Parting The Clouds
This show reflects on the combined effect of the pandemic & the cataclysmic monsoons of 2020 that brought my city of Karachi to its knees.
Come for a walk around this town of drifting cottages & sinking condos. Under the molten moonlight & textured smoke, are the quarantined quarters of fused lightbulbs & entangled elect wires.
These paintings must be read as pages from a book, and the titles as chapters.
– Ayesha Shariff
My work stems from the human condition.
By weaving together stories in the varied mediums of Mughal miniature painting, papercutting and video installation, I explore the complicated and ever-changing relationships between nations, and of human beings with themselves and the world around them.
My new series and first art exhibition post-MFA at Koel Gallery also takes forward my practice of painting on archival prints of currency notes, but with the transformation of colour palette and imagery. These pieces, as well as the papercuts and video, are born from my experience in our strange, new dystopian world, but with elements from Spirituality, as I feel it is time for us to look inward, and to hold onto hope, rather than to fear.
– Shanzay Subzwari
WORKS
The Kingdom of Glitter (Still), 2020
Papercut cinemagraph video Installation
Duration: 6m 38 sec Edition 2 of 4
Stay Alive, 2020
Papercut on Mountboard
9 x 33 inches
Circus Freaks, 2020
Papercut on Mountboard
9 x 22 inches
My Dinner Is Still in the Woods, 2020
Gouache on archival print
30 x 22 inches
Ego Is a Ghost Terrified of Dying, 2020
Gouache on archival print
22 x 30 inches
Spinning Out of Nothingness, 2020
Gouache on archival print
8 x 18 inches
We Are Only Pieces, 2020
Gouache on archival print
11.5 x 18 inches
Laugh in Full Blown Beauty, 2020
Gouache on archival print
11.5 x 18 inches
Your Flower Garden (Triptych), 2020
Gouache on archival print
9 x 22 inches (2.5 x 5 inches each)
Shadow Over the Moon, 2020
Gouache on archival print
3.9 x 9 inches
Mirror to The Power, 2020
Gouache and mixed media on archival print
3.9 x 9 inches
Carve A Friend Out of Stone, 2020
Gouache on archival print
3.9 x 9 inches
A Time to Love and a Time to Die, 2020
Gouache and mixed media on archival print
3.9 x 9 inches
Darkness Is Your Candle III, 2020
Gouache on archival print
2.8 x 5 inches
Darkness Is Your Candle II, 2020
Gouache on archival print
2.8 x 5 inches
Darkness Is Your Candle I, 2020
Gouache on archival print
2.8 x 5 inches
Scattering Stars Like Dust, 2020
Gouache on archival print
2.5 x 4 inches
A Ruby Encased in Granite, 2020
Gouache on archival print
2.5 x 4 inches
Copper Smoke from the Candy Towers, 2020
Spray and acrylic on paper
16.5 x 11.7 inches
Banana Leaves in the Qurantine Quarters, 2020
Acrylic & Graphite on Plywood
32 x 48 inches
Isle of Isolation, 2020
Acrylic & Ink on Paper 300gm
15.7 x 11.7 inches
Covid in the Cabana Chapter 3, 2020
Acrylic & Spray Paint on Paper 300gm
11.2 x 8.2 inches
Covid in the Cabana Chapter 2, 2020
Acrylic & Spray Paint on Paper 300gm
11.2 x 8.2 inches
Covid in the Cabana Chapter 1, 2020
Acrylic & Spray Paint on Paper 300gm
11.2 x 8.2 inches
Apartments by the Metallic Seashore, 2020
Acrylic & Spray Paint on Paper 300 gm
16.5 x 11.7 inches
Lockdown in the Scalloped Tower, 2020
Acrylic & Spray Paint on Paper 300 gm
16.5 x 11.7 Inches
Moondust in Mosquito City, 2020
Ink & Spray Paint on Coldpressed paper 300 gm
11.7 x 16.5 inches
The Clandestine Chandelier, 2020
Acrylic, Ink & Spray Paint on Paper 640gm
11.2 x 14.5 inches
Carpet in my Courtyard, 2020
Acrylic & Spray Paint on Paper 640 gm
7.2 x 7.2 inches
Pandemonium in the Condominium, 2020
Pen, Ink & Spray Paint on Paper 300 gm
8 x 10 Inches
Mayhem in the White Pepper Neighbourhood, 2020
Ink & Spray Paint on Paper 640 gm
8 x 10 inches
6 Days Without Power Chapter 3, 2020
Pen, Ink & Spray Paint on Paper 300 gm
8.2 x 11.2 inches
6 Days Without Power Chapter 2, 2020
Pen, Ink & Spray Paint on Paper 300 gm
8.2 x 11.2 inches
6 Days Without Power Chapter 1, 2020
Pen, Ink & Spray Paint on Paper 300 gm
8.2 x 11.2 inches
Copper Cottage on the Crumbling Cliff, 2020
Ink, Salt & Acrylic on Paper 300 gm
11.7 x 15.7 inches
Love in the Time of Corona, 2020
Ink, Pen & Spray Paint on Paper 300gm
11.7 x 16.5 Inches
Escape to the Misty Mountains, 2020
Ink, Salt & Spray Paint on Paper 300 gm
11.7 x 16.5 inches
The Enchanted Raincloud & The Pepper Plankton, 2020
Pen & Ink on Paper 300 gm
7 x 9 inches
August Monsoon in the Charcoal City, 2020
Ink, Salt & Spray Paint on Coldpressed Paper 300 gm
11.7 x 16.5 inches
Song of the Swinging Lamps, 2020
Ink, Salt & Pen on Paper 640gm
10.3 x 11.7 inches
The Floating Circus Chapter 2, 2020
Pen & Spray Paint on Paper 300 gm
8.3 x 11.7 inches
The Floating Circus Chapter 1, 2020
Pen & Spray Paint on Paper 300 gm
8.3 x 11.7 inches
Quarantine Armchair with Legs of Gold, 2020
Acrylic & Charcoal on Plywood
32 x 48 inches
INSTALLATION VIEWS
OPENING NIGHT