"journeys", selected art by gulammohammed sheikh Options

[arnab]

another subcontinent is proud to present "journeys: selected art by gulammohammed sheikh". this exhibition is now live on our home site and will be featured till september 4, 2005. we invite you to view the exhibition and discuss it here. gulam will join the discussion as well.

[Anjali]

Mr Gulammohammed Sheikh,

Many many thanks for this wonderful exhibition on AS.

I haven't even finished viewing all the pictures but I had to talk about "Returning home from long absence" in Gallery 2. It was breathtaking for many reasons—the way the viewer’s eye moves across the canvas to read a story. One sees the heavy toned, empty houses in the silent town first, then the eye moves to the foregrounded mother (I assume it is the mother) and then higher to the whimsical blue mosque and the blue and the brighter angels. To me, it was the story of an exilic person, remembering his home and mother as s/he left them, and associating it with the angels and the otherworldy beauty and calm that only nostalgia affords such back-faced views.

Then there is another trajectory for the eye where one follows the wonderful repetition of white in the mother, the tree on upper left and the angel on upper right...and so much more.

Am I reading too much into the picture here? Can you explain some of the significance of these angels? They reappear in other paintings as well.

I just can’t stop looking at this haunting painting and the series on Kabir. Will definitely come back to ask more questions.

[seajay]

Dear Mr Gulammohammed Sheikh,

Thank you so much for allowing us to exhibit your astonishing works on the site.

They are mystifying, breathtaking worlds that we can traverse over and over again and still not see all that is within them.

There is so much to love in them, and so much to sorrow over -- the recurring archetypes of the supernatural interwoven with the tangible, the cities, the conflicts -- the imaginative scale is just mind-blowing.

I am so grateful for the opportunity to see these amazing images,

cj

[Pratibha]

Dear Mr Gulammohammed Sheikh,

First of all thanks for the giving us opportunity to enjoy the paintings, which some of us would otherwise not have.

This is amazing. I have not finished looking through all of them yet. Just looking through gallery 1 and 2, i noticed that each 'detail' is a series of paintings that perhaps tell a story, and I enjoyed that a lot. The series 'City For Sale' and 'Speaking Street' are astounding, the silent stories, juxtaposition of images - sometimes showing two diffferent - sometimes almost opposite, facets of life, speak volumes.

I would be interested in knowing some other stories, such as 'Kissa Aziz Aziza ka.'

pratibha

[Rumali Roti]

Mr. Sheikh,

This is indeed an honor. . .! There's so much by way of religious and other symbolism in your paintings. My feeling is that I could look at certain pieces, and, far from never tiring of them, I would find new details in pluralist imagery daily.

There much to absorb here, but let me start with the mappamundi series from gallery 3, which I'm particularly crazy about for its east-west blending. I can envision an entire semester of a college course being taught on these pieces alone!

Would it be correct to say that these are based on the Ebstorf or other medieval cartographer's model? Who are the key figures located at 11 o'clock, 1 o'clock, 4 o'clock and 7 o'clock? (I have an idea for each of them, but don't want to be publicly wrong!) How is Dwarka (city of gates?) relevant to the first? Can Layla be found in the landscape of the second?

Does Kabir appear repeatedly in your work as a metaphor for religious plurality?

Roshna

This post has been edited by roshna: Jul 26 2005, 05:25 PM

[arnab]

(just so there's no confusion, the "details" are sections of the paintings, not parts of series. some of the paintings are in a series, such as the talisman 1-4 and the mappamundi suite, but the details are merely closer looks within paintings since we cannot, as at a gallery, get physically closer to the pieces.)

dear gulam,

thank you once again for letting another subcontinent host this exhibition. i have been looking at these images for some months now in the process of planning and formatting the exhibition and am still startled anew by the sheer scope of your vision and the aesthetic realization of it. some questions for when you have a chance to respond:

1. could you say a little about your relationship with 20th century european painters? apart from the direct reference to picasso's "guernica" in one of the pieces i seem to see echoes of chagall etc. in others (though not in a derivative sense). i am interested in learning more about how modern indian painters have "negotiated" with other modernisms etc.

2. could you say a little about medium and materials and how these function in your creative process?

thanks,

arnab

p.s: feel free to disregard these questions entirely!

[Rumali Roti]

Regarding influence of European and other styles -- I see, also, images from Leonardo da Vinci and Giotto paintings; landscapes and detail in the style of the Padshahnama and Hamzanama miniatures; and the waves that form the frame of some of the mappamundis appear distinctly Japanese. If I spend more time (more than the 4 hours I've spent looking through this exhibit), I'll find more, I'm sure.

This post has been edited by roshna: Jul 26 2005, 06:03 PM

[gulamsheikh]

[gulamsheikh]

Sorry for the lapse. It shoud read 'gouache and 'water colour' in the first sentence of my reply.

[gulamsheikh]

[gulamsheikh]

[gulamsheikh]

[shahpar]

Dear Mr. Sheikh,

A very warm welcome to AS! we're very proud to host this online exhibition of your work. its a rare opportunity for those of us outside of India to see your paintings in such detail.

i loved the "city for sale". i love the riot of characters, colours, emotions and expressions of a city teeming with life and the urge for the fittest to survive at any cost. sitting in dhaka right now with tall unsteady looking sky scrapers, cars honking past bicycles and a sabzi wallah near my doorstep, this painting struck a deep and immediate chord in me. i specially love the two gossiping women on the top right hand corner -- that's me right there i wish there were more details on AS from this painting. its simply gorgeous.

did you paint this with any particular city in mind? the caption says its with the V&A trustees. has the V&A ever exhibited it?

(arnab da and the team, excellent job on the presentation!)

-shahpar

[gulamsheikh]