User:Hormuz Irani/sandbox

Amin Gulgee (b. 1965, Karachi, Pakistan) is a Pakistani visual artist and curator. His artistic practices engages with sculpture, installation, and performance. Throughout his trajectory as a sculptor, his primary materials have remained copper and bronze. His father was the renowned modernist Gulgee.[1] Amin Gulgee currently lives and works in Karachi.

Education:

Gulgee received a BA in Art History and Economics from Yale University, USA in 1987 and won the A. Conger Goodyear Fine Arts Award for his senior thesis on Mughal gardens.[2] [3]

Early work:

Whilst doing his second major in Art History at Yale University, Gulgee was drawn into artistic practice, in spite of having a specific intention not to be an artist.[4] [5] The process of writing his thesis on Mughal gardens – which led to conversations with Oleg Grabar, his secondary thesis advisor – ignited his interest in Islamic art.[6] [7] He was attracted to the principles of repetition, symmetry, and geometric pattern.[8]

His first body of work was created whilst living in New York, and manifested itself as jewellery. Nina Hyde, Washington Post Fashion Editor at the time described it as such: “His jewellery is made from elements rarely worn by the wealthy women of Pakistan, who prefer gold and precious stones… even when he uses such unlikely materials as cowbells, nails and washers in his pendants, they rave – and wear them.”[9] These pieces were large and heavy in scale. He showed this collection of work at the Pakistani American Cultural Centre, Karachi, in 1988.[10] He then moved to Karachi in 1989, and immediately started to prepare for his first solo-exhibition at a commercial gallery, the Indus Gallery, run by Ali Imam, which took place in 1990.[11] Not having the adequate finances to purchase his own equipment, Gulgee would work with the panel-beaters and metalworkers from 12am to 4am, when the rates were the lowest. It was in this environment that Gulgee primarily learnt his craft.

At this point in his trajectory, upon returning from almost six years in the United States, Gulgee felt a profound need to engage with the South Asian imagery that he grew up with.[12] His parents, Zaro and Ismail Gulgee, were avid collectors of antiquities, so he was surrounded by statues of Krishna, Buddha, and Ganesh, as well as Islamic metalwork.[13] He appropriated this South Asian religious imagery in copper and bronze, juxtaposing these with calligraphic forms from Quranic text.[14]

Simultaneously, his jewellery became more wearable. Throughout the nineties, Gulgee became involved in the bourgeoning Pakistani fashion scene, which exploded after the military dictatorship of Zia ul-Haq, who had introduced strict Islamic legislation into Pakistan.[15] At this point, fashion was theatrical and experimental, providing a perfect stage for Gulgee’s objects to be performed.

Sculpture:

Copper and bronze are the fundamental medium through which Gulgee’s sculptural forms are created. He does not, “sketch or draw [his] work” in the process, allowing a certain freedom, as described by Islamic art historian Oleg Grabar:

…works by Amin Gulgee bewilder us by the variety of their expressions, by an apparent freedom in technique and design, by the range of pleasures they offer… It is clear that Gulgee is trying to find the limits of a sculptor’s art… he gives pleasure to the senses and excites the mind..[16] [17]

Gulgee’s sculptural practice has spanned over three decades to date. His interest in form has gravitated towards both the organic and geometric.[18] Within the geometric, he engages with the cube and the sphere. In two series of his work, Char Bagh (2003 onwards) and Cosmic Chapati (2011-2013), Gulgee has tried to reconcile the circle/sphere and the square/cube.[19] [20] A Char Bagh is an Islamic garden designed to a quadripartite plan. In a Char Bagh, two lines intersect at a perpendicular, and one is able to draw a circle or a square around the edges. In these sculptures, he juxtaposed the sphere and the cube in quarters. In the Cosmic Chapati series, the round chapatis (South Asian flatbread) are formed by concentric circles of copper wire, creating and dividing the space in the parameters of a cube.

His calligraphic work centres on repetition. Over the years, he has only used two lines from the Quran in a specific script. One of the lines is from the Iqra: “God taught humanity that which it did not know” [Quran reference], in the Naskh script. The other is from the Surah-ar-Rehman: “Which of the favours of God would one deny?”, in the Eastern Kufic script [Quran reference]. In his earlier works, these lines could be read, but later they became deconstructed and illegible.[21] For Gulgee, remaining in these parameters is a fruitful challenge, and form becomes as important as content.[22] In contrast to these more organic series of works, he has repeatedly engaged with the invocation of “Alhamdullilah”, in the Square Kufic script. This is a geometric script which is derived mathematically. These forms are architectonic and linear structures, in which the division of space is numerical. Examples of this include his Algorithm series (2000 onwards).

Since the start of his trajectory, almost on an annual basis, Gulgee revisits self-portraiture in his metalwork, specifically involving masks of his face. Each of these encapsulate the state of the artist in that moment in time. Hands also appear throughout his praxis representing the human capacity for both creation and destruction. For Gulgee, they are his imagined hands, tying into the concept of begreifen explained to him early in his career by German intellectual Dr. Annemarie Schimmel, as “learning through touch”.[23]

Installation:

Responding to the architectural parameters of a space has always been a central tenet of Gulgee’s work. This interest in the architectural can be traced from his art historical thesis on Mughal gardens at Yale. Hanging lunettes of colonial architecture salvaged from junkyards in Karachi, Amin created Purdah, in 2002. The installation was twenty feet in length, and ten feet in height, with sixteen stained glass architectural fragments, covered in a skin of beaten copper and bells. The Urdu word purdah not only means veil, but also refers to a curtain. Being placed on the roof of Gulgee’s residence and gallery, this evokes the sense of the private space in Islamic architecture.

On the second roof of his space, in 2005, Gulgee created another installation that can be viewed from the street, entitled Salaam Gaudi.[24] Utilising earthenware readily available at that time in Karachi, hailing from the villages of Interior Sindh, and covering these forms with a skin of white concrete, mirror and glass, he formed a mosaic wall spanning the rooftop space. He also incorporated recycled glass bottles bought from bottle gali, as well as sulfuric acid bottles used in his copperwork. The rooftop became a liminal space between the colours and craft of Sindh, industrial and chaotic Karachi, and the sea in the distance.

Building on his fascination with Mughal gardens, Gulgee constructed Char Bagh II, shown at Alliance Française, New Delhi, in 2013, part of his solo-exhibition, Through the Looking Glass.[25] This was a nine-foot cubic installation, created by four independent structures, standing on a floor covered by sand. Each of these had mirrored surfaces at the top and bottom, in which copper leaves hung, suspended in space. This quadripartite structuration metamorphosised in Char Bagh III, in which the leaves emerged from mirrored surfaces on the floor, with the central axis demarcated with sand. This took place as part of Open 20 in Venice, 2017, curated by Paolo de Grandis.[26]

In 2018, Gulgee brought his installations ‘7’ and ‘7.7’ to Rome, as part of his 7 series of exhibitions, which also had iterations in Kuala Lumpur and Karachi. ‘7’ was installed in the open courtyard of the Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Roma Capitale, transforming the monastic space into a sculptural char bagh. The pieces comprising this installation were all formed from one Quranic ayah deconstructed into seven parts. Concurrently, Gulgee showed ‘7.7’ at the Mattatoio di Roma. Whilst the component objects were interrelated as part of the same series, the installations themselves were almost antithetical. The darkness of Mattatoio, a former slaughterhouse, was in contrast to the bright outdoor space of the Galleria d’Arte Moderna.[27]

Performance:

As a continuation of his collaboration with the Pakistani fashion scene through his jewellery in the 1990s, Amin Gulgee had the opportunity to conceive and stage his own show in 1999. Alchemy merged performance art, fashion and sculpture within the catwalk format.[28] He followed this with a further show based on the catwalk format, Sola Singhar (2001).[29] In 2004, he stepped away from the catwalk format with a performance he orchestrated, Calculate at Canvas Gallery.[30] Recently graduated artist Seema Nusrat calculated with an abacus made from colonial dolls heads. This began a continuing series of around thirty performance works to date.[31]

In 2013, Gulgee performed Love Marriage in the open-air courtyard at the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture.[32] Artist Saba Iqbal and Gulgee wore geisha-like makeup blurring the lines between masculine and feminine. They devised a wedding ceremony consisting of breaking eggs into each other’s palms, wearing objects created by Gulgee, and using the structure of a traditional South Asian marriage.

In 2014, in the theatre of the Arts Council of Karachi, he staged Where is the Apple, Joshinder?, working with eight musicians, dancers, artists and actors over a period of seven months to choreograph and envision this performance.[33] It took place in his installation Char Bagh, examining gender roles and dynamics, a consistent feature of his performative practice.

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Amin Gulgee created a performance solely for documentation. In Healing II, he had his head ritualistically shaved, whilst wearing metal wings, in the rooftop installation Salaam Gaudi, surrounded by people close to him.[34] This was a continuation of an earlier performative work, The Healing, which took place in 2010.[35] Both works deal with death and resurrection.

In 2021, Gulgee conducted a performance at the gallery of the Cité internationale des arts, Paris. This collaborative performance, This Is Not Your El Dorado, comprised of 18 participants including the artist.[36] It was part of Performative Utopias, curated by Dominique Malaquais and Julie Peghini.[37] All the performances happened simultaneously over a period of seventy-seven minutes, and the audience traversed the five levels of the gallery space.

Public Work:

Given his media of copper and bronze, Amin Gulgee’s works can be installed in the open. Steps (2003) was originally created for his exhibition Char Bagh, and was then placed at the entrance of Parliament House in Islamabad.

Forgotten Text was commissioned in 2004 by national and multinational corporations, at Bilawal roundabout, Karachi. It was a forty-foot high sculpture in copper, glass, computer motherboards, and steel, and its form was comprised by three hieroglyphics from the Indus Valley Civilisation.[38] It mysteriously disappeared – in its entirety – in 2008.

In 2019, Gulgee’s sculpture, Reaching for the Skies, was permanently installed in the rose garden of the United Nations in New York.[39] This work, in bronze, consisting of “grasping” hands, is approximately seven feet high.[40] These are three examples of his more than ten public works.[41]

Curatorial:

Amin Gulgee began his curatorial practice in 2000 with Urban Voices, situated in the main lobby of the former Sheraton Hotel, during Artfest Karachi. This series of exhibitions had four iterations, comprising emerging Pakistani artists, juxtaposed with established ones.[42]

Also in the year 2000, Amin Gulgee and John McCarry established the Amin Gulgee Gallery, an artist-led, non-commercial space in his residence.[43] This was conceived as an experimental space to incubate new ideas, and foster artistic dialogue in Karachi. Every exhibition is accompanied by forms of documentation.[44]

Since its inception, the Amin Gulgee Gallery has hosted over thirteen exhibitions.[45] One example is The 70s: Pakistan’s Radioactive Decade, which took place in 2016. This was an attempt to understand this tumultuous decade of Pakistan’s history, through the prism of cultural production, and included the work of fifty-one artists.[46] This was accompanied by a book, published by Oxford University Press.[47]

In 2017, Amin Gulgee was the Chief Curator of the inaugural Karachi Biennale, Pakistan’s first biennial.[48] The Karachi Biennale 2017 contained the work of 182 Pakistani and international artists, in 12 venues across the metropolis, with the thematic “Witness”.[49]

Since then, Amin Gulgee has continued to venture outside conventional art spaces, curating six public art events.[50] Within his curatorial practice, there is an emphasis on performance and emerging artistic media in the context of Pakistan.[51] [1] Nina Hyde. “The Crystal Gazer: Amin Gulgee's Many-Faceted Creations.” The Washington Post. July 10, 1988. https://www.gulgeeamin.com/1988/07/10/the-crystal-gazar-amin-gulgees-many-faceted-creations-the-washington-post-1988/

[2] Joanna Shaw-Eagle. “Devotion to Art, Faith Merge.” The Washington Times. January 1, 2000. https://www.gulgeeamin.com/2000/01/01/devotion-to-art-faith-merge/

[3] “Prizes and Awards.” Yale Department of the History of Art, 2018. https://arthistory.yale.edu/undergraduate/prizes-and-awards

[4] Amin Gulgee. “A Performative Life”. In Healing II (catalogue). Karachi, 2020, p. 11. https://www.gulgeeamin.com/portfolio/healing-ii-amin-gulgee-amin-gulgee-gallery-karachi-1st-july-2020/

[5] Art Divvy Conversations: Artist Amin Gulgee & Curator Zahra Khan. YouTube, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwBgfPLJosY ,10:22.

[6] Marjorie Hussain. “Enter The Optimist.” Dawn, May 24, 2003.

https://www.gulgeeamin.com/2003/05/24/the-arts-and-islam-the-ismaili-usa-2/

[7] Heart to Art: In Conversation with Amin Gulgee. ArtTV Pakistan, 2018. https://arttvpakistan.tv/heart-to-art-episode-04-inconversation-amin-gulgee/, 7:21.

[8] Amin Gulgee and Eddin Khoo. “Amin Gulgee Interviewed.” In Drawing the Line. Kuala Lumpur: GALERI PETRONAS, 25th November 2008 – 18th January 2009, pp. 33-34. https://www.gulgeeamin.com/portfolio/drawing-the-line/

[9] Nina Hyde. “The Crystal Gazer: Amin Gulgee's Many-Faceted Creations.” The Washington Post. July 10, 1988. https://www.gulgeeamin.com/1988/07/10/the-crystal-gazar-amin-gulgees-many-faceted-creations-the-washington-post-1988/

[10] Umber Khairi. “Art of Stone.” The Herald. April 1, 1988, p. 126.

https://www.gulgeeamin.com/1988/04/01/art-of-stone-herald-dawn-1988/

[11] Marjorie Hussain. “Images of Childhood.” Dawn. January 1, 1990. https://www.gulgeeamin.com/1990/01/01/images-of-childhood-1990/

[12] Marjorie Hussain. “Images of Childhood.” Dawn. January 1, 1990. https://www.gulgeeamin.com/1990/01/01/images-of-childhood-1990/

[13] Marjorie Hussain. “Images of Childhood.” Dawn. January 1, 1990. https://www.gulgeeamin.com/1990/01/01/images-of-childhood-1990/

[14] Marjorie Hussain. “Images of Childhood.” Dawn. January 1, 1990. https://www.gulgeeamin.com/1990/01/01/images-of-childhood-1990/

[15] Amin Gulgee. “A Performative Life”. In Healing II (catalogue). Karachi, 2020, p. 11. https://www.gulgeeamin.com/portfolio/healing-ii-amin-gulgee-amin-gulgee-gallery-karachi-1st-july-2020/

[16] Amin Gulgee. “Looking for the Magic Centre”. Looking for the Magic Centre, 2009, ArtSpace, Dubai, p. 3.

https://www.gulgeeamin.com/portfolio/looking-for-the-magic-centre-catalogue/

[17] Oleg Grabar. “Invitation to New Works of Art”. In Drawing the Line. Kuala Lumpur: GALERI PETRONAS, 25th November 2008 – 18th January 2009, p. 13.

https://www.gulgeeamin.com/portfolio/drawing-the-line/

[18] Heart to Art: In Conversation with Amin Gulgee. ArtTV Pakistan, 2018. https://arttvpakistan.tv/heart-to-art-episode-04-inconversation-amin-gulgee/, 5:15.

[19] Marjorie Hussain. “Enter The Optimist.” Dawn, May 24, 2003.

https://www.gulgeeamin.com/2003/05/24/the-arts-and-islam-the-ismaili-usa-2/

[20] “Search for New Meanings”. Frontline. November 1, 2013.

https://frontline.thehindu.com/arts-and-culture/search-for-new-meanings/article5228821.ece

https://www.gulgeeamin.com/2013/11/01/search-for-new-meanings/

https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Ffrontline.thehindu.com%2Farts-and-culture%2Fsearch-for-new-meanings%2Farticle5228821.ece

[21] Kishwar Rizvi. “Amin Gulgee: The Universal and The Particular”. In Drawing the Line. Kuala Lumpur: GALERI PETRONAS, 25th November 2008 – 18th January 2009, p. 26. https://www.gulgeeamin.com/portfolio/drawing-the-line/

[22] Amin Gulgee and Eddin Khoo. “Amin Gulgee Interviewed.” In Drawing the Line. Kuala Lumpur: GALERI PETRONAS, 25th November 2008 – 18th January 2009, p. 34. https://www.gulgeeamin.com/portfolio/drawing-the-line/ https://www.gulgeeamin.com/portfolio/drawing-the-line/

[23] Amin Gulgee. “A Performative Life”. In Healing II (catalogue). Karachi, 2020, p. 11. https://www.gulgeeamin.com/portfolio/healing-ii-amin-gulgee-amin-gulgee-gallery-karachi-1st-july-2020/

[24] Marjorie Hussain. “Sharp, Shiny and Spectacular”. Dawn: Gallery, August 13, 2005, pp. 4-5. https://www.gulgeeamin.com/2005/08/13/sharp-shiny-and-spectacular-dawn-gallery-public-works/

[25] Through the Looking Glass. New Delhi: Nitanjali Art Gallery/Alliance

Française de Delhi, September 2013. https://www.gulgeeamin.com/portfolio/through-the-looking-glass-catalogue/

[26] “OPEN20, International Exhibition of Sculptures and Installations”. Arte Communications. September 2017. https://www.artecommunications.com/en/news/3760-open20,-international-exhibition-of-sculptures-and-installations.html

[27] 7. Kuala Lumpur: Wei-Ling Gallery, 14th February – 10th March 2018;

Karachi: Amin Gulgee Gallery, 30th March – 7th April 2018; Rome: Museo d’Arte Moderna di Roma Capitale, 31st May – 23rd September 2018; Rome: Mattatoio di Roma, 26th July – 26th August 2018, p. 41. http://www.gulgeeamin.com/portfolio/7-amin-gulgee-galleria-darte-moderna-rome-7-7-mattatoio-rome/

[28]Omar R. Quraishi. “Alchemy at Work”. Dawn: Images. October 8, 2000. https://www.gulgeeamin.com/2000/10/08/alchemy-at-work/

[29] Zürain Imam. “Amin Gulgee's Solo Singhar: I'm Every Woman”. Fashion Scene Magazine. October 13, 2001. https://www.gulgeeamin.com/2001/10/13/in-every-woman/

[30] Amin Gulgee. “A Performative Life”. In Healing II (catalogue). Karachi, 2020, p. 12. https://www.gulgeeamin.com/portfolio/healing-ii-amin-gulgee-amin-gulgee-gallery-karachi-1st-july-2020/

[31] Healing II, p. 98. https://www.gulgeeamin.com/portfolio/healing-ii-amin-gulgee-amin-gulgee-gallery-karachi-1st-july-2020/

[32] Tehmina Qureshi. “Pagan Ritual Opens Band Baja Baraat Show.” The Express Tribune. April 12, 2012.

https://www.gulgeeamin.com/2012/04/12/pagan-ritual-open-band-baja-baraat-show/

[33] Imam, Zürain. “‘Where Is the Apple, Joshinder?’ Shattering Gender Stereotypes.” Nukta Art: Contemporary Art Magazine of Pakistan 9.1. January 9, 2014. https://www.gulgeeamin.com/2014/01/09/where-is-the-apple-joshinder/

[34] Healing II. https://www.gulgeeamin.com/portfolio/healing-2-the-corona-chronicles-video-catalogue/

[35] Amin Gulgee. “A Performative Life”, p. 14. https://www.gulgeeamin.com/portfolio/healing-ii-amin-gulgee-amin-gulgee-gallery-karachi-1st-july-2020/

[36] “Performative Utopias.” Saison Africa 2020, September 2021. https://www.saisonafrica2020.com/en/agenda/performative-utopias

[37] “Afriques: Performative Utopias.” Cité internationale des arts, September 2021. https://www.citedesartsparis.net/en/afriques-performative-utopias

[38] Jamil Khan. “Forgotten Text”. Dawn Magazine. June 13, 2004, p. 5.

https://www.gulgeeamin.com/2004/06/13/forgotten-text-dawn-magazine-public-works/

[39] “Secretary-General's Press Encounter with Prime Minister Imran Khan of Pakistan.” United Nations Secretary General, September 27, 2019. https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/sg/press-encounter/2019-09-27/secretary-generals-press-encounter-prime-minister-imran-khan-of-pakistan

[40] “Public Works.” Amin Gulgee, 2022. https://www.gulgeeamin.com/portfolio/public-work/

[41] “Resumé: Public Works.” Amin Gulgee, 2022. https://www.gulgeeamin.com/about/

[42] Zürain Imam. “Amin Gulgee's Solo Singhar: I'm Every Woman”. Fashion Scene Magazine. October 13, 2001. https://www.gulgeeamin.com/2001/10/13/in-every-woman/

[43] “About Amin Gulgee Gallery”. Amin Gulgee, 2022. https://www.gulgeeamin.com/amin-gulgee-gallery/

[44] “Amin Gulgee Gallery”. Amin Gulgee, 2022. https://www.gulgeeamin.com/amin-gulgee-gallery/

[45] “About Amin Gulgee Gallery”. Amin Gulgee, 2022. https://www.gulgeeamin.com/amin-gulgee-gallery/

[46] Niilofur Farrukh, Amin Gulgee, and John McCarry, eds. Pakistan's Radioactive Decade: An Informal Cultural History of the 1970s. Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2019.

[47] Niilofur Farrukh, Amin Gulgee, and John McCarry, eds. Pakistan's Radioactive Decade: An Informal Cultural History of the 1970s. Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2019.

[48] “KB17 - Karachi Biennale 2017.” Universes in Universe, 2017. https://universes.art/en/karachi-biennale/2017

[49] “2017 Karachi Biennale Curatorial.” KB17 Curatorial, 2017. https://kbcuratorial.com/curatorial

[50] “Resumé: Curatorial”. Amin Gulgee, 2022. https://www.gulgeeamin.com/about/

[51] Veera Rustomji. “In Conversation with Amin Gulgee”. Washed Upon the Shore. Karachi: Canvas Gallery, December – February 2016, p. 50. http://www.gulgeeamin.com/portfolio/washed-upon-the-shore-catalogue/