.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Imran Qureshi is a significant figure in the artistic movement called 'Neo Miniaturism' that originated in Lahore, and also teaches miniature painting at the National College of Arts in the city. Trained in the traditional miniature painting styles and techniques, the artist pushes the boundaries of this art form to accommodate contemporary contexts, and is known for influencing a wave of younger practitioners in this field. Qureshi’s works propose a new aesthetic in miniature painting that involves blending traditional styles with postmodern materials and innovations, and the present lot is a fine example of this union in his work. One of the largest and finest works from a series Qureshi created for a special exhibition at the Curve gallery at the Barbican Centre in London, this luminous painting, structured to recall the double-folio of a classical illuminated manuscript, seamlessly connects Qureshi’s practice with the unique gallery space in which it was first exhibited.
As Eleanor Nairne, curator of the exhibition at the Barbican, explains, “When Qureshi first walked through the Barbican space, he knew immediately what he wanted to do: a project that would be sublimely understated, drawing upon the history of curved horizon lines within miniature painting. These delicate arcs dramatise the grand curves of the architecture, while guiding the eye along the series of works. The curve is a form that connects to the cycles of life, and Qureshi uses the arched horizon to lend his scenes a mythic quality, which is accentuated by the unusual colours – an ochre sky, a rusty red hill – and the evocative title of the project, Where the Shadows are so Deep, which is taken from a poem by the great Urdu poet and revolutionary Faiz Ahmed Faiz [...] Qureshi has spoken of himself as stoically ‘hopeful’ (he refers to the ornamental blood-red flowers he has painted since 2010 as ‘shoots of hope’) and in these curves that ebb and flow throughout his projects, there is a promise of the persistence of life” (E. Nairne, ‘The Curve of Imran Qureshi’, Imran Qureshi, Where the Shadows are so Deep, London, 2016, pp. 22-23).
As Eleanor Nairne, curator of the exhibition at the Barbican, explains, “When Qureshi first walked through the Barbican space, he knew immediately what he wanted to do: a project that would be sublimely understated, drawing upon the history of curved horizon lines within miniature painting. These delicate arcs dramatise the grand curves of the architecture, while guiding the eye along the series of works. The curve is a form that connects to the cycles of life, and Qureshi uses the arched horizon to lend his scenes a mythic quality, which is accentuated by the unusual colours – an ochre sky, a rusty red hill – and the evocative title of the project, Where the Shadows are so Deep, which is taken from a poem by the great Urdu poet and revolutionary Faiz Ahmed Faiz [...] Qureshi has spoken of himself as stoically ‘hopeful’ (he refers to the ornamental blood-red flowers he has painted since 2010 as ‘shoots of hope’) and in these curves that ebb and flow throughout his projects, there is a promise of the persistence of life” (E. Nairne, ‘The Curve of Imran Qureshi’, Imran Qureshi, Where the Shadows are so Deep, London, 2016, pp. 22-23).