ISMAIL GULGEE (1926-2007)

Ismail Gulgee's calligraphy paintings are abstract interpretations of Arabic script. He began his career as a portrait painter but adapted the energy and gesture of action painting in a Pakistani context after attending an exhibition of the American abstract painter and muralist, Elaine Hamilton in Karachi in 1960. Using virtuoso brushwork to produce large, free-flowing calligraphic abstractions, Gulgee's work captures the rhythm of Sufi mystical dance. His sweeping layers of paint explore the formal qualities of oil paint while referencing elements of Islamic design. "Each part of the canvas is painted with loving care, each brush-stroke is aware of itself, every impression is infused with light, which makes the picture surface vibrate with a transcendental glow. Gulgee, while painting, wants to carry the viewer along by appealing to his emotional and sensual faculties." (I. Hassan, Painting in Pakistan, Lahore, 1991, pp. 119-120)