SARA RIAZ KHAN
Nature and colour have always been defining elements of my world view.
In addition to this, I have recently been focusing on aspects of humanity which bring people together.
Starting with my intention and a sense of colour, I add and remove multiple layers to create texture and structure.
Ultimately the painting marks out its own path, emerging in its own time, to tell its individual story.
WORK EXPERIENCE
2008 - 2016
DESIGN TEACHER ABA - an IB World School, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman
2005 - 2007
ARTIST IN RESIDENCE ABA - an IB World School, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman
1994 - 2003
FREELANCE PROJECTS
2002
PAKISTANI POSTER ART WORKSHOP FOR THE COMMONWEALTH INSTITUTE, LONDON
Painting commissioned for book cover of "The Baramasa" Support for Exhibition Pakistan: Another Vision (Asia House) (Arts and the Islamic World Journal)
2000 - 2001
INDAR PASRICHA FINE ARTS, LONDON
1998
DESIGNED LOGO AND MERCHANDISE FOR "HOT SPOT" ICE-CREAM CHAIN
1994
RESEARCH ASSISTANT ISLAMIC ART PROJECT EDUCATION
2007 - 2009
BUFFALO STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK Master of Science in Multi Disciplinary Studies
1992 - 1993
HEATHERLY'S SCHOOL OF FINE ART Pre-foundation Course
1992
UNIVERSITY OF LONDON School of Oriental and African Studies B.A. in Islamic Art and Architecture
EXHIBITIONS (SOLO)
2017
"Songs Of Spring" : Chawkandi Art Gallery, Karachi
2016
"At the Land's End" : Rohtas 2 Gallery, Lahore
2015
"Earth In My Bones" : Nomad Gallery, Islamabad
2014
"There is Beauty Yet" : Bait Al Muzna Gallery, Muscat
2010
"A Moment of Grace" : Chawkandi Art Gallery, Karachi
2006
"Gleamings" : VM Art Gallery, Karachi
EXHIBITIONS (GROUP)
2017
'Harappa to Lahore via Kotas', PNCA, Alhamra, Lahore
2017
InspireMe Launch Event, Dubai, UAE
2017
'Inner Palette', PNCA, Shakir Ali Museum, Lahore
2017
'Collector's Weekend', MyArtWorldpk, Islamabad
2017
Punjab Artist's Association Exhibition, Alhamra, Lahore
2016
Group Show 'Kaleidoscope', Asia House, London
2016
Group Exhibition ABA Community, Muscat
2016
Punjab Artist's Association Exhibition, Alhamra, Lahore Recipient of Special Award
2015
Punjab Artist's Association Exhibition, Alhamra, Lahore including commemorative show “Massacre of Innocents”
2013
The Drawing Room Gallery, Lahore The Citizen's Foundation (TCF) Auction, Dubai NM Art Gallery, Dubai Punjab Artist's Association Exhibition, Alhamra, Lahore
2012
Punjab Artist's Association Exhibition, Alhamra, Lahore Dar Al Ataa Group Exhibition, Muscat
2011
Group Exhibition ABA Community, Muscat
2005
Group Exhibition Omani Fine Arts Society, Muscat
2004
Group Exhibition Omani Fine Arts Society, Muscat
HUMAN-in-RESIDENCE(2017)
Initially I was interested in exploring the condition of an individual residing in a given context and what my interpretation of a ‘human-in-residence’ might be. I soon realised that I had happened upon a meaningful opportunity for personal transformation on and off the canvas. There were some ‘demons-in-residence’ I could consciously tackle; things to let go of and things to invite in. Prepared for an emotional battle on the painting’s surface, I started with washes of the colours I felt represented the areas I wanted to work on; dark green, dark orange, dark purple, dark brown and dark red. These could loosely represent states such as grief, anger, resentment, inflexibility, judgement and guilt. Reflecting on these traits in my creative practice allowed me to be more honest about them, in itself a step to self-understanding. As I worked, I became much more aware about how shifting colour relationships can change the overall impact of the work- it is much more than just light and dark- and related this to how shifting one’s perspective in a situation can transform one’s perception of it. Letting the early 'negative' layers come through again at a later stage of the painting was important, as accepting myself in all my colours, is a necessary first step to personal growth. In this series I found myself using more glazes, brushes and diffusers to spread the paint thinly. Some of the paintings were challenging to finish as they required a certain kind of self-knowledge. To show what I felt was ‘Love’ or ‘Self-Acceptance’, I had to reflect deeply on what I thought these words meant. Movement was another important part of the process. I found myself using different gestures for different feelings and explored the resistance and pressure of shapes and colours more consciously. Although the paintings are now complete, I am still an ongoing work in progress and a more fitting term, as I continue my personal journey might be “Human-in-Waiting”. As I write these words, as you read them I will be something different. The act of transformation then, is never complete, every painting I finish, every one that I start, changes me.
SONGS OF SPRING (2017)
An exploration of music was the starting point for this series. I wanted to see how nature-inspired compositions from different cultures could reflect a common human thread. Interested in exploring both the familiar and unfamiliar, I chose traditional South Asian, European and Japanese music concerned with nature and spring. In the earlier paintings, I worked more consciously with the beat and length of the notes. I felt that my multi-layered technique could reflect the complexity of sounds and that the pitch could give me guidance about colour. Later, I was influenced by specific images, which I associated with springtime. As the series progressed I used a freer approach and let the paintings take over earlier. Although I continued to use earlier techniques such as staining, applying and removing colour, there was some innovation; my use of gesso was more varied and I manipulated washes on the surface with greater deliberation. I had decided not to research the musical traditions but there were some interesting results. One painting consisted mainly of blues and purples and it transpired that that the music behind it, was composed specifically for the evening. Also some of the colours in the South Asian pieces seemed to relate much more to deep earth and water as opposed to growth above the ground. The process of mark-making was influenced by the type of music I was listening to and personal experience, memory and association also had a part to play. Working with unfamiliar sounds required a different kind of effort and this was the most valuable point for me; stretching out of a musical comfort zone required me to be more open-minded. It is not easy to identify a common human thread or unifying cross-cultural factor, but I feel the series is tied together by a sense of movement and a common feeling that an event or experience has taken place. People will bring their own interpretations to what they see, as I did. Paintings inspired by music about the natural world have ultimately become visual songs.
EARTH IN MY BONES (2015)
Painting is the part of me that dreams, and accessing that part equilibrates my practical nature. This series reflects an internal topography I have started scratching the surface of, a no-man’s land in time and space. The personal connection I feel towards nature has been a consistent theme in my work. I have been increasingly concerned with people choosing to find differences instead of celebrating the similarities which make us human. This body of work highlights the fact that we are all ultimately connected to the natural world and made of the same elements and minerals. I had expressed my initial ideas through the poem, Earth in My Bones, ‘Breathing minerals and chalk dust, I am rubble, I am silt’. At first I was drawn to images of stones, crystals and rock strata. However, as I worked, I found these visuals limiting and needed to source a more internalised and personal response. As I reconsidered my approach and stopped trying to impose imagery from the landscape, the paintings began to emerge from the canvas by themselves. Challenges during this process included managing both varied and limited palettes, working with washed out and bold stains, and orchestrating complex compositions. As layers were scratched away, the sleeping colours I had laid down earlier came into play. Texture integrated movement, created grittiness and established structure. Geometric shapes echoed nature’s basic building blocks and split levels established a sense of sky and ground. There is a reference in the poem to standing ‘right beside you In my bones, just renting space”. Our time here is limited, and looking beyond ourselvesis the first step to nurturing the world.
THERE IS BEAUTY YET (2014)
Nature and colour have always been defining elements of my world view; whether energetic or calm, subtle or flamboyant, the natural world commands my attention. The process of layering, staining and mark-making allows me to connect with the earth, to leave behind all that I know with my mind and dream anew. Increasingly I have been preoccupied with the loss of people's connection with the earth and with one another. A denial of these relationships and histories limits our self-understanding and our capacity to be true to the best of our humanity. An awareness of the natural and physical world has consistently been implicit in Sara Khan's work practice and this series is no exception. Whether it is a consideration of sandstone, marble, brick or chalky plaster, organic forms and spaces emerge and retreat amongst the canvases. The Mughal Emperor Akbar established the brick structure of the Lahore Fort about five hundred years ago. Once a thriving palace-complex testament to the rise and fall of different empires, it was richly decorated with natural and geometric forms. Visiting the structure today, it is the absence of life that strikes one now. This series is my personal response to finding pockets of beauty amongst the exposed brickwork and fading colours; it is a reflection of hope in the midst of neglect and an interpretation of what I saw where my shadow fell. I used my earlier approach of staining and reclaiming layers in a very focused manner, with compositions tightly structured beneath the washes. Layers were painstakingly built up with oil and gesso, deliberately disguised and subsequently transformed. By repeating this process, in every canvas, I paralleled and recreated the loss of the decorative and material elements in the Fort, the loss of a little more history. Although there are glimpses of the powerful colours associated with my last solo exhibition (A Moment of Grace, 2010) the current work negotiates a more finely balanced palette; the finished pieces invite the viewer to have a closer look and enjoy a subtler aesthetic experience. By transforming the neglect I saw into something positive, I felt a sense of personal empowerment. Similarly, I would hope that by choosing to assimilate their past, people will be able to lay claim to a future worth having. Having attended SOAS and Heatherly’s School of Art, Sara Riaz Khan is a Muscat based British-Pakistani artist who began her career exhibiting in the annual Omani Fine Arts Society show in Muscat. Subsequently her work has sold out in Karachi at the V.M.Rangoonwala (2006) and Chawkandi (2010) galleries respectively. More recently Sara was showcased in exhibitions in Dubai (NM Art Gallery) and Lahore (The Drawing Room Gallery). “Working in a free, assured style Khan layers canvases with diverse colour, stains and strokes, creating tactile surfaces with natural objects distilled into formalising simplified forms. ‘ -Marjorie Husain-Dawn “Sara Khan paints a series titled “Power of Nature” using oil and gesso on canvas. It is immediately apparent that the artist is concerned foremostly with the performance of paint as material situated within her frames.” - Madhya Leghari-artnowpakistan.com
A MOMENT OF GRACE (2010)
This collection is an acknowledgement of Mercy; within its parameters fall incomprehensible questions and heart-bursting celebration. Light cannot banish the dark, there is no easy victory, but one can always choose which way to turn. A fierce resolution to not give up hope fuels my current work. Faced with a personal family tragedy in 2007, I started painting again after a break of a year and a half and found my work had changed significantly. The move towards complete abstraction has not been arbitrary; the vocabulary of layered stains, unfettered washes, texture and mark-making gives honest expression to thoughts I cannot speak. Nature and colour continue to be defining elements of my world view. Water, forest and stones are indicated both explicitly and implicitly. It would be simplistic to label the pieces positive or negative depending on colour schemes, they are products in part of self-examination, exploration, incomprehension and gratitude, they are concrete proofs of my belief in life.
COLOURS OF THE SOUL
http://www.thefridaytimes.com/tft/colours-of-the-soul/
Sara Riaz Khan’s stunning new exhibition is smorgasbord of colours, observes Amna R. Ali as she interviews the artist
Sara Riaz Khan with the British High Commissioner Philip Barton and Nageen Hyat of the Nomad Gallery at the opening of her exhibition - Courtesy: 37th Productions
Channels course and
Pulse before us,
Flood and rust at
Their own pace and
I stand here right
Beside you, in my
Bones, just renting space.
—SARA RIAZ KHAN, 2014
Muscat-based Pakistani artist Sara Riaz Khan’s latest exhibition ‘Earth in My Bones’ opened at the Nomad Gallery in Islamabad this week. The artist was here from Muscat, where she lives, teaches and paints. This was her first exhibition in Islamabad, in an ideal setting at the Nomad Gallery, one of the capital’s oldest galleries, now located at the Saidpur Village, nestled in the foothills of the Margalla Hills. Unreservedly abstract, her canvases have a larger-than-life energy, pervading the space that they inhabit. Her work delivers a poignant and strong message of Khan’s deep connection with the natural world; her vibrant colour palette borcol-md-12 col-lg-12 col-xs-12s from nature’s beauty and its dynamic, immense visual resources. An intuitive, spiritual quality is the bedrock of all her canvases in this series, beckoning you to wander into a spatial wonderland where you pose questions and ponder about the very nature of our existence.
"WORKING WITH LAYERS AND STAINS, I FOUND I COULD START WORKING THROUGH MY FEELINGS"
Sara’s previous work exhibited most recently at the Bait Muzna Gallery in Muscat (2014)– a solo show entitled ‘There is Beauty Yet’; in group shows at The Drawing Room Gallery in Lahore and the NM Art Gallery in Dubai; at the Chawkandi Gallery in Karachi (2010); and at the V.M. Rangoonwala Gallery (2006).
ARA: TELL US WHY YOUR TECHNIQUE IS ABSTRACT. WHAT DREW YOU TO THIS GENRE?
SRK: Shapes and colours have always caught my attention. My work had already started shifting in 2007, when my family went through a crises and I needed to find a way of expressing myself honestly but still reserving some privacy. By working with layers and stains, I found I could start working through my feelings and I have been developing this approach ever since.
ARA: WHY IS YOUR CONNECTION TO NATURE IMPORTANT IN MUCH OF YOUR WORK?
SRK: My family spent much of our time at the farm in the Punjab when I was young and those early experiences, impacting all of my senses, became part of who I am. Some of my earliest mark-marking came from trying to smudge the colours of flowers and leaves.
ARA: HOW DID THIS PARTICULAR EXHIBITION COME ABOUT?
SRK: I was reflecting on the question you just asked me! In trying to pin-point my connection to nature, I wrote the poem ‘Earth in My Bones’ – initially I was going to add "Mitti" at the end. The words of the poem and some of the colours came to mind as parallel downloads.
ARA: YOU SAY PAINTING IS THE EQUILIBRIUM BETWEEN YOUR DREAMS AND YOUR PRACTICAL NATURE. TELL US MORE?
SRK: My day to day approach to life is fairly balanced. Painting gives me license to plug into the pure freedom I enjoyed as a child, without this I would be incomplete. By being creative, even writing, I take risks with an abandon I don’t live by.
ARA: HOW DO YOU FIND SPLITTING YOUR TIME BETWEEN PAINTING AND TEACHING – WHAT IS THE IMPORTANCE OF YOUNG PEOPLE IN YOUR LIFE?
SRK: Working with young people has been a revelation. I came late to teaching, conscious of why I felt it was important. What I did not realise was how much I would come to respect the journey they are on – one forgets one’s own – and how hard it can be for them. "Painting gives me license to plug into the pure freedom I enjoyed as a child"
ARA: YOU’VE LIVED IN MUSCAT FOR NEARLY 14 YEARS. HOW HAS THIS IMPACTED YOUR WORK?
SRK: There is a unique, raw natural beauty in Muscat, and somewhat like Islamabad, the mountains provide a significant backdrop. Initially, seeing them split in half to create motorways brought home the significant impact of humans on the environment which was reflected in my work. I also explored some ‘Mountain Women’ images in my 2006 exhibition at the V.M. Rangoonwala gallery, where the trees and earth were transformed into female faces and clothes. More recently, my work has been more introspective, for this exhibition I refer to an "internal topography…a no-man’s land in time and space."
ARA: WHAT TECHNIQUES DO YOU USE IN YOUR PAINTING AND WHICH MEDIUMS DID YOU USE FOR THIS SERIES?
SRK: Oil and Gesso has been the predominant medium in my recent work. Particularly with the larger pieces, the creative process is a physical one as I layer, stain, drip, scratch and excavate the surface. For me, letting go of areas and working over them is a way of moving forward. After a point the painting nods it heads and takes over and then I really don’t know what it will eventually look like!
ARA: ARE THERE ANY INNOVATIONS OR EXPERIMENTAL CONCEPTS YOU WOULD LIKE TO BRING TO YOUR WORK IN THE FUTURE?
SRK: I am excited about working on larger canvases and seeing what I can get away with in terms of colour tension. I also love stories (and movies!) and would like to bring in a different kind of narrative in the work.
ARA: WHAT IS THE RELEVANCE OF THE LAST LINES OF YOUR POEM ‘EARTH IN MY BONES’ (NOTED ABOVE)?
SRK: We are "renting space" here, on this earth and we need to be mindful of how we use that time, in our treatment of the earth itself as well as of each other.
NATURE ON CANVAS: MUSCAT-BASED ARTIST IMPRESSES ISLOOITES
http://tribune.com.pk/story/963910/nature-on-canvas-muscat-based-artist-impresses-islooites
An art exhibition featuring paintings by Sara Riaz Khan opened at Nomad Art Gallery on Monday. The display titled ‘Earth in My Bones’ was inaugurated by British High Commissioner Philip Barton and featured 21 distinct art works, mainly oil and gesso on canvas.
Khan, a Muscat-based artist, is exhibiting in Islamabad for the first time. Earlier, the artist has displayed her pieces in Lahore and Karachi.
"HER WORK DEMANDS ATTENTION. IT REFLECTS AN APPROPRIATION OF IDEAS IN MOVEMENT : NOMAD DIRECTOR NAGEEN HYAT
Internationally, her work has been showcased in group and solo exhibitions in Dubai and Muscat a number of times. Khan studied Islamic art and archaeology in London and has been practising art and teaching design for years. "Painting is the part of me that dreams, and accessing it equilibrates my practical nature. This series reflects an internal topography. I have started scratching the surface of no-man’s land in time and space," she said while speaking about her passion. "I have a personal connection with nature, which has been consistent in my work. I have been concerned with people increasingly choosing to find differences instead of celebrating similarities. This body of work highlights the fact that we are all ultimately connected to the natural world and made of same elements and minerals," she added. The exhibition features stunning pieces of artwork in bright and attractive colours. Khan uses a palette of different colours in her work ensuring that no single shade dominates her collection. The texture created through oil on canvas is detailed and intricate yet stunning to say the least. While discussing evolution of her work, the artist said, "Initially, I was drawn to images of stones, crystals and rock strata. However, as I worked, I found these visuals limiting and needed to source a more internalised and personal response. As I reconsidered my approach and stopped trying to impose imagery from the landscape, the paintings began to emerge from the canvas themselves." The gallery’s director Nageen Hyat said the exhibition is distinct in its own way. "It is an evocative, multi-layered, poetic and erudite collection of paintings emerging from deeply etched experiences and nature reflections of sub-conscious of the artist. Her work demands attention. It reflects an appropriation of ideas in movement through tonal values, powerful strokes and pure conceptual ideas," she said.
"PAINTING IS THE PART OF ME THAT DREAMS, AND ACCESSING IT EQUILIBRATES MY PRACTICAL NATURE: ARTIST SARA RIAZ KHAN
The exhibition is open till October 10. Published in The Express Tribune, September 29th, 2015.
INTERVIEW WITH SUNDAY MAGAZINE, JANUARY 2015
http://sunday.com.pk/people/13-Jan-2015/Sara%20Khan#.VO8aMEqoXct
WHAT IS YOUR BACKGROUND AND TRAINING?
Various experiences have brought me to where I am today. I have been involved with gallery and research work, arts workshops, and have attended the Heatherly’s School of Art and SOAS University of London, studying Islamic Art and Archaeology. I also hold a Masters in Interdisciplinary Sciences and have been teaching Design for many years.
WHERE DOES YOUR DESIGN INSPIRATION COME FROM?
Nature and the Earth are always there in my work, whatever the concept.
WHAT ARE YOUR FAVOURITE MEDIUMS TO WORK WITH?
Inks and mixed media are fun, and I have experimented with modelling paste and masking materials. Currently, I mainly use oil and gesso.
WHO ARE YOUR FAVOURITE ARTISTS - BOTH PAKISTANI AND INTERNATIONAL?
A diverse range. Anwar Shamza, Chafic Abboud, V.S. Gaitonde, Howard Hodgkins, the Pre-Raphaelites, Frank Bowling… And I love some of Abbas Kiarostami’s black and white photographs. Recently I have come across some stunning modern calligraphy by Aghighi Bakhshayeshi (Persian) and Larbi Cherkaou (Moroccan).
WHAT ROLE DOES THE ARTIST PLAY IN SOCIETY?
Artists provide a space where people can be themselves. Highlighting the importance of connecting to oneself and others through creative expression, and broadcasting that connection through media, literary, visual or performance art is an extension of this. They can also call attention to issues that need a voice, and it is essential they support the next creative generation in all fields.
DOES IT PAIN YOU TO SELL PIECES YOU LOVE?
Not at all. But once in a while I will exhibit a piece and not put it up for sale. For example, in this series, I kept a painting for my daughter which I will babysit till she has her own home.
DO YOU HAVE AN AUDIENCE IN MIND WHEN YOU CREATE?
One canvas could be 20 different paintings until it finally settles, so I am not creating for a specific person. Anyone with an open mind could be my audience.
WALK US THROUGH THE PROCESS OF SARA KHAN CREATING A PIECE OF ART.
Light washes and areas of thicker colour are layered over each other, which gives me something to scratch back to later on – so there is forward and backward planning as well as just going with the flow. Often areas are obliterated and hidden as the work takes its own direction.
DO YOU BELIEVE IN THE SAYING "ANYTHING IS ART" OR DO YOU THINK ONLY CERTAIN CREATIONS CAN BE CLASSIFIED AS ART??
Seeing the Saatchi exhibit, Sensation, some years ago was an eye opener for me. I realized that it didn’t matter what I thought of a particular artwork; by putting new work on display an artist changes an established situation and that is a kind of creativity.
TELL US ABOUT YOUR UPCOMING EXHIBITION, TITLED THERE IS BEAUTY YET.
The pieces are all Oil and Gesso on canvas and range from 50 cm x 50 cm to 100 cm x 150cm. I visited the Lahore Fort after some time recently and in spite of some graffiti and neglect, there are still traces of great beauty. By creating a positive experience on my canvases I hoped to highlight the importance of looking after our history. By honoring and learning from our past, we have a better chance of understanding ourselves.
THERE IS BEAUTY YET: SARA RIAZ KHAN
Showing her work at the Bait Muzna Gallery, Muscat (November 2014), Sara Riaz Khan inducts the city of her roots Lahore, with its resplendent history as the setting for a poetic statement, worked with a finely balanced palette. In her artwork, the artist narrates the changes wrought by time and to a sensitive audience, it would appear that the source of the artist’s inspiration is the power of nature that triumphs over the greatness of kings. While visiting the once magnificent palace complex of Lahore Fort, established by the Emperor Akbar centuries ago, the Oman based Pakistani artist reflected on the richly decorated representation of Mogul greatness that is now reduced to a neglected symbol of historic times. Expressing her feelings with a spontaneous abstract idiom of diverse coloration, the artist freely creates artworks of tactile layers, while striving to discover the essence of nature in the once decorative aspect of a historic landmark.
"This series is my personal response to finding pockets of beauty amongst the exposed brickwork and fading colours; it is a reflection of hope in the midst of neglect and an interpretation of what I saw where my shadow fell".
Sara Khan has a wide experience of art study that encompasses Heatherly’s School of Fine Art; Buffalo State University, and the University Of London School Of Oriental Studies.
Her work has been exhibited in Pakistan in prestigious galleries in Lahore and in Karachi, and more recently in Dubai.
Viewing her latest series is a visual journey as one discovers nuances of diffused media and hues in compositions that appear to encapsulate an enchanting vision of subtly changing lightness. Sara Khan belongs to the company of artists who emphasize a subject by focus on colour, following the tradition of non-figurative paintings first produced by Kandinsky in 1911. His work emerged from the desire to touch the soul of the viewer with the `physical power of colour’. From that time on art history has an outstanding succession of painters who were inspired by poetry expressed in brushstrokes. Sara Riaz Khan belongs to the company of those who, in the words of Malevich, wanted to free art 'from the ballast of the concrete world.'
Viewing the artist’s work, one enjoys the sensuous merging of colour and texture, the abstract marks in a setting that is timeless yet contemporary. One senses the artist’s contemplation is linked to a spiritual dimension, one in which the real and imaginary are merged to create an ambience of timelessness. Colours fused create a profound effect on an audience, suggesting the passing of time through seasons of family history.
Communicating meaning without figuration is challenging, in Sara Khan’s work it appears she is inventing a new still life idiom. The artist’s art practice, the skillfully fused brushstrokes, is based on a passion for painting and the desire to explore the medium creating beauty that is haunting though enigmatic.
Marjorie Husain SHE Magazine November 2014
THERE IS BEAUTY YET - MUSCAT DAILY
http://www.m.muscatdaily.com/Archive/Features/Exploring-the-loss-of-heritage-3kkw
When art engages art, the work that emerges can reveal a very deep and intimate conversation about creativity itself. Muscat-based artist Sara Riaz Khan’s solo exhibition, ‘There is Beauty Yet’ echoes this with great profundity.
Her collection of 26 paintings, which are on display at Bait Muzna Gallery, are not just fine works in abstraction; the intricate layers of colour and texture on canvas also tell the "story about art that has been neglected and wasted".
For Sara, who teaches design technology at the American British Academy, this story took shape during a visit to the Lahore Fort in Pakistan in January this year.
"The monument had not been looked after. I was really distressed and upset by the neglect of the structure, it's faded frescoes and pocked marble," she said, while remembering how much of this architectural marvel - built during the reign of Mughal emperor Akbar - had fallen to ruins since her last visit several years ago. On second thoughts, she felt that the damage hadn’t been too drastic, "but it was enough for me to notice. Perhaps I was looking for something different that I had forgotten."
Whatever the trigger, Sara came back saddened and heavy, but not entirely dejected. "Though I went back with a lot of negativity, I did not want to be left with this feeling," she said. The powerful need to transform the experience into something more positive overshadowed the undercurrents of negativity surrounding her visit.
"I realised that visually, the fort was still beautiful. There was so much texture, and even though some of the colours had faded, there was a different kind of beauty," Sarah said.
Her quest for this beauty took physical form in a poem, which she eventually translated into a series of paintings, now at display at the gallery.
Each of Sara’s art works enjoys a wild run of colours - the inspiration for her palette coming from the earthiness and dynamism of the fort.
"For the colours, I was really thinking fort, sandstorm and brick, which is why you will see a lot of , pink and purple in my work. But as I kept painting, I realised that it was taking a direction of its own. So though I started with a sense of colour, I did not have absolute control over it," she said.
But that’s just one aspect of her work. The true nature of Sara’s artwork is in its many layers, which add depth to her paintings.
Some of her canvases hide her forms under ten to 15 layers of oil and gesso through a meticulous yet often unplanned process of staining, layering, scratching, scrambling, obliterating, regenerating, flicking and rotating the canvas.
"There is some planning and a lot of intuition in my work. Each of my paintings may have been ten different paintings till it decided on what it wanted to be," she said.
What makes Sara’s paintings intriguing is that her subject is often stylised in a way that makes it almost inconspicuous. It’s only close observation that reveals arches, geometrical shapes and Arabesque designs, possibly pointing to Sara’s vision of the Mughal fort of her memory.
The artist, however, describes her style as a vocabulary, which helps her engage with the natural world. "The underlying impulse of my work is the natural world. Being connected to nature is something I remember from my earliest memories, it is part of who I am and how I understand myself."
It’s this draw to nature that makes her solo exhibition in Muscat more rewarding. The artist, who has previously been showcased in Karachi, Dubai and Lahore, was looking forward to exhibiting her work solo in Oman - her home for over 12 years now. This place is the perfect haven for artists, she said.
"The light is amazing, and you’ve got mountains all around you. It is very inspiring in that sense. Being enfolded by nature gives you ample time to relax, process and come back rejuvenated."
‘There is Beauty Yet’ will run till December 1.
THERE IS BEAUTY YET - TIMES OF OMANTHERE IS BEAUTY YET - TIMES OF OMAN
http://www.timesofoman.com/News/42191/Article-Sara-Khan%E2%80%99s-paintings-honour-crumbling-Mughal-history#.VFiJh9GkYpw.facebook
Muscat: When artist Sara Riaz Khan visited the old Lahore Fort and mosque in Pakistan, she was saddened by the state of disrepair the buildings were in, but also found beauty in their remains that inspired a poem and a series of paintings.
Sara, who is a British-Pakistani teacher and artist based in Muscat, will show her work in an exhibition called 'There is Beauty Yet' which opens on Tuesday night at Bait Muzna Gallery. The paintings have layer upon layer of oil paint and gesso on the canvas, colours and patterns scraped and exposed, like archeology on canvas.
"These are two landmark monuments for the city of Lahore and I was just struck by how little it's been looked after. I was disturbed by what I saw and I was very keen to create something positive from what I saw," Sara told Times of Oman.
While Lahore's Mughal-era buildings may be slowly disintegrating and in need of protection and reparations, they have been given new life on Sara's canvases and in a poem she wrote following her visit to Lahore Fort in which she writes about the state of disrepair but the hints of beauty that live on.
The paintings are full of rich colours, ranging from intensely deep fuchsias and turquoises, to warm earthy and mossy tones. They draw on the colours Sara saw while wandering through the 16th century fort. "The fort is mainly in sandstone which is a kind of bright pink, but there is also marble, and there is a lot of fresco painting, so there is all sorts of pigment. There are many colours to choose from, so the hardest thing was hiding the colour," she said.
The decay and neglect of the Lahore Fort is apparent on the canvases, and it speaks of the approach Sara took while painting. Sections of paint were covered over and reworked, all part of the process of creating the final result.
"For me it was a very emotional experience because I felt I was covering over areas that I found beautiful and I was going through the loss on canvas," she explained.
The geometric shapes common to Islamic art and architecture are revealed in some of the canvases, as are the shapes of the arches. Three of the paintings also reflect a room filled with mirrors in which light reflects back onto the space.
Sara's work speaks to her attachment to her culture and her desire to honour it, something which Christine O'Donnell, Bait Muzna's gallery director, recognised immediately. She was attracted to the work which is rich with an emotional attachment to Lahore's Mughal past and communicates a strong message.
"They're aesthetically sound and pleasing. I love the colours and I knew there was something behind them because of the layers," O'Donnell commented.
'There is Beauty Yet' opens at 7:30 tonight at Bait Muzna Gallery. It is sponsored by Mistal and will be inaugurated by HH Sayyida Tania Al Said. It will be on display until December 1.
A MOMENT OF GRACE - TRIBUNE
http://tribune.com.pk/story/16670/a-moment-of-grace/
A series of canvases illuminate the walls of the Chowkandi Gallery, balanced centrally by the largest pieces, the genesis of the exhibition "A Moment of Grace" and "After the Storm". These are the only titled canvases in the gallery, allowing the viewer tremendous freedom of interpretation. It is important not to rush the viewing but to take time and look into the depths. Groupings have been made according to size and treatment so there is a cohesiveness and natural flow to the collection. The fact that the canvases are signed at the back means there is no disruption in the enjoyment of the colour and composition.
This is the second and more mature solo exhibition by Sara Khan, whose last exhibited pieces in 2006 constituted a more playful and innocent exploration of her world in which more clearly defined images were visible. Art has always been an inherent and defining preoccupation for her from early childhood and time spent in the countryside has connected her definitively to the earth. The artist has been involved with the arts over the last two decades in a variety of different ways; studying Islamic Art and Architecture, working in an art gallery, attending art college, being involved with events and seminars, acting as an artist-in-residence and most recently, teaching.
A personal tragedy in 2007 was the stimulus for this current body of work. Immediately prior to this incident, Khan had been experimenting with texture and wash, inspired by a mottled green moonscape. Coming back to painting after an interval of a year and a half, she realised , reflecting on her work that this was the means of expression she could use. Undertaking a looser and more abstract approach, Khan was able to use washes, layers, stains, and texture, revealing and covering over areas according to the demands of each painting. A private person, she was thus able to engage with the canvases honestly without feeling vulnerable about what was being revealed.
There is an energy and movement within these pieces, and although water, forest and stone are implied at, viewers bring their own experiences to what they see. Khan’s earlier pieces indicate an intense struggle, while she mentally battled with the situation she and her family experienced. She has experimented in different ways, pitching light against a visible darkness and in some cases one can feel the willpower in the seams where the contours meet. Working her way through the paintings allowed Khan an outlet she would otherwise not have had and clarified some of the issues in her mind. Her artist’s statement hints at a semblance of acceptance, and a measure of self-empowerment, "Light cannot banish the dark, there is no easy victory, but one can always choose which way to turn".
Stemming from distress, these pieces still convey a powerful sense of vitality and of the aesthetic . In spite of the lack of obvious imagery, the heavily textured areas create and maintain visual interest. In her 2006 exhibition, colour was an essential ingredient, and this has been developed further in the current work. Sunburnt oranges, waterfall blues and monolithic greens dominate and recede. Some combinations are harmonious whilst others such as strong reds and bcol-md-12 col-lg-12 col-xs-12ns take each other head on in confrontation.
Even in the darkest paintings, Khan has consciously included slivers of relief. She feels that "it would be simplistic to label the pieces positive or negative depending on colour schemes, they are products in part of self-examination, exploration, incomprehension and gratitude, they are concrete proofs of my belief in Life."
Faiza S. Khan, Express Magazine, 2010
Songs Of Spring - Friday Times
http://www.thefridaytimes.com/tft/colour-negotiations/
Artist Sara Riaz Khan is a symmetrically beautiful woman. Standing at her solo show in sari and short bob, she speaks in a clear, tranquil voice; so when you see her paintings, you are struck by the pandemonium. All around us the walls are lined with massive canvases, splattered, peeled, scrawled and packed. It is a joyous muddle, and it is painted to music.
The show held recently, titled "Songs of Spring" at Karachi’s Chawkandi gallery, had the artist looking for the thread that ties "all of us together." She chose something that she felt everyone could relate to, and picked sounds from Japan, South Asia and Europe, focusing on the themes of nature and spring. So Vivaldi, Ustad Rashid Khan, Beethoven and the Japanese folk song Sakura, among others, jostle to guide her brush. The results are sumptuous. When I meet her she tells me about "sleeping colours": the ones blanketed by other colours. She works intuitively building the layers of her paintings. The works have a primitive, rapid movement, and she revels in her technique. Khan’s colours are happy, the kind that a child could easily name – sometimes a little too easily – but the works have a presence. And often, they even have a certain ferociousness. Her markings are strong and quick, there is a violence to them.
The surfaces are thunderstorms and cloudy seas: there’s frantic energy here, an angry power there.
Some pieces in "Songs of Spring" like Beethoven II have the cloudy veils and dabs of Impressionism. The ones based on the Japanese Sakura (celebrating spring and cherry blossoms) even evokes Monet’s lilies. Deciding not to research the musical traditions, she learnt later that a blue and purple painting was based on music composed specifically for the evening. That these were painted to Shiv Kumar Sharma’s Raag Malhar, or Vivaldi’s concertos is more a private connection and less a literal one. The argumentative gesso and paint strokes are evocative of the peeling walls of our cities, the markings of forgotten civilisations, or even a garden seen through sleepy eyes – and Khan deliberately keeps her canvases loose.
One of the most effective was influenced by the Raag Durbari of Ustad Rashid Khan. The work has the opulence of a Russian palace. Beams of interrupted light form marks in amethyst and yellow, the painting glows like a jewel in translucent veils. I enjoyed the intimacy of "Songs of Spring" – in the entire series you can see Khan’s arm swish across the canvas, her hands scratching and flicking paint. Like the Action painters, you watch her in the act of painting. In a poem she wrote for the show she says "the happening" is done; she calls them "negotiations", and we are privy to them.
Khan set herself a challenge: "Working with unfamiliar sounds required a different kind of effort and this was the most valuable point for me; stretching out of a musical comfort zone." But the challenge, though interesting, isn’t such a big one for her. Her dazzling paintings, with their rich terrain, are monsters she has grappled with and conquered. Her "negotiations" with gesso and paint are friendly and successful, but could be pushed further. Plus, every good relationship could use some spicing up. It would be interesting if she set herself a new challenge: adding another participant to her tea party with colour and canvas. Fans of her work would love to see her experimenting with unfamiliar textures and adding alien surfaces to her plane, similar to the way artists like Meher Afroz experiment with materials. Khan could add other voices to her negotiation in her own joyful spontaneous way. It would make for a great conversation.
Zehra Hamdani Mirza is a Karachi based writer and artist.
Songs Of Spring - DAWN
http://epaper.dawn.com/DetailNews.php?StoryText=03_03_2017_118_001
When a painter gets inspired by another genre of art, more often than not the result is doubly delightful. And if the former intends to create a work of art on the season of new beginnings with music as their primary inspiration, then imagine how vivacious and lively the artwork would be. An exhibition of Sara Riaz Khan's paintings titled Songs of Spring opened at the Chawkandi Art Gallery on Thursday. Naturally, spring brings to mind a colourful landscape, a breezy atmosphere. But the artist has set out to take the next step. Here's how: Khan is looking to explore the different traditions of music and interpret them the way she's felt them. Now music is something whose magic can only be felt, and there are very few things that are more fulfilling than transforming feelings into colours. Interestingly, and therefore, the artist does not have, a one-dimensional approach to the subject. She wants to go beyond that and conjure an ambient world where compositions keep emerging on a regular basis. How does one know that? Well, as an oil on canvas painting
her exhibits are in a larger context, a celebration of life. A word of caution though: life, with warts and all! This means if music presents all moods of existence, as it's the case with European masters who cram their compositions with ups and downs (and downs and ups) of a story, so should the paintings that are trying to construe it. Khan does it with aplomb, which is evident
from the very first oil-on-canvas piece on display. Speaking of masters, how can she overlook Beethoven? The artist's tribute to the composer is just as grand and opulent as the German genius's ideas were. And when Khan moves from West to East there's a definite shift in tone and texture. In that category, one must mention a remarkable piece called Raag Darbari, Ustad Rashid Khan - It is impossible for the viewer to pass by the artwork without lending an ear to it (apart from looking at it). The free-flowing, dense strokes match the mellifluous
Raag Darbari of Ustad Rashid Khan.
Notes of Darbari - Oscillating, less sharp, almost nocturnal. Auditory and visual treat in a single frame! The exhibition will continue until March 11.
Last updated on September 29, 2014
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