October 02, 2017 - January 31, 2019
Imran Mir: Alchemist of Line
Imran Mir was a Karachi based artist whose work brought together aesthetically diverse yet complimentary practices of painting, sculpture, architecture and design into a single oeuvre. This important artist existed on the cusp of modern and contemporary styles.
In line with the Museum’s objective of recognizing important as well as experimental artists the museum exhibited the works of Imran Mir who left a legacy in Karachi through his art as well as his groundbreaking work in design. Mir studied abroad at Ontario College of Art and Design at a time when cosmopolitan and global exposures amongst the creative community in Pakistan was limited. On his return to Pakistan, he immersed himself in the local art scene through mentorship as well as in design practice. He organized twelve exhibitions of art through his lifetime, each of them sequentially titled as Paper on Modern Art 1- 12. These delved into his experimentations with specific themes.
.svg){kind=icon}
The exhibition did not follow a chronological sequence but delineated key themes in his artistic development under titles such as Perfect / Imperfect – a preoccupation of distinction between line and form to arrive at a fresh understanding of both. Other gallery titles included Kinetics, which looked at paintings and sculpture presenting relationships between stillness and movement. Reality and Illusion, the most colourful section, showcased canvases rich in enigmatic symbols, exploring light, shade, perspective and surfaces whereas Chasing the Line went back to basics by displaying work where the line and the dot, ubiquitous in the artist’s practice, were explored.
The exhibition recognised the artist’s pioneering contributions to the field of design by dedicating a whole section to his adoption of new technologies in the field.
The exhibition demonstrated the multifaceted nature of Pakistan’s art history and acknowledged the diverse ways in which Pakistani artists achieve their goals.
