KARACHI: Imran Mir, an eminent artist and a leading figure of advertising industry, died here on Tuesday after protracted illness. He was 64.

He leaves behind wife and two sons.

He was laid to rest in the Defence Phase I graveyard.

Imran Mir was born in Karachi in 1950. He graduated from the Central Institute of Arts and Crafts in 1971 and obtained his master’s degree in communication design from Ontario College of Art, Toronto, in 1976.

He was one of the founding members of the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture.

Talking to Dawn, art critic Nafisa Rizvi, who has edited a book on Imran Mir, said: “He lived a long time in the US. It was a time when post-modernist painters were influencing the world of art. He was attracted to the likes of Frank Stella. He would frequently visit art galleries. While he was working for Milton Glaser, a top graphic designer, he did not lose his interest in art. This meant he had a plural sensibility and he carried this plurality with him throughout his life. Even when he was in the advertising business, he continued to paint. He had an exhibition in New York, returned to Pakistan and resumed painting. His work might not have been exhibited in mainstream galleries in Pakistan because the size of his artworks was so big that the galleries could not accommodate them. They would ask him why he could not make smaller pieces.

“Imran Mir’s work had a sense of the overlap between design and art. A lot of people said there was too much design in his work but he was able to differentiate between the two in a subtle way. He turned designs into amazing metaphysical statements, into spatial cosmic paintings with vast emptiness. His work was not representational. He always used singular or double objects as if they were planetary objects. His art was playful and profound at the same time. There was a burst of colours in his paintings. Unlike many Pakistani artists, he was never afraid of using colours,” said Ms Rizvi.

Artist Noorjehan Bilgrami said: “Imran Mir was a close friend of mine. We had studied together. His contribution to advertising and art was invaluable. He was a great human being, very giving, loved by everybody who came in contact with him.”

Referring to his death, she said: “It’s a huge loss. He went too early. There are few people like him in his field.”

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2014