Rasheed Araeen
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Rasheed Araeen
Sustaining the movement
By Niilofur Farrukh
In August 2007, BP British Art Display 1500-2007 at the Tate Britain which includes the work of Rasheed Araeen will come to an end after completing a four month run. Rasheed’s four minimalist sculptures on display were conceived as early as 1968 in a written proposal since he did not have a studio to make them nor was there a gallery in London that could show this kind of cutting edge art. He did, however, send the concept proposal to the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), London. He did not receive a response from the ICA where it was probably filed away till it became relevant decades later to support Rasheed Araeen’s claim as the first artist in UK to create Minimalist Sculpture.
On a recent visit to Karachi for the Fomma — Art History Resource Centre, where he will be devoting several months every year as its director, he presented a paper which outlined his journey ‘From the ‘Periphery’ to the ‘Centre’ (1953-1974).
In this overview of the chronological development of the idea that led to the minimalist sculpture, he began by tracing Karachi’s art history from the 1950s when the Sketch Club at USIC on Bunder Road (present day MA Jinnah Road) was one of the few places that offered art lessons where he learnt to draw and paint with a talented group.
An innovative thinker, Araeen gave up the realism that was popular at that time to pursue conceptual expression and paintings like ‘Ham Raqs’ were created. The audience was lucky to see the original work as the artist brought it with him to the talk, to share an art that has been crucial to his journey. He elaborated that the painting with its overlapping spirals was a response to an encounter one evening, with children playing with the Hoola Hoop at Frere Hall (Bagh-i-Jinnah), Karachi. He elaborated that this experience left such a strong impression that he felt the need to rush home and capture its movement on paper.
In 1964, Rasheed Araeen moved to London. By this time he had completed over ten works which are still with him and proved important in mapping his evolution in the last five decades.
Rasheed Araeen’s provocative paper raised many questions and I would particularly like to bring into discussion his statement:
“It is not the individualism of an artist but collective energy of the public which produces the dynamism of the journey and sustains its movement.”
In his journey it became evident that his first minimalist sculpture that was created in the 1960s and overtly ‘confronted the hierarchy of compositional sculpture’ of the renowned Anthony Caro, did not get much response at that time. This is not because it was less important then. The reason simply was that the British art establishment was not ready to recognise Araeen, a non-white artist for this independent trajectory.
Not one to accept this biased reality, Rasheed Araeen through his art, curatorial projects and writings for the next 40 years questioned the canon while generating public awareness of the fallout of Eurocentricism and racism on art in UK and post-colonial nations.
He closely worked with the Black Phoenix, an organization of UK citizens of African descent with the same mandate. Among his best remembered public art is one of the billboards installed all over London. They bore a message in Urdu that complimented the white British citizens on their anti-racist and polite interaction of South Asians. This response in predominantly South Asian neighborhoods, where the people could access the message, was one of outrage.
‘The Other Story’, an exhibition curated by him, introduced South Asian and African artists living in Britain for the first time in a mainstream gallery in the heart of London.
The Third Text which Rasheed Araeen founded and continues to edit has been instrumental in debating the concerns of non-western art and art writers in the global art discourse.
The new consciousness that resulted from these initiatives since the 1960s has contributed to the increased acceptability and Rasheed Araeen has been invited to re-write an inclusive history of British Art since the1960s which will officially recognise the contribution of non-white artists in UK.
Rasheed Areen’s directorship of the FOMMA — Art History Resource Centre (AHRC) will be equally significant in widening the discursive space in Pakistan.
He has already committed the support of the archives of The Third Text for the centre and the subscription of a large number of art journals from other countries to make global writings and research available.
AHRC also plans to work with global partners like The Third Text, AICA (International Art Critics Association) AAA (Asian Art Archives) among others to stimulate an interface on shared concerns.
Project Art History Pakistan, the first initiative of AHRC has already brought together the art historians and critics in Karachi to work on the Karachi Module, a two-year undertaking to comprehensively document history from primary sources. In future similar modules will be replicated in other cities.
This research hopes to achieve an unbiased acknowledgment of the role of individuals, institutions and publications in Pakistan’s art history.
Another objective is the professional development of art scholars through this forum for research and dialogue on ideas.
This collaborative project includes art history lecturers from all major art institutions of the city. Their involvement in the project since its inception will facilitate a serious review of the existing art history curricula that does not address art history concerns of Pakistan but remains Eurocentric even after 60 years of the country’s independence.
It is interventions like these that can create a critical mass to transform the intellectual landscape so art can be understood in its socio-historic context and creativity can be valued as a tool of development, so talents like Rasheed Arleen in future can find opportunities at home to develop their scholarship.
AHRC is a modest step in the direction that will help to consolidate our collective energy to sustain the journey of idea in the future within our own environment.
