Muhammad Zeeshan : deMONSTERate

11 July - 17 August

Muhammad Zeeshan
deMONSTERate
Muhammad Zeeshan

Muhammad Zeeshan (b. 1980, Mirpurkhan, Pakistan) received his BFA in Miniature Painting from the National College of Arts, Lahore, in 2003. Zeeshan lives and works in Lahore and he's currently an Adjunct Faculty at Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture in Karachi, Pakistan. The direction he takes with a particular work is heavily determined by the medium in which he is working; however, motifs which Zeeshan explores are closely tied to the cultural heritage of Pakistan, investigating issues of culture and conflict, asking the viewer to reconsider social norms and the lens through which we perceive others.

Solo exhibitions include (Upcoming) deMONSTERate, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London, UK (2024); Grass don’t grow on my land, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Berlin (2022); Nangeli, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London (2021); Money Provides, Culture Aspires, Sanat initiative, Karachi (2020), No Fight, Be a Donkey, Oart Space, Lahore (2019), Serving with White Gloves, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Berlin (2019); Refreshment at Sanat Initiative, Karachi (2017); Contemporary Istanbul with Kristin Hjellegejrde Gallery (2017); Funkier Than A Mosquito's Twitter, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery (2015); Safar Nama at Canvas Art Gallery, Karachi (2014); Special Siri Series at Aicon Gallery, New York (2011);Recent works of dying miniature, Canvas Art Gallery, Karachi (2010); Abrasive Drawings, Rohtas II, Lahore, Pakistan (2009);Dying Miniature, Green Cardamom, London, UK (2008); What Lies Beneath, Jahangir Nicholsen Art Gallery, Mumbai, India (2008); Profane Illuminations, Aicon Gallery, New York, USA (2008); New Work by Muhammad Zeeshan, Chwkandi Art Gallery, New York, USA (2008); Sublime Maladies, Annart Art Gallery, Delhi, India (2007); Beyond Appearences, Canvas Art Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan (2006).
Selected group exhibitions include Beyond the Page: South Asian Miniatures and Britain 1600 - Today, Milton Keynes Gallery, England, UK, touring to The Box Plymouth (2023-2024); Conversations, O Art Space, Pakistan (2024); Nyx, Sanat Initiative, Karachi (2023); The Emperor’s new clothes, Numaishgha, Lahore, Pakistan (2023); The Figure of Sound, Shridharani Gallery, Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi (2023); Creation of Eve, artvoice, online (2023); Figure 23, Curated by Sana Arjumand, Gallery 6, Islamabad, Pakistan (2023); Facing the Sun, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Schloss Görne, Germany (2021); Drawing Room Lisboa, with Krisitn Hjellegjerde Gallery, Berlin & London (2021); Pretty Art For Pretty People, Sanat initiative, Karachi (2020), All the Days and Nights, Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, London (2020); Present Re-Inventions at Grosvenor Gallery, London (2014); Beyond The Page, Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena (2010); Safavid Revisted, British Museum, London, England (2009); Bazghashth, Tradition Method and Modern Practices, Art Gallery of Mississauga, Canada (2009); April ‘Kein Ding’, Acc Galerie Weimar, Germany (2009); Ghost of souza, Aicon Galerie, Weimar, Gallery (2008); Aug unstern sinister, Disastro, Acc Gallery Weimar, Weimar, Germany (2008); Afghanistan: Future, Gemak / Gemeente Museum, Holland (2008) Does size matter II? Jahangir K.S. Nicholson Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, India (2007) Aug dialogue with tradition, National Gallery, Islamabad, Pakistan (2007); Contemporary Arts from Pakistan, Thomas Erben Gallery, New York, USA (2007); From Pakistan to Montmartre, Gallerie Chappe, Paris, France (2007); Lila/Play, Contemporary Miniatures and New Art from South Asia, Melbourne Australia (2006);Reinventing Narratives, La Galerie Mohammed El Fassi, Rabat, Morocco (2005); Contemporary Miniature Paintings From Pakistan, Fukouka Asian Art Museum, Japan (2004); Terror can not be examined by war, Metropolitan Museum Tokyo, Japan (2004); Top of the Pops, National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan (2003).

Highlights and Collections

Muhammad Zeeshan has been the recipient of various awards amongst them being the 2021 Sadeguain: Price of Performance Award; the 2017 Nigaah Curatorial Award, Pakistan; the 2008 Acc Weimar Galerie Scholarship, Germany; the 2007 Charles Wallace-Rangoon Wala Trust Award. Zeeshan has also been granted residencies, most recently in 2024 he completed a residency with Dastaangoi & Bayt AlMamzar. Previously, Zeeshan was awarded with the 2016 Kalakriti Artist in Residency in Hyperabad, India and the 2015 Lares Project, in Finland. Zeeshan’s work can be found in private and public collections worldwide, including Hundal Collection, Chicago; the British Museum, London; the Metropolitan Museum, New York; the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan; Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena, California; the Devi Art Foundation, India and Walton Family Collection, USA; The Bunker Art Space, USA; Easton Capital Collection, USA. Zeeshan is recognised also for his curatorial projects including the ArtFest Karachi in 2024 and the Karachi Biennale in 2019.
deMONSTERate

A bridled horse stands behind a trio of doorways; a tulip grows from a poppy seed; a woman applies lipstick within a window of colour; a hand holds the stem of a plant sprouting two eyes. In his latest series of works, Pakistani artist Muhammad Zeeshan merges traditional miniature painting techniques with bold geometric patterns and symbolic imagery to reflect on themes around artificiality, censorship and freedom of expression. deMONSTERate, his solo exhibition at Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery, Tower Bridge, considers the ways in which human conflict, consumerism and contemporary culture continues to disrupt the natural balance of things.

deMONSTERate is a made-up word playing on and subverting the multiple meanings of ‘demonstrate’ – to show the existence or truth of something, or to take part in protest – to instead evoke the image of a monster consuming something (‘de-monster-ate’). This monster, Zeeshan explains, is humanity, ravenously devouring everything in its path and leaving behind an artificial existence, one which is so far disconnected from nature that we no longer have a sense of what is real. For Zeeshan, this artificiality is often epitomised by contemporary art spaces, particularly art fairs where works are presented to be photogenic and shareable. In other words, the superficial appearance of the art or booth display is valued more highly than the context or symbolism of the work.
At the same time, these spaces still provide artists with a platform to discuss difficult topics and voice dissent. It is that tension that Zeeshan is interested in: the points at which resistance and conformity meet. One painting, for instance, evokes a labyrinthine space with floating walls evoking the impermanent architecture of an art fair booth which has been painted hot pink, supposedly one of the most ‘Instagrammable’ colours. Within this no-place, two delicately painted, translucent images appear suspended like visions from a different world. On the left there is a Bengal tiger, a symbol of strength, power and wilderness, the untamed forces of nature, while on the right a plant sprouting two disembodied eyeballs reference historical depictions of Saint Lucy as a symbol of suffering and resistance. The contrast between these complex and ancient symbolisms and the superficiality of the space is highlighted by a feeling of incoherency or incompleteness: nothing quite fits together.

Another work depicts a horse that appears both too large for the surrounding space and too traditional in style for the contemporary setting and vivid, luminescent hues. The idea of artificiality is further highlighted by the tulip that appears to grow out of the horse’s stomach, sprouting unnaturally from a poppy seed. The same horse appears again as an outsider in another painting, lurking behind a spire-like shape that was inspired by the gates of a museum Zeeshan visited in Germany. Inside this shape there is a woman applying her lipstick. The image comes from the 1963 film Mahanagar (The Big City), which tells the story of a small-town girl who moves to the big city and has to adjust to a different way of life, which is perceived as being more exciting and cosmopolitan but also less connected to nature.

Significantly in all of the paintings we are followed by eyes. We look at the image and it looks back at us. How we are supposed to interpret this gaze is ambiguous – is the horse’s side-eye stare accusatory or searching? – but it has the effect of shifting the focus inwards, of inviting us to contemplate how we perceive and exist in the world and what impact that has on the wider picture.
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Muhammad Zeeshan : deMONSTERate

Muhammad Zeeshan

Muhammad Zeeshan

deMONSTERate

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