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Lot Essay
"Making miniatures was clearly a valid activity. In fact, it was taken for granted. It is not a popular aesthetic nor is it a traditional form clamoring for revival. I was interested in the form's cultural and historical dimensions, not simply as they relate to visual pleasure but at a more fundamental level. I was curious as to why miniature painting exists. That is where I started. But it was only after I started, not before, that the questions posed by a form that exists in the present yet is not 'contemporary' began. So the decision to engage with miniature painting was independent of the intent to blur boundaries between tradition and the avant-garde [...]." (Artist quote, The University of Chicago, 1999, accessed on 29 July, 2013, https://www.shahziasikander.com/essay03.html)
Shahzia Sikander intentionally explores the borders and boundaries of juxtapositions in her artworks. Her compositions renegotiate differences between the past and present, Hindu and Islamic, Eastern and Western. "I saw my work in connection to notions like west/east, white/black, white/brown, modern/tradition, presence/absence, beginning/end, and conscious/unconscious. My desire to question established hierarchies, such as purity and authenticity, was informed by applying the logic of deconstruction [...]." (Artist quote, The University of Chicago, 1999, accessed on 29 July, 2013, https://www.shahziasikander.com/essay01.html)
The star-like sun, Hindu multi-armed goddesses and veiled Muslim figures have become iconic in her works. Merging mythological and iconography imagery she highlights the certain tension that exists in Islam, Hinduism and Christianity. In No Parking Anytime every work holds its own narrative story, drawing the viewer closer into an unknown world. Her own personal touch, her highly stylized and traditional technique where opposites attract, create art forms which transform paper into a vivid dream.
Sikander has received many awards and honors for her work, including the honorary artist award from the Pakistan Ministry of Culture and National Council of the Arts. Born in 1969 in Lahore, Pakistan, Shahzia Sikander currently lives and works in New York. She received a BFA in 1992 from the National College of Arts in Lahore and an MFA in 1995 from the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island. Her work has appeared in numerous solo and group exhibitions and in national and international venues such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the National Gallery of Canada, the Venice Biennale 2005, and the Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.
Shahzia Sikander intentionally explores the borders and boundaries of juxtapositions in her artworks. Her compositions renegotiate differences between the past and present, Hindu and Islamic, Eastern and Western. "I saw my work in connection to notions like west/east, white/black, white/brown, modern/tradition, presence/absence, beginning/end, and conscious/unconscious. My desire to question established hierarchies, such as purity and authenticity, was informed by applying the logic of deconstruction [...]." (Artist quote, The University of Chicago, 1999, accessed on 29 July, 2013, https://www.shahziasikander.com/essay01.html)
The star-like sun, Hindu multi-armed goddesses and veiled Muslim figures have become iconic in her works. Merging mythological and iconography imagery she highlights the certain tension that exists in Islam, Hinduism and Christianity. In No Parking Anytime every work holds its own narrative story, drawing the viewer closer into an unknown world. Her own personal touch, her highly stylized and traditional technique where opposites attract, create art forms which transform paper into a vivid dream.
Sikander has received many awards and honors for her work, including the honorary artist award from the Pakistan Ministry of Culture and National Council of the Arts. Born in 1969 in Lahore, Pakistan, Shahzia Sikander currently lives and works in New York. She received a BFA in 1992 from the National College of Arts in Lahore and an MFA in 1995 from the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island. Her work has appeared in numerous solo and group exhibitions and in national and international venues such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the National Gallery of Canada, the Venice Biennale 2005, and the Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.