of art history.

Jan 11, 2025 | thenews.com.pk | Quddus Mirza

f Adeel-uz Zafar is admired for his precision, Khalil Chishtee is celebrated for his embrace of imperfection. Zafar’s “career took a significant leap after his 2009 exhibition, Size Does Matter, at VM Art Gallery, Karachi.” Over the 15 years since, he has consistently created images of toys – primarily teddy bears – wrapped in cotton gauze by carving intricate lines on dark surfaces. Through this recurring imagery and uniform backgrounds, Zafar has developed a distinctive visual language.

Dec 7, 2024 | thenews.com.pk | Quddus Mirza

magine the scene: you enter your favourite restaurant, order your regular dish from the menu, but the waiter serves your food alongside its raw ingredients arranged on the side. You are eating, say, ‘mutton with vegetables’, while looking at the chunks of raw meat, peeled peas, pieces of cabbage and capsicum, slices of potatoes, chopped carrots, and portions of salt, pepper, red and green chillies, onions, tomatoes and cooking oil placed next to your plate.

Nov 30, 2024 | thenews.com.pk | Quddus Mirza

ike every person of a certain age, family background, income level, gender and profession who dreams of owning a house, a nation aspires to have its own permanent art space – adorned with works by its own artists as well as those from abroad. The Islamic Republic had to wait sixty years to acquire a purpose-built national art gallery – unsurprising for a state that took 26 years after independence to produce a consensus constitution.