The contemporary miniature as an art form enjoys considerable print media coverage but the role of teaching miniature-making is seldom debated upon. The recent Koel exhibition in Karachi, ‘A piece of land’, was significant as it spotlighted Ahsan Jamal who is not just a dedicated miniature practitioner but also a committed educator.
Hailing from Jhang in Punjab, Jamal resides in Karachi and is visiting faculty at Indus Valley School of Art. A 2003 NCA graduate he already has five solo shows to his credit as well as numerous prestigious group participations at home and abroad.
Having evolved a personal style he continues to journey forward as an artist in tandem with his role as a teacher of miniature art. Here, he answers questions related to the teaching exercise and how students relate to it.
As a teacher what do you feel are the important attributes or foundational elements of miniature art which its students must imbibe and on which there can be no compromise?
I believe passion and patience are the key ingredients.
Miniature painting is a very specialised art form and in an environment of fast art, quick fixes, short cuts and gimmickry how do students relate to the rigorous labour-intensive regimen and immense patience and dedication the discipline requires?
To me it is not laborious at all. It might seem so from afar, but when one gets involved in the practice one tends to get lost in it!
The arduous part is learning the techniques, which once learnt turn into enjoyment. That arduousness also transforms into interest when one is keen to learn.
It is said that taking the initial steps to an endeavour are the hardest, after that its smooth sailing. In fact, it has the ability to perpetuate its manifestation in ones works which can be seen as both positive and negative.
As for the gimmickry, all gimmickry is not minimalist, and all minimalist art is not gimmickry. The mental labour involved needs acknowledgment. Art education imparts the awareness to judge this best. But there is no check and balance here, the verification of which is the ‘Emerging talent’ exhibition held every year at the VM Gallery, Karachi.
Many students tend to come forth as imitations of their teachers and a glimpse of the work is enough to tell the institution the student hails from. Students are inclined to idealise their teachers as their role models, hence proving their devotion, but often teachers fail to make them self-sufficient, therefore bringing them forward as self-promotional materials. There may be no right or wrong way in producing art, but when it comes to education there has got to be right way to teach it, with a curriculum which hinders influence and instead nourishes the students’ intrinsic self.
Unlike the West, where new art movements generally evolve as a reaction to, or a rejection of a previous movement, the practitioners of contemporary miniature first master the skills of traditional miniature art and then move beyond. How do you perceive the future of miniature art?
I personally see the mastering of the technique as a kind of riaz. And similar to many practices of this region, it has a meditative quality in it which has a very local aura. Also, the represented cultures, attires, landscapes are also easy to relate to, as compared to a Renaissance work.
Miniature can manifest in many forms, as history, as an aesthetic, as a behaviour and technique. And I feel that after mastering the technique students de-construct it and employ it for various efforts. Also, its rootedness to this region gives us an identity, without which we would be occidental bootlegging. Having freed itself from royal dictatorship, today’s miniature criticises the regime! It has surfaced and sustained itself as one of the few living Oriental traditions.
In its heyday miniature art thrived on royal patronage. How feasible is it to take up the discipline as a full-time profession today? Is the art market strong enough to sustain its practitioners?
The international art market harbours it, but sadly that is not true for our local market. Like our museums house decaying leftovers of traditional miniatures, most of our contemporary miniature also dwells elsewhere.