IMRAN QURESHI (B. 1972)

Imran Qureshi is a significant figure in the Neo-Miniaturist movement in Lahore. His work is a marriage between traditional motifs and methods and elements of contemporary abstract painting. He re-works and re-imagines Mughal miniature painting styles to depict flora and fauna in large-scale works on paper, canvases and site-specific installations. Qureshi employs similar techniques in his paintings, usually employing the colour red. These monochromatic works represent a social commentary on life and death: the delicate and beautiful floral designs represent life, hope and beauty, and the red acrylic paint (that appears like blood at first glance) evokes death. The intentional splattering and literal dripping of red paint is meant to represent bleeding wounds on his canvases.
Conflict is a central theme, be it of identities, territories or ideologies. Qureshi’s red foliage paintings have become a signature within his oeuvre. His work is soft but deliberate, which captures in its own way, a subtle and universal violence.
The year 2013, marked a shift in Qureshi’s practice, as he was commissioned to create a site-specific work at the Roof Garden of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and was also recognised as the Deutsche Bank Artist of the Year. Later, he went on to have a major solo exhibition at the Deutsche Bank Kunsthalle, Berlin. Ever since, Qureshi has garnered increasing international recognition, with many viewers able to relate to his central themes.