ART-PRESENTATION: Raqib Shaw-Landscapes
Raqib Shaw mixes ornate inspirations from Asia and Japan with a symbolism and formality drawn from the Old Masters, and infuses the whole with his own transgressive, highly personal narratives. He paints with enamels, using a needle-sharp porcupine quill. Breathtaking in their intricacy, complexity and flamboyant color, they are the product of months, often years of intense work.
By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Pace Gallery Archive
Drawing inspiration from his childhood memories of Kashmir and the nature and architecture of the Indian subcontinent, Raqib Shaw has mined and re-envisioned his own personal history through the compulsively-detailed, meticulously-painted, and emotionally-potent works. In his solo exhibition presents new paintings that originate from the long tradition of Western landscape painting. Raqib Shaw’s solo exhibition “Landscapes” is the culmination of two decades of the artist’s continual refinement and experimentation with Hammerite enamel paint, a dedication that has allowed Shaw to push the material beyond its traditional capabilities. Shaw has approached this material and his practice with a mentality resonant with the Japanese mindset of Monozukuri. For the latest paintings, Shaw initially swirled the paint around with matchstick splinters and pieces of wood, then porcupine quills, and finally fine needles attached to quills for the most detailed areas of the compositions. The result is a paint surface that appears both fragile and highly textured, encompassing an extravagant color palette. Autobiographical in nature, this exhibition presents Shaw’s experiences, observations, and memories of his life to the present date, with a particular focus on his early years spent in Kashmir. The artist, who was born in 1974, comes from a wealthy Moslem family that has traded in carpets, jewelry, and antiques for generations. Raqib attended a Christian school, where some of the teachers were Hindu. The harmonious coexistence of different religions typical of Kashmir at that time still largely shaped everyday life. But the conflicts between Moslems and Hindus increased. At the end of the 1980s, there were more and more attacks and assassinations. As a youth, Raqib witnessed a separatist being shot at a religious shrine. “Kashmir turned from an absolute paradise into an absolute nightmare and hell, fundamentalism destroyed Kashmir”. In 1992, he and his family left their home country and moved to New Delhi. Then Shaw went to London to manage his family’s stores. But an encounter with Holbein’s double portrait “The Ambassadors” (1533) at the National Gallery prompted him to turn his back on the business world and become an artist. “What I really loved about The Ambassadors was that it was a painting about merchants. And I thought to myself, I don’t want to be the merchant, I want to be the guy who paints merchants”. Masters such as Holbein, Cranach, and Botticelli had a decisive impact on his work. These Western influences mix with an aesthetic influenced by Japanese lacquer works and kimonos, by oriental rugs and Indian miniature painting. And repeatedly, there are references to his lost home.
Info: Pace Gallery, 537 West 24th Street, New York, Duration 5/4-18/5/19, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 10:00-18:00, www.pacegallery.com
