The retrospective exhibition showcasing Rasheed Araeen’s works of art opened its doors in March 2022 at COMO Museum Of Art along with the inauguration of a public installation, titled Shan-i-Lahore, at Lawrence Gardens (Bagh-i-Jinnah), Lahore, in front of the Quaid-i-Azam Library. The contribution of the public art pieces was a collaboration between the Lahore Literary Festival (LLF), COMO Museum of Art, Lahore, and Grosvenor Gallery, London. The monumental solo presentation of the artist’s work, a rare opportunity to experience paintings, sculptures, installations and writings that started in the 1950s, ended on July 1, 2022. It was an immersive experience that captivated the imagination of thousands of visitors and revealed the history and origins of Araeen’s heroic art practice.
The discourse around Araeen’s practice explores the complexity of identity, writings of historical poets and revered Sufi saints. It lays down a spiritual culmination of his minimal mark-makings that have taken the form of industrial sculptures, neon light installations, muralistic paintings and interactive spatial explorations.
The exhibition was accompanied by a publication authored by the artist, titled Islam and Modernism. The book is a collection of essays written with the intention to research, examine and analyse the evolution of Muslim representation in art with a global view. Thematic discussions reflect on the nature of Sufism, the emergence of diaspora art and intersectional society.
Araeen’s focus on creating solidarity and unifying the voices of artists residing on the peripheral boundaries of the art world has taken the form of scholastic journals, curatorial exhibitions and public art displays traversing international and national platforms.
Walking into the exhibit, visitors encountered a wire sculpture disarmingly presented on a small coffee table at the centre of the main hall. An object lifted from the street by the artist in 1959, it marks the initiation of the artist’s exploration into geometry and the possibility of composing spatial infinity.
Araeen’s life experiences directly fuel the evolution of his visual language. His unapologetic dissemination of history and philosophy creates a passionate discourse around his artistic pursuits. The explorer within Araeen was free from restrictive boundaries of formalistic investigations in painting. He traverses into experimentation driven by experience and observation of the nature of line, form and colour. The relationship the artist develops between medium and environment is seamless, through decoding and deconstructing physical forms into an ephemeral painterly expression as seen in Dancing Series and Almost Abstract Series of paintings. The loosening of weighted lines using colour and brushstrokes initiates the beginning of Araeen’s exploration of colour.
The process becomes synesthetic as the development of colour within various phases of the artist's career takes centre stage. The expansive body of work immediately creates associations that span decades of evolutionary art movements, rooted in abstract expressionism, constructionism and formalism, leading into the nominalist methodology defined by the artist.
Araeen was a pioneering art force for structuring and developing London’s trans-national neo-avant-garde movement that brought together communities of artists from various backgrounds. He explores Muslim iconography as an interdisciplinary and inclusive medium describing ‘Al-Izmat’ as “a series of paintings using the names of great thinkers of the golden age of Arab/Muslim civilisation (800-1200 AD). In the beginning, their Arabic names are somewhat visible, which gives the impression of calligraphy. But as the painting proceeds by actually painting the names, not writing them as is the case in most calligraphic works, they become somewhat abstract. The whole process from the visibility of names to their somewhat disappearance as work continues towards abstraction involves a process which eliminates calligraphy and by this it becomes modern.” -- Homecoming Catalogue, Dec 2014.
The painterly investigations by the artist are in pursuit of reconciling and reclaiming the essence of being. He perceives these scholastic endeavours as building blocks in creating a new formation of the self in relationship to spirituality and identity. Concerned with only the 'Spirit of Islam’, these calligraphic works have taken a meditative approach to explore the deeper meanings of the word 'Allah'.
As the lettering transforms into spatial experimentation, the series becomes hypnotic and sophisticated. Those who have analysed Araeen’s calligraphy using the lens of western modernism are unable to recognise its naturalistic progression. He states in his book, Islam and Modernism, that calligraphy cannot be an abstraction unless it becomes an abstract form. “In my work, I achieve this by the geometrization of the words, particularly in the series of Allah, so that they become abstract forms. They are then no longer words. As for the colour combinations, they are used arbitrarily,” writes, thus clarifying the precedent of this particular body of work.
The meditative quality of the work is further amplified by the plethora of philosophical reflections experienced by the artist. The repetitive usage of the word ‘Allah’ can be seen throughout the paintings and then extended to using shaped neon signage. From the bright voltage emanates a transient glow around the object that is described in The Nominal and the Universal: A Conversation with Rasheed Araeen by Kylie Gilchristas as “Light is colourless and invisible but it makes things visible. But when light passes through a prism, it reveals its seven colours. In other words, light can be represented through these colours. My present neon work not only uses three primary colours but they together create a work representing the Light (Al Nour), that is, Allah.” In his quest to visually manifest the unseen, intangible and ephemeral, the viewer is able to resonate and connect with his passionate philosophy of art-making.
Relinquishing himself from traditional academic, scholastic and western topographies of the art world, Araeen now seeks unconditional freedom of expression within the collective ancestral lineage of Islamic philosophy as pursued by poets, such as Allama Iqbal. The artist arrives at these revelations through a natural exploration of his personal experiences and epistemological findings over the course of his life.
Each level of the COMO Museum Of Art takes the viewer inside the artist’s practice. The ground level showcases his early works, the stairs take the viewer into the first floor where the medium changes dramatically from paintings to industrial minimal sculpture to neon light installations. The main hall on this level is dedicated to the series of ‘Allah’, paintings that transition into another staircase leading onto the rooftop where ‘Lahore Tower 2022’ is installed. The rooftop view looks over the interactive installation ‘Zero to Infinity-Lahore 2022’ that is placed in the garden below for visitors to experience as they exit the show. These building blocks have the signature bright colours of Araeen’s site-specific installations that simulate the sprawling urbanisation of the metropolis life. The showcasing reveals the key moments of transition the artist experienced throughout his career from the passionate presentation of interactive public art installation, focusing on externalised environments, pivoting to a highly personal and internal dialogue of self-reflection.
The discourse around Araeen’s practice explores the complexity of identity, writings of historical poets and revered Sufi saints. It lays down a spiritual culmination of his minimal mark-makings that have taken the form of industrial sculptures, neon light installations, muralistic paintings and interactive spatial explorations.
The exhibition was accompanied by a publication authored by the artist, titled Islam and Modernism. The book is a collection of essays written with the intention to research, examine and analyse the evolution of Muslim representation in art with a global view. Thematic discussions reflect on the nature of Sufism, the emergence of diaspora art and intersectional society.
Araeen’s focus on creating solidarity and unifying the voices of artists residing on the peripheral boundaries of the art world has taken the form of scholastic journals, curatorial exhibitions and public art displays traversing international and national platforms.
Walking into the exhibit, visitors encountered a wire sculpture disarmingly presented on a small coffee table at the centre of the main hall. An object lifted from the street by the artist in 1959, it marks the initiation of the artist’s exploration into geometry and the possibility of composing spatial infinity.
Araeen’s focus on creating solidarity and unifying the voices of artists residing on the peripheral boundaries of the art world has taken the form of scholastic journals, curatorial exhibitions and public art displays traversing international and national platforms.
Araeen’s life experiences directly fuel the evolution of his visual language. His unapologetic dissemination of history and philosophy creates a passionate discourse around his artistic pursuits. The explorer within Araeen was free from restrictive boundaries of formalistic investigations in painting. He traverses into experimentation driven by experience and observation of the nature of line, form and colour. The relationship the artist develops between medium and environment is seamless, through decoding and deconstructing physical forms into an ephemeral painterly expression as seen in Dancing Series and Almost Abstract Series of paintings. The loosening of weighted lines using colour and brushstrokes initiates the beginning of Araeen’s exploration of colour.
The process becomes synesthetic as the development of colour within various phases of the artist's career takes centre stage. The expansive body of work immediately creates associations that span decades of evolutionary art movements, rooted in abstract expressionism, constructionism and formalism, leading into the nominalist methodology defined by the artist.
Araeen was a pioneering art force for structuring and developing London’s trans-national neo-avant-garde movement that brought together communities of artists from various backgrounds. He explores Muslim iconography as an interdisciplinary and inclusive medium describing ‘Al-Izmat’ as “a series of paintings using the names of great thinkers of the golden age of Arab/Muslim civilisation (800-1200 AD). In the beginning, their Arabic names are somewhat visible, which gives the impression of calligraphy. But as the painting proceeds by actually painting the names, not writing them as is the case in most calligraphic works, they become somewhat abstract. The whole process from the visibility of names to their somewhat disappearance as work continues towards abstraction involves a process which eliminates calligraphy and by this it becomes modern.” -- Homecoming Catalogue, Dec 2014.
The painterly investigations by the artist are in pursuit of reconciling and reclaiming the essence of being. He perceives these scholastic endeavours as building blocks in creating a new formation of the self in relationship to spirituality and identity. Concerned with only the 'Spirit of Islam’, these calligraphic works have taken a meditative approach to explore the deeper meanings of the word 'Allah'.
As the lettering transforms into spatial experimentation, the series becomes hypnotic and sophisticated. Those who have analysed Araeen’s calligraphy using the lens of western modernism are unable to recognise its naturalistic progression. He states in his book, Islam and Modernism, that calligraphy cannot be an abstraction unless it becomes an abstract form. “In my work, I achieve this by the geometrization of the words, particularly in the series of Allah, so that they become abstract forms. They are then no longer words. As for the colour combinations, they are used arbitrarily,” writes, thus clarifying the precedent of this particular body of work.
Relinquishing himself from traditional academic, scholastic and western topographies of the art world, Araeen now seeks unconditional freedom of expression within the collective ancestral lineage of Islamic philosophy as pursued by poets, such as Allama Iqbal.
The meditative quality of the work is further amplified by the plethora of philosophical reflections experienced by the artist. The repetitive usage of the word ‘Allah’ can be seen throughout the paintings and then extended to using shaped neon signage. From the bright voltage emanates a transient glow around the object that is described in The Nominal and the Universal: A Conversation with Rasheed Araeen by Kylie Gilchristas as “Light is colourless and invisible but it makes things visible. But when light passes through a prism, it reveals its seven colours. In other words, light can be represented through these colours. My present neon work not only uses three primary colours but they together create a work representing the Light (Al Nour), that is, Allah.” In his quest to visually manifest the unseen, intangible and ephemeral, the viewer is able to resonate and connect with his passionate philosophy of art-making.
Relinquishing himself from traditional academic, scholastic and western topographies of the art world, Araeen now seeks unconditional freedom of expression within the collective ancestral lineage of Islamic philosophy as pursued by poets, such as Allama Iqbal. The artist arrives at these revelations through a natural exploration of his personal experiences and epistemological findings over the course of his life.
Each level of the COMO Museum Of Art takes the viewer inside the artist’s practice. The ground level showcases his early works, the stairs take the viewer into the first floor where the medium changes dramatically from paintings to industrial minimal sculpture to neon light installations. The main hall on this level is dedicated to the series of ‘Allah’, paintings that transition into another staircase leading onto the rooftop where ‘Lahore Tower 2022’ is installed. The rooftop view looks over the interactive installation ‘Zero to Infinity-Lahore 2022’ that is placed in the garden below for visitors to experience as they exit the show. These building blocks have the signature bright colours of Araeen’s site-specific installations that simulate the sprawling urbanisation of the metropolis life. The showcasing reveals the key moments of transition the artist experienced throughout his career from the passionate presentation of interactive public art installation, focusing on externalised environments, pivoting to a highly personal and internal dialogue of self-reflection.