Shahzia Sikander, in collaboration with The Fabric Workshop and Museum, The Illustrated Page Series #1, 2005-6. Work on paper (gouache hand painting, gold leaf, and silkscreen pigment). 80x66 inches (framed).
Whilst looking looking through previous shows at Birmingham’s ikon gallery I happend upon the work of Shahzia Sikander. Her work embodies many of the formal characteristics that currently interest me. Sikander was schooled in miniature painting in Pakistan.
I recently found a book of Persian miniatures that had belonged to my Grandmother. The works contained within share many qualities with those of Sikander (who is Pakistani in origin but lives in New York). I can gaze at many of the pieces at length – they are just exquisite. Persian Art was coveted and ripped-off by avant-garde artists in the early twentieth century. Now the contemporary art market is a global one with dealers vying with one another to show the latest sensations from China, India, wherever.
What is significant about creating anything of this nature is that it’s so labor intensive. Every minute detail of every surface has been highly worked. The tradition originates from a time when it was some guy’s only job and purpose in life to create such things. He wouldn’t have had a day job getting in the way. This accounts for why watercolor landscapes are so popular with the amateur artist – they’re quick.
But I think also that it is this very sense of their having been labored upon that explains their appeal. They are artifacts from an opulent and luxurious past that seems at odds with the Ikea world we inhabit today.