Lubna Agha
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lubna Agha is a South Asian artist at the forefront of modern Islamic and contemporary Asian art.
She has exhibited in art museums and galleries throughout the world - in her homeland, Pakistan, as well as in Britain, Japan, Jordan, Switzerland, and the United States. Revival of miniature paintings and calligraphy characterizes much of modern Asian and Islamic art. However, Agha's latest paintings draw inspiration from Asian and Islamic architecture and from traditional Muslim crafts such as woodcarving, metalworking, and textile production.
She draws from Muslim cultures as geographically disparate as southern Asia and northern Africa. Intricate architectural forms and design motifs suggested by the meditative and ornamental qualities of unique historical handicrafts are evident in her paintings.
Her process is a dialogue with her personal history. She works mainly on canvas and wood, applying thousands of painted pixels and organic shapes that evoke mosaic tiling, intricate carvings, and ornate metalwork. The work is not constrained in the rigid constructions of a traditional Islamic heritage.
Her work is part of the permanent collections at the Asian Collection at Bradford Museum, UK, National Council of the Arts, Pakistan, and the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts, Jordan. As one of the leading South Asian artists and Pakistani women artists, Agha has already earned her place in art history.
Agha lives and works in Brookline, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
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[edit] Publications
Lubna Agha: Points of Reference by Dr. Marcella Nessom Sirhandi
Published by FOMMA, The Foundation of Museum of Modern Art, Pakistan (2007)
ISBN 9698896015 pp 80
"As a practicing artist, Lubna Agha was painting her diaspora years before the term gained currency and acceptance that it now enjoys. A Fomma monograph, ‘Points of Reference’ by Marcella Nesom Sirhandi traces Agha’s aesthetic evolution and progression of her stylistic shifts but it is the soul baring details of her dislocation that bring grip to the volume.
"Lubna Agha’s art was a product of her peculiar situation, a Muslim in a western environment. It manifested influences of a life dominated by career advancement, technological developments in art as well as a deep sensitivity to global politics and its affects on the Muslim population worldwide and in the subcontinent.
"Agha is an artist with tremendous emotive capacity and Marcella Sirhandi captures this with due sensitivity in her monograph. The artist’s absence from the Pakistani art scene is also reason enough to read the volume. It completes an unfinished picture."
- From The Diaspora Syndrome, by Salwat Ali, DAWN, February 10, 2007
[edit] Individual Exhibitions
- 2007 International Visions Gallery, Washington DC (Scheduled April, 2007)
- 2001 Chawkandi Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
- 1996 Chawkandi Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
- 1991 Himovitz Solomon Gallery, Sacramento, California
- 1987 Indus Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
- 1985 Djurovich Gallery, Sacramento, California
- 1983 Rara Avis, Sacramento, California
- 1981 Alta Galleries, Sacramento, California
- 1981 Stuart/Scott Gallery, Fair Oaks, California
- 1980 Indus Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
- 1976 Contemporary Art Gallery, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
- 1975 Pakistan Art Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan
- 1973 Indus Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
- 1972 Contemporary Art Gallery, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
- 1971 Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi, Pakistan
- 1969 Pakistan American Cultural Centre, Karachi, Pakistan
[edit] Selected Group Shows
- 2006 MUQARNAS: South Asian Visual Arts Collective, Niagara Artists’ Centre, St. Catherine's, Canada
- 2006 Infinite Terms of Reference, Bradford Museums Galleries and Heritage, Bradford, UK
- 2006 Huddersfield Art Gallery, Huddersfield, UK
- 2006 Muslim Culture Pillars of Light, Bradford Museums Galleries and Heritage, Bradford, UK
- 2005 Color of Dreams - Invitational, Mass Audoban Gallery, Sharon, Massachusetts, US
- 2005 Sanctuary - Best of Show, Mass Audoban Gallery, Sharon, Massachusetts, US
- 2001 Takhti Project, Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Pakistan. Toronto, Canada
- 2000 Pakistan: Another Vision, Asia House, London, England, Victoria Art Gallery and Hot Bath Gallery, Bath, UK
- 1999 Boston Southend Open Studios
- 1999 Brookline Open Studios, Brookline, US
- 1997 50th Anniversary show - American Center, Karachi
- 1995 Out of Pakistan, Northeastern University, Boston
- 1995 Phoenix Show, Del Paso Galleries, Sacramento, California
- 1995 KVIE Channel 6 (Public Television) Art Auction, Sacramento, California
- 1994 Intelligent Rebellion, 25 Women Artists: Cartright Hall, Bradford, England; Rotterdam City Gallery & Museum; UNESCO, Paris Headquarters; Lester City Gallery & Museum
- 1994 Artists of Pakistan, Pacific Asian Museum, Pasadena, California
- 1989 KVIE, Channel 6 (Public Television) Sacramento, California (Also in 1988, '87, and '86) (Invitational)
- 1987 Anniversary Show, Himovitz Solomon Gallery, Sacramento, CA
- 1986 Art Bridge, City Gallery, Kobe, Japan
- 1986 Art Bridge, Himovitz Solomon Gallery, Sacramento, CA
- 1985 Chan-Elliot Gallery, Sacramento, CA (Invitational)
- 1984 Watercolors, Rara Avis, Sacramento, CA (Invitational)
- 1982 52nd Annual Crocker-Kingsley Exhibition, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA (Juried)
- 1981 Cowtown, Alta Galleries, Sacramento, CA (Invitational)
- 1981 California State University, Sacramento, CA
- 1980 American Centre, Karachi, Pakistan
- 1980 Atelier BM, Karachi Pakistan
- 1980 Indus Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
- 1979 Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi, Pakistan
- 1979 Contemporary Arts Gallery, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
- 1973 Three Non-Depressionists, Arts Council, Pakistan
[edit] References
- Contemporary Painting in Pakistan by Dr. Marcella Nessom Sirhandi
- Painters of Pakistan by Amjad Ali
- Image and Identity: 50 Years of Painting and Sculpture in Pakistan by Akbar Naqvi
- Unveiling the Veiled by Salima Hashmi
- Painting in Pakistan by Ejazul Hasan
[edit] External links
- Works by Lubna Agha
- Shimmering Borders by Shundana Yusaf
- Lubna Agha by Kristine Clairmont
- Infinite Terms of Reference Bradford Museums, UK
- Dawn Excerpts: Different strokes - A monograph capturing the artistic journey of Lubna Agha by Marcella Nesom Sirhandi
