Produced while he is in a trance-like state, Waqas Khan’s drawings are the result of a painstaking, meticulous and precise process.
Free Admission
Produced while he is in a trance-like state, Waqas Khan’s drawings are the result of a painstaking, meticulous and precise process.
Waqas Khan’s minimalist drawings resemble webs and celestial expanses. Inspired by patterns of biological organic growth and also by the lives and literature of Sufi poets, his work is a meditation on life, togetherness and the universe. His contemplation is made visible in ink on paper and his work invites our contemplation. Using small dashes and minuscule dots, his large-scale, monochromatic works are composed of either red, blue, white or black ink. In a carefully created installation, the visitor is led around the space from small scale drawings, to a large scale floor based work, to new drawings made especially for Manchester.
I DEAL WITH THE SCRIPT OF THE SUFI POETS, THE SUFI SPIRIT OF SYNTHESIS AND DIVERSITY OPENS UP NEW POTENTIAL FOR UNDERSTANDING. FOR ME, SUFISM IS A BEHAVIOUR /MEDITATION WHICH HELPS ME TO CONNECT WITH REST OF THE WORLD.
Khan is based in Lahore and has recently exhibited at Galeri Krinzinger, Vienna, Austria. His works are in the collections of the British Museum, the V & A, the Kiran Nadar Museum of Art and the Devi Foundation, New Delhi, India. Khan is represented by Sabrina Amrani gallery.
INTRICATELY CRAFTED USING MILLIONS OF PEN MARKS, THE LAHORE ARTIST’S EPIC, SHIMMERING DRAWINGS CAPTURE STARS, GALAXIES, MOUNTAINS AND MOONS. HE IS WORTHY OF COMPARISONS WITH ROTHKO AND MONDRIAN
Jonathan Jones, The Guardian, 27 September 2017
Image
Waqas Khan Between the palms V (The Breath of the Compassionate) 2016 (detail)
Courtesy of the artist and Sabrina Amrani