Karachi Works, Hassan Haikal Waheed

by domu on 30 March 2006 — Posted in mvj

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Unfinished work, Charcoal on Paper, 2′ x 3′, circa 2000, Karachi, Photo: MW

These works by Haikal were made when he was living in Karachi, Pakistan, from 1998 to 2002. I think the messy, busy and diverse experience of living in Karachi has coloured these works and Haikal’s overall sensibility as an artist relating to various subjects. In particular, his inquiries into human form take on a more bleak aspect compared to what I have seen in most Maldivian artists. This perhaps is a reflection of the relation between an individual and society in a bustling and sprawlingly large metropolitian city like Karachi, where more than 15 million people live and where there is a continuous influx of immigirants, as compared to a relatively small community like Male’. Since I also happened to live with Haikal during these years in Karachi, I also know that the visual art scene in Karachi is much more lively and dense than in Male, where there are no proper art schools and galleries and the culture of visual art is celebrated much less. There are many factors that has contributed to this, inluding the lack of a colonial legacy which ensured the establishment of galleries and art schools in the rest of the subcontinent including in India and Sri Lanka.
Some links to artists based in Karachi, Pakistan

Naiza Khan

www.ifa.de/galerien/zeitspruenge/dkhan_bio.htm

www.universes-in-universe.de/islam/eng/2005/027/img-05.html

www.universes-in-universe.de/islam/eng/2005/027/img-06.html

David Alesworth

www.davidalesworth.com

www.visualarts.qld.gov.au/linesofdescent/to_do/teachers.html

Moeen Faruqi

www.moeenfaruqi.com/latest2005/

Amin Gulgee

www.townhouse-gallery.com/artists/amin_gulgee.htm

Hassan Haikal Waheed

by domu on 25 March 2006 — Posted in mvj

flush by haikal

Hassan Haikal Waheed, Flushing the Future, Oil on Board, 1 1/2″ x 2 ” 2003

Photo: MW

Millenium Development Goals - Exhibtion

by domu on 24 March 2006 — Posted in mvj

These are works selected from a nation wide competition that called for entries on the theme of Millenium Development Goals. The selected works were put on display at the National Art Gallery, Maldives in early March 2006. The competition was organised by the Maldives Ministry of Planning and National Development.

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Photo: MW

mdg02

Photo: MW

Bangladeshi Painter Nazlee Laila Mansur

by domu on 24 March 2006 — Posted in mvj

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This is a work by Bangladeshi painter Nazlee Laila Mansur. I found her work very interesting. Her work comments on the status of women in Bangladesh society, and are done in a fantastic magic-realist style. In fact, I would have thought of it as a bit surrealistic, but I have come across the term magic-realilst being applied to her work. Usually its to literary works that I have seen ‘magic realism’ applied to, to the fictional works of authors such as Salman Rushdie, Gabriel Marquez, etc.

I also got a chance to meet her. Photo: MW

me with nazlee

With Laila Mansur, with her paintings in the background (displayed at the Bengal Gallery, Dhaka).

More Works from the Dhaka Biennale (details to follow)

by domu on 23 March 2006 — Posted in mvj

Indonesian 01

Installation by Indonesian participant (detail), photo: mw

Indonesian 02

Installation by Indonesian participant, photo: mw

Bangladeshi 01

Work by a Bangladeshi artist, photo: mw

Jagath Ravindra

Three part painting by Sri Lankan artist Jagath Ravindra. Jagatth also received an honorary mention in the Beinnale. photo: mw

Some more works from the Dhaka Biennale, 2006

by domu on 19 March 2006 — Posted in mvj

Some more works from the Dhaka Biennale, 2006

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Mahbubur Rahman, Installation using video projection and plaster casts of figures, etc. (detail), photo: MW

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Mahbubur Rahman, Installation using video projection and plaster casts of figures, etc. (detail), photo: MW

The Asian Art Biennale is an exhibition organised by the National Academy of Fine and Performign Arts, Bangladesh every two years. Participation is by invitation only. This years’ event was the 12th and artists from 31 countries participated in this year’s exhibtion. Parallel to the exhibition a seminar on Gender Perspectives in Art took place in which delegates from various countries read out papers.

Maldivian Artists Hussain Ali Manik and Aiminath Hilmy’s work displayed at the 12th Asian Art Bienalle, Dhaka, Bangladesh

by domu on 10 March 2006 — Posted in mvj

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Nina Manik’s work displayed at the 12th Asian Art Biannele, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 2006

by domu on 10 March 2006 — Posted in mvj

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