EXHIBITION: BREAKING DOWN HISTORY

The Lila Heller Gallery was established more than 30 years ago in New York. It is recognised as among the pioneers in promoting creative dialogue between Western artists and those belonging to the Middle East, Central Asia and South East Asia. The gallery recently opened its first branch in Dubai’s Alserkal Avenue and is currently the largest, state-of-the-art gallery in the UAE.

Pakistani artist Rashid Rana was invited to showcase his new works at this venue, and the exhibition titled “Scatter in Time” is yet another feather in his cap. The artist already enjoys an iconic status at home and abroad, and he continues to elicit interest and admiration for his unique approach to image-making.

Having interacted with Rana in the course of a very detailed interview in the recent past, one is well aware of his agile thinking and unconventional approach to art. It may also be of interest to know that he actually has a very mathematical mind, and he concedes that this is reflected in his methodology. The use of grids and the way he breaks down images into their basic blocks and then regroups them again to make new equations reveal this rather uncommon approach to artistry. Indeed, the intent of the imagery is not simply to satisfy an aesthetic impulse, but is often rooted in a social or overtly political idea.

Rashid Rana gives new meaning to iconic paintings from the colonial past

Art lovers familiar with Rana’s practice will recall his large images made of a digital mosaic of pixels. A pixel is the smallest visible unit in a digital photograph and these are manipulated by the artist to create the most amazing visuals. From afar, the image is entirely different to what it appears at close quarters, and often the complete antithesis of the former. One may illustrate this with the example of the image of a Persian carpet in hues of red, which up-close reveals tiny pictures taken at a slaughterhouse, or a soothing landscape which is actually made up of images from garbage dumps. This rather shocking contrast of themes elicits a knee-jerk reaction from the viewer and sets the mind into thinking about the myriad meanings of such a narrative.

At the Lila Heller Gallery, Rashid has given a new twist to his signature style. His quintessential ‘subversion’ of imagery now endeavours to unravel art history, and views history in a new light. He has selected iconic paintings from the colonial past and used their digitised images to break them down and then rearrange the pixels into contemporary images. The new images thus formed are actually visuals representing violent episodes in our recent history. For example Jaques Louis David’s ‘Oath of the Horatii’ ends up as an image of a bomb blast in Quetta, and Louis Gauffier’s ‘Odysseus Recognises Achilles’ emerges as a picture of the massacre of innocent children of the Army Public School in Peshawar. These mural-like images are overwhelming both in terms of their visual impact and ultimate message. The images are centuries apart and in connecting the two, the message seems to be that not only do we still suffer the consequences of our colonial past, but we must also acknowledge that “from the ruins of the past, contemporary turmoil is birthed.” In these troubled and violent times, the message indeed becomes both disturbing and powerful.