Bringing together a selection of ten artists, The Importance of staying quiet explores the use of formal and informal elements that distil the image or form down to its basics. Works from the presentation span over six decades – 1950s to date – featuring prominent modern to significant contemporary practitioners from Pakistan and its diaspora. The selection is not intended to represent the artists’ signature practice but instead looks at specific works produced by them that contribute towards this dialogue. The importance of staying quiet is presented by Yallay Gallery.
The presence of minimal art from Pakistan is not as well documented and celebrated in comparison to its significance and contribution towards the advancement of critical thought. The formal aspects of minimalism never took root in the Pakistani art discourse, even though there are many examples of works being produced in this vein. The first generation of Pakistani artists were influenced by Western Modernism, which was appropriated both in content and style to give birth to numerous seminal practices that went on to inspire art students and new generations of artists.
However, The importance of staying quiet attempts to give a small homage to the peripheral practice of the minimal, which now seems to have become almost antonymous with art from Pakistan. Not intended as an historical representation or survey, the exhibit merely attempts to look at a section of visual vocabulary being produced through a period of shifting ideologies in Pakistani art.
The artists presented are Anwar Jalal Shemza (1928-1985), Zahoor ul Akhlaq (1941- 1999), Lala Rukh (b. 1948), Rashid Rana (b. 1968), Hamra Abbas (b. 1976), Sara Salman (b. 1978), Ali Kazim (b. 1979), Ayesha Jatoi (b.1979), Fahd Burki (b. 1981) and Iqra Tanveer (b. 1983).
*Image: Rashid Rana, A Plinth from a gallery in Lahore, 2010-2011, Inkjet UV print on aluminum, 36 x 36 x 100cm. Image Credit: Anil Rane /Image Courtesy: Rashid Rana, Chemould Prescott Road and Chatterjee and Lal
