Ethereal Light: The Art of Fluid Expression
The material comes alive on the canvas through the play of light, delicately breaking and traveling through each form and wave crafted by this refined artist. Abstract paintings, often in soft whites or iridescent hues, offer a tactile experience where light takes center stage. As time passes, light transforms the artwork, inviting viewers to witness its shifting essence.
These minimalist pieces create a seamless flow within a space, bringing calm, freedom, and serenity. Acting as windows to an ethereal realm, the light dances across textures, illuminating every corner with its radiant glow. They effortlessly brighten any environment, offering a meditative experience that touches the soul and transforms the surroundings. The interplay of color, form, and light invites a personal dialogue between the artwork and the observer, making each encounter a unique journey.
Ethereal Light: The Art of Fluid Expression
The material comes alive on the canvas through the play of light, delicately breaking and traveling through each form and wave crafted by this refined artist. Abstract paintings, often in soft whites or iridescent hues, offer a tactile experience where light takes center stage. As time passes, light transforms the artwork, inviting viewers to witness its shifting essence.
These minimalist pieces create a seamless flow within a space, bringing calm, freedom, and serenity. Acting as windows to an ethereal realm, the light dances across textures, illuminating every corner with its radiant glow. They effortlessly brighten any environment, offering a meditative experience that touches the soul and transforms the surroundings. The interplay of color, form, and light invites a personal dialogue between the artwork and the observer, making each encounter a unique journey.
Meet The Artist
Sohail Zuberi
Biography & General Practice
Sohail Zuberi is a Karachi-based multidisciplinary artist whose practice critiques urban development, dichotomies, and disparities in Karachi. Utilizing found materials and digital/physical archives accumulated over years, his work offers nuanced reflections on the city's transformations. Zuberi's ongoing research on Karachi's coastal ecologies culminated in two solo shows, "Archaeologies of Tomorrow I and II" (2018 and 2022). He was commissioned for the Karachi Biennale (2017, 2019) and has participated in residencies, workshops, and conferences across South Asia, Europe, and North America. With over two decades of academic experience, Zuberi has taught design, fine art, and photography at the University of Karachi, the Textile Institute of Pakistan, and the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture, where he also headed the Communication Design department. He has guest lectured at Eindhoven Design Academy (The Netherlands) and served as trustee for Vasl Artists' Collective, board member for Pakistan Chowk Cultural Centre, and core team member for Numaish-Karachi. Recent engagements include Ajam Media Collective's residency at Lahore Biennale 2020 and curating the International Public Art Festival (IPAF 2020) in Karachi. Currently, Zuberi leads design and production at Tali, a contemporary craft design brand, while teaching as adjunct faculty at Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture.
City in Flux: The Built Environment, Unseen Lives Karachi, a metropolis in perpetual transformation, is a city in flux. This photographic exploration captures the relentless march of progress, where old and new, elegance and neglect, coexist in uneasy harmony. Through a lens focused on the built environment, this project reveals the unseen lives of Karachi's residents. Balconies, once intimate public-private spaces, now serve as makeshift extensions of cramped homes. Crumbling colonial structures give way to soulless concrete monoliths, erasing historical narratives. Heavy machinery reshapes the urban landscape, a constant reminder of displacement and upheaval. The city's transformation is shaped by power dynamics, where economic interests prioritize profit over people and government policies favor development over preservation.
Site- Specific Project Description
City in Flux: The Built Environment, Unseen Lives, a site-specific installation at Lahore's 400- year-old Shahi Hamam, juxtaposes Karachi's transformative landscape within a historical setting. This deliberate paradox sparks a thought-provoking dialogue between two cities with differing histories, yet shared urban concerns. Shahi Hamam's enduring presence highlights the value of cultural preservation, contrasting with Karachi's rapid urbanisation and cultural erasure. By bringing Karachi's narrative to Lahore, this installation facilitates an intercity conversation, encouraging viewers to contemplate urbanisation's complexities beyond geographical boundaries.
Site- Specific Project Description
City in Flux: The Built Environment, Unseen Lives, a site-specific installation at Lahore's 400- year-old Shahi Hamam, juxtaposes Karachi's transformative landscape within a historical setting. This deliberate paradox sparks a thought-provoking dialogue between two cities with differing histories, yet shared urban concerns. Shahi Hamam's enduring presence highlights the value of cultural preservation, contrasting with Karachi's rapid urbanisation and cultural erasure. By bringing Karachi's narrative to Lahore, this installation facilitates an intercity conversation, encouraging viewers to contemplate urbanisation's complexities beyond geographical boundaries.
The installation leverages Shahi Hamam's unique architecture, utilising the glass floor to display a mosaic of fragmented balconies, facades of apartment buildings – old and new, and exaggerated patterns of construction cranes, evoking Karachi's disorienting landscape. While walking on the glass floor the interventions alternate with the below ground excavations creating a sense of unease
Niches or pishtaqs once used as a shelf to display items, or to hold lamps to illuminate the chamber are used to display images of illegally demolished heritage structures along with debris as archaeological evidence. Debris from demolition sites is also used as a substrate for manually transferred images of demolition sites and crumbling buildings and balconies, underscoring the human cost of urbanisation.
This curatorial approach challenges notions of preservation and progress, fostering empathy for the individuals affected. By situating "City in Flux" within Shahi Hamam, the installation bridges geographical and temporal divides, inviting reflection on the essence of Karachi's identity and the consequences of unchecked development.
This project does not merely document Karachi's transformation but encourages a nuanced exploration of urbanisation's impact on communities. By occupying Shahi Hamam's historic space, "City in Flux" becomes a powerful allegory for the tensions between progress and preservation, resilience and flux. As viewers navigate the installation, they are compelled to consider the value of cultural heritage and the importance of balancing development with preservation, profit with people. Ultimately, the project poses essential questions about the future of our cities and the lives lived within.
This curatorial approach challenges notions of preservation and progress, fostering empathy for the individuals affected. By situating "City in Flux" within Shahi Hamam, the installation bridges geographical and temporal divides, inviting reflection on the essence of Karachi's identity and the consequences of unchecked development.
This project does not merely document Karachi's transformation but encourages a nuanced exploration of urbanisation's impact on communities. By occupying Shahi Hamam's historic space, "City in Flux" becomes a powerful allegory for the tensions between progress and preservation, resilience and flux. As viewers navigate the installation, they are compelled to consider the value of cultural heritage and the importance of balancing development with preservation, profit with people. Ultimately, the project poses essential questions about the future of our cities and the lives lived within.
ArtSoch was launched in 2020; since then, the gallery has become a prominent destination for contemporary art from Pakistan. We consistently open exhibitions, featuring a mix of regional and global academic artists from the South Asian diaspora, working in diverse media; whose practices are dynamic in style , rigorously investigated and grasp gist of our time.
OPENING
ADDRESS
Event: Friday, 4 Oct 24
5:00 Pm to 9:00 Pm
Shahi Hamam, Dehli Gate
Walled City Lahore
OPENING
Event: Friday, 4 Oct 24
5:00 Pm to 9:00 Pm
ADDRESS
Shahi Hamam, Dehli Gate
Walled City Lahore