Truth Of The Matter
Ehsan ul Haq & Iqra Tanveer
March 19 – April 22, 2012
Lahore based Ehsan ul Haq and Iqra Tanveer will exhibit for the first time in the UAE as our inaugural show at Grey Noise, Dubai. The two work independently and have unique methodologies of approaching art making, yet they both tackle similar concerns – intangibility of existence and perceptions of reality.
Ehsan’s body of work embodies sculptural forms that question the content, the making, and the existence of notions that surround objects. Stripping away their histories, their functionality and context he engages the viewer with a new guidebook of perceptions and plays creator to existing objects/meanings. In his work ‘Physical existence of Belief’ Ehsan displays a large and immensely heavy block of concrete in the middle of the gallery, with a metal handle attached to the top. Questions of how and why it was made are just as important as the uncertainty on how it was brought inside in the first place. While the title alludes to the religious symbolism that is automatically derived from its cube shape and circumambulatory nature, Ehsan chooses not to provide answers. His work remains in the realm of questioning logic and deconstructing a belief system that tends to create definitions for a deceptive rationale.
Iqra takes a very lyrical approach with her installation and photographs and tries to render the ephemeral quality of time and space. Her work examines what we believe to be real - a physicality that is only factual in the present, and becomes almost immediately non-existent when it elapses into the past. As our own awareness differs from person to person, the imagined memory perhaps has a different existence, or no existence at all from the one we perceive. With the seemingly slow-motion mystical quality of ‘Paradise of Paradox’, Iqra elaborates on a diaphanous moment where dust particles suspended in air are caught by a beam of light. Taken out of a fleeting moment from an everyday context, this instance is stretched into an ongoing happening. The work subsequently takes on an intensely magical quality and forces the viewer to re-evaluate the seemingly mundane.
Ehsan ul Haq (b. 1983, Lahore) received his BFA degree from School of Visual Arts and Design, Beaconhouse National University in Lahore in 2008. His sculptural Installations and works in situ have been exhibited in Pakistan, India and New York. Ehsan is commissioned to make a new work for the Moscow International Biennale for Young Art opening in July 2012.
Iqra Tanveer (b. 1983, Karachi) received her BFA degree from The Department of Visual Studies at Karachi University in 2007. Working with video, photo and kinetic sculpture Tanveer has participated in shows in Pakistan, India and Italy. She was the recipient of Triangle Trust Residency in Dhaka, Bangladesh and is currently working on her new project, which will be premiered at Moscow International Biennale for Young Art in July 2012.
Both the artists live and work in Lahore, Pakistan.