Artist Statement

In these works I seek to unravel the mysteries of cellular forms, viruses, and bacterias as they appear, disappear, and metamorphose. I put life itself under the microscope and is struck by the metaphorical possibilities of these encounters. Navigating these enigmas, I invest such forms with anxieties that threaten to engulf me. I invent conversations, skirmishes, rivalries, and alliances between battalions of minuscule forms, which become actors in these narratives. I try to employ marks in fluid ways. Some hark back to early lessons in the miniature studio at the National College of Arts in Lahore, Pakistan. There were also hours, days and weeks of drawing line after line across the page, until its slightest nuance could be foretold and held up for scrutiny. The cellular forms in these invented landscapes/territories are defined just as meticulously.

The images take root in surfaces patched together with New York City subway maps. Although Miniature and Manhattan present two complete opposite entities , yet through my work, the city, a symbol of modernity and avant-garde is being exposed to the genre that stands for the traditional materials, historic technique and ethnic content.

Education:

1995 B.A Fine Art, National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan. (Specialized in Miniature Painting)

SOLO EXHIBITIONS:

2008 "Memory/Metamorphosis", Hong Kong Visual Art Center/Gandhara Art Gallery, Hong Kong
2008 "Unclaimed Territories", Aicon Gallery, NewYork, USA.
2007 "Seeking, Seeping, Spreading", Rohtas II Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan.
2004 "Between Worlds", Nature Morte Gallery, New Delhi, India.
2003 "Between Worlds", Bose Pacia Modern Gallery, New York, USA.
1998 Gallery Espace, New Delhi, India.
1996 Alliance Francaise Gallery French Center, Lahore, Pakistan.

GROUP EXHIBITIONS:

2009 "Gulf Art Fair", Dubai.
2009 "Threshold, Forging Narratives in South Asian Contemporary Art",
           Aicon Gallery, New York, USA.
2008 "Conversations Across Cultures: South Asian Imaginaries", Columbia
           University, New York, USA.
2008 "Hong Kong Art Fair", Hong Kong.
2007 "Continuity and Change: Islamic Tradition in Contemporary Art", The
           Williamsburg Art and Historical Center, New York, USA.
2007 "Lahore Lovelies" Two person show at Aicon Gallery, London, UK
2007 "Gulf Art Fair", Medinate Arena, Dubai.
2006 "Gendering Detail", Art Square Gallery, Toronto, Canada..
2006 "Karkhana, A contemporary Collaboration", The Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, USA.
2005 "Karkhana, A contemporary Collaboration", The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, US.
2005 "Beyond Borders" National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, India.
2005 "Re-Inventing Narratives", La galerie Mohamed el Fassi, Rabat, Morocco.
2004 "Contemporary Miniature Paintings from Pakistan", Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan.
2004 "Karkhana" show, Rochedale, UK
2004 Fine Art Resource gallery, Berlin, Germany.
2003 Group Show at Sidhartha Gallery, Khatmandu, Nepal
2002 "Borderless Terrain" Visual Arts Gallery, India Habitat Center, India.
2002 "Transforming Tradition: Contemporary Visions from Pakistan"
            World Bank Art Gallery, Washington DC, U.S.A.
2002 Two Person Show, United Nation Gallery, New York, U.S.A.
2001 Group Show “In an exuberant and profuse manner”, BosePacia Gallery, New York, U.S.A.
2000 “Pakistan Another Vision”
           • Brunei Gallery, London, UK.
           • Huddersfield Art Gallery, Huddersfield, UK.
           • Center for Contemporary Art, Glasgow, UK.
           • Victoria Art Gallery, Bath, UK.
1999 International Exhibition of Common Wealth, National Art Gallery, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
1998 Sanskriti Kendra Village, New Delhi, India. 1997 Art Connoisseur Gallery, London, England.
           Gallery Martini, Hong Kong, China.
1997 Hong Kong Art Center Gallery, Hong Kong, China. 1997 Hong Kong University of Science and
            Technology Gallery, Hong Kong, China.
1992-2002 Participated in several group show in Islamabad (Offset Portfolio Center, Rohtas Gallery,
            Lok Virsa Gallery, National Arts Council Gallery), Lahore (Alhamra, Gallery NCA, Sim Sim Gallery,
           Alliance Francaise Gallery, Punjab Art Council) and Karachi ( Chawkandi Art Gallery, Zannani Art Gallery)

PUBLICATIONS:

2008 Farah Rahim Ismail, ‘Passage from India”, Art Quarterly, Winter.
2008 Salima Hashmi, “Memory/Metamorphosis”, Gandhara Art, Hong Kong.
2008 Swapna Vora, Asianart.com, New York.
2008 Salima Hashmi, “Unclaimed Territories”, Aicon Gallery, New York.
2007 Michael Glover, “Of Mughals and Manhattan”, The Independent, UK.
2007 “Contemporary Miniatures by Talha Rathore and Hasnat Mehmood,” artdaily.org Monday, July 9.
2007 Julia Dawson, “Born Cartographies,” The Friday Times, Pakistan.
2007 Projjal Dutta, “Lahore Lovelies,” Aicon Gallery, London, UK
2007 Quddus Mirza, “Metro World Miniature Art”, Rohtas 2, Lahore, Pakistan.
2007 Salima Hashmi, “Radicalising Tradition: Painting in Pakistan,” Artlink, Vol 20 no 2, Australia.
2007 Quddus Mirza,“Mapping Alien territories”, The News, Pakistan.
2004 Virginia Whiles, “Contemporary Miniature Paintings from Pakistan,” in Contemporary Miniature Paintings from Pakistan, (Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan.)
2004 Hammad Nasar, “Rochdale Remembrance,” Herald, Pakistan.
2003 Holland Cotter, “Art Review; Millenniums of Asia, Packed Into a Week,” New York Times, New York.
2003 Salima Hashmi, “Between Worlds and other Matters,” in Talha Rathore: Between Worlds, Bose Pacia, New York.
2003 Quddus Mirza, “Maps of Mind the Art of Talha Rathore,” in Talha. Rathore: Between Worlds, Bose Pacia, New York
2002 Salima Hashmi, Unveiling the Visible, Lives and Works of Women Artists of Pakistan”, Islamabad, Pakistan.
2001 Roberta Smith, “Art in Review; In an Exuberant and Profuse Manner,” New York Times, New York.
2000 Salima Hashmi, “Radicalising Tradition,” Art Link, Issue 20 No 2, India.
1998 Ratnottama Sengupta, “It’s Yesterday Once More,” Sunday Times of India, India.
1996 Amra Ali, “Reaching the Old in New Language,” News on Sunday, Pakistan.

WORKSHOPS:

2004 Demonstration of techniques of Miniature Painting, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA.