March 24, 2005

A lover of Islamic art history, much of Amin’s art is inspired by Islam. He won the Cogar B. Goodyear Fine Arts Award for his university senior thesis on Islamic gardens. “My interest in Islamic art has been on an intellectual and emotional level,” he states. Many of his sculptures form key phrases such as the first Kalma or even spell out the whole of Surahs such as Surah Rehman, writes T.U. Dawood

Amin Gulgee has always been a master of light and texture. Metal and stone become malleable in his hands as he shapes and harnesses their light-responsive qualities in innovative and creative ways, whether for small, bold pieces of jewellery or for sculptures as high as 40 feet.

Recently, he expanded his art to include soulful paintings and is currently living out his dream of creating a larger than life roof for his Clifton home. However, the real light of his art lies in the artist himself, whose motto in life is “be happy, do good things, think good thoughts and be generous.”

Full of enthusiasm and energy, the six feet tall, 39-year-old devout Sufi denies a “grand plan” to his art, simply declaring that he is letting his instincts and life itself lead him, rather than the other way around.

“I thought I would never be an artist,” he admits. “Are you kidding?” I ask. “My parents did not want me to be one and neither did I. I did economics for four years at Yale and I hate economics. I found it boring. However, I did an internship in my junior year and met all these people who wished they were doing something else, like film making, writing or art, and so after graduating I thought let’s try art and if it doesn’t work out, I can always do a masters. But, art sort of seeped in while I was unaware.”

Despite his official laissez faire attitude towards life, Amin is actually incredibly hard working and disciplined. “Discipline is something I learned from my father. As an artist, you hope to transcend the mediocrity, and I learned from my father you go in every day and give it a shot. There are good days and bad days but you can’t wait for inspiration to hit. You have to go through the bad days,” he explains. “My routine is fixed. Every morning, someone wakes me up and brings me coffee and my day starts. I work until 6 pm daily, and sometimes dream about my work in the night.”

Amin enjoys swimming and reading to relax, but often his work is his greatest source of joy. He loves his work and enjoys the freedom it gives him. “Work can always be an escape when life feels uncomfortable. It is always there for you. Your own little world where anything you desire can happen. If I want a red pot today and if tomorrow I want to destroy it, or change its colour or anything, I can do it because it’s my own magical world.”

He credits his success to luck and persistence, but above all, belief. “I believe in my own work and continuity,” he affirms, but denies that he thinks in terms of success and failure. “I have not thought about success. It’s more important that I’m now doing larger pieces because I can afford them. I never look back.”

What he does pride himself on is his honesty and the integrity of his work, something he says he learned from his very candid mother. “There is a voice inside you that guides you to be true to yourself. To do what you want to do, what’s right,” he explains. “I believe that if the work is done honestly it will communicate and transcend time.”

His favourite artist is his father Gulgee. “He is a genius, beyond the fact that he is my father. The whole universe is in each of his paintings.” he says.

Amin doesn’t even mind the inevitable comparisons. “It’s natural for people to compare me to him. That’s why I originally wanted to be as far away from art as possible,” he admits.

“One thing my father has done, which is remarkable is that he gave me space. I wasn’t created to be the prodigy son to take over his shoes and I am so grateful to him for allowing me to make my own vision.”

Although renowned for his sculpture and jewellery, Amin’s training was actually in painting. “Growing up with my father, I always painted up in the mountains. We would go every summer to a house in Dungha Gali, which is before Nathiagali, a sort of the forgotten gali where we have a home. We would go for three months at a stretch with no TV, radio and just three things to do: walking, reading and painting,” he recalls. “That’s where I would paint. It is so different from creating sculpture. It’s flat, it’s colours. It’s so incredibly different. It feels almost like another side of your brain is operating.”

In the fall, publicly for the first time, Amin exhibited some paintings. “In the summer of 2003, I went back to the mountains for the first time in five years and my father was painting at the same time and I asked for some canvases and picked up the brush again. It was like going back to my childhood where I spent hours watching him paint. That was our father-son bonding where I would learn about colours and mixing and technique. It was strange how everything came back. They say it’s like learning to ride a bicycle, it all came flooding back,” he smiles.

“Although lots of guests came and went that summer, I made four paintings overall, two before they came and two later. The wonderful thing was that I told myself I wouldn’t show the paintings to anyone. Then I put them up eventually on my own walls and had the showing at a gallery,” he adds.

Although all four paintings sold immediately, Amin has not touched the canvas since. The heart of his passion is still sculpture but he is open to all forms of art. “I love sculpture, form and objects. However, everything reinforces everything else. Nothing is separated, whether paintings, jewellery, art performance or sculpture.”

“My parents were very keen that I be anything but an artist because they thought it was a low-paying, difficult life. So, I studied economics as I have said earlier but soon found myself instinctively drawn to art,” he relates. “I began by making small jewellery pieces in New York that I would sell at art jewellery boutiques. They were a little bigger perhaps than what would be wearable and people would display them as objects in their home

Amin’s sculptures range from wearable jewellery to mammoth works of art. However, despite what many people think, the jewellery is not an adjunct to his sculpture but was the origins of it.

“My parents were very keen that I be anything but an artist because they thought it was a low-paying, difficult life. So, I studied economics as I have said earlier but soon found myself instinctively drawn to art,” he relates. “I began by making small jewellery pieces in New York that I would sell at art jewellery boutiques. They were a little bigger perhaps than what would be wearable and people would display them as objects in their home.

“When I moved back to Pakistan, I expanded to sculpture which became larger and larger in size while the jewellery became smaller and more wearable. The styles have also changed. Before, I was influenced by more rugged looks and rock crystals, but everything changes and that’s what keeps it interesting.

What Amin loves about making jewellery is the scale. “I enjoy going from 40 feet to an inch. It’s a way for me to understand detail and I appreciate the fact that it is worn by people and is functional,” he reveals. “It’s sometimes about colour and sometimes not. My last jewellery collection was about colour and was very feminine, very subcontinental.”

A lover of Islamic art history, much of Amin’s art is inspired by Islam. He won the Cogar B. Goodyear Fine Arts Award for his university senior thesis on Islamic gardens. “My interest in Islamic art has been on an intellectual and emotional level,” he states. Many of his sculptures form key phrases such as the first Kalma or even spell out the whole of Surahs such as Surah Rehman.

The Karachiite is a true ambassador for Pakistan as well. He loves his country and proudly boasts of its talented people and wealth of history and opportunities. After graduating from Yale University, he worked for a couple of years in New York City before returning home and has not looked back since.

“Pakistan is an incredible country with such talented people. Karachi in particular has an incredible energy,” he states. “It buzzes and the people here buzz on every level. That’s exciting.”

His current passion is his roof, which is actually layered in two parts and quite a cozy spot for hanging out with friends and spending some quality time alone. “When I first moved back to Pakistan 17 years ago, I lived in KDA up on a roof and I did a huge mosaic upon that roof,” he recalls. “Since I moved to Clifton four years ago and my gallery was made, I have wanted to do the roof. I started to work on the project two years ago but more actively in the last four months. It will be done in about a month as I’ve put everything else on hold until this project is complete.”

Amin puts his heart and soul into any project he undertakes. “Every-thing I do is a labour of love,” he reveals, “I’ve kept my work quite pure that way in that I don’t do one type of work for other people and another type for myself. I only do what I believe in.” He believes in finishing large projects such as his roof without distraction before returning to the more traditional sculpture, paintings and jewellery for which he is renowned for.

“The roof project encompasses all aspects of my art. I have made a mosaic out of bought pieces of clay pottery which I have covered in cement and coloured glass and arranged on the walls,” he explains. “It is very connected to my sculpture but this mosaic is new for me because the objects I am using are new.”

The theme of the mosaic is the ocean near Amin’s home combined with the history of Sindh. “The whole idea is to capture the spirit of Sindh and the feeling of kundan and coral in a separate private place for me where I can entertain people. I am really aware of the fact that we are by the sea and wanted a feeling of coral on the roof,” the artist explains.

“I’m doing it for myself and it’s the last thing for the house of my gallery space. It is a present to myself for all the hard work and exhibitions I have had and participated in these past two years.”

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