HAVE I EVER OPPOSED YOU?

Waseem Ahmed

ABOUT

Waseem Ahmed, Ambreen Butt, Abir Karmakar, Nalini Malani, Kanishka Raja, Rashid Rana, C.K. Rajan, Aji V.N. 
Faye Fleming and Partner are proud to present an exhibition of 7 emerging artists from India and Pakistan, juxtaposed with the work of an internationally recognised artist from an earlier generation, Nalini Malani. The exhibition is timed to coincide with Malani’s retrospective at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lausanne, and will explore several of the central themes of her work – themes that retain a vital currency in the work of artists from the generation born in the 1960s and 1970s. 
 
 The title of the current exhibition quotes the response of Mahatma Gandhi to the British Governer-General Lord Mountbatten – on the day of the vote for Partition of India – during which Gandhi controversially observed his day of silence. Mountbatten said that he hoped Gandhi would not oppose the Partition and Gandhi wrote his reply on a scrap of paper: "Have I ever opposed you?". 
 
 The inclusion of artists from both India and Pakistan attempts to reflect the impossibility of viewing contemporary art developments in either country in isolation – the visual heterogeneity of India itself, a vast and sweeping country – makes any reduction towards a national common denominator impossible. The shared history of India and Pakistan, tragic and violent in political and human terms, is also a shared history of visual culture. Artists in both countries often reference aspects of the tradition of Persian and Mughal miniature painting and this source of reference and inspiration is clear in the work of C.K. Rajan, Kanishka Raja, Ambreen Butt and Waseem Ahmed.
 
 The selection of works for this exhibition does not have the ambition of representing all the most significant Pakistani and Indian emerging artists. The dialogue we would like to set between Malani’s work and this group of next generation emerging artists from India and Pakistan aims to draw out the issues of displacement, confrontation and opposition, both in terms of politics and sexuality, that face South Asia (and the world at large) with ever-increasing urgency.

IMAGES

Have I Ever Opposed You? at Gowen Contemporary
Installation View, Have I Ever Opposed You?, Faye & Flemming, Geneva, CH, 2010. 

Have I Ever Opposed You? at Gowen Contemporary
Nalini Malani, 'Mutants III' 1996 Fabric dye on milk carton pasted on cloth, 138 x 97 cm. 

Have I Ever Opposed You? at Gowen Contemporary
Abir Karnakar, 'Within The Walls I' 2008 Triptych, Oil on canvas Each panel 183 x 122, total dimensions 183 x 366 cm


Have I Ever Opposed You? at Gowen Contemporary
Kanishka Raja, 'Cruise (Green Stripes)', 2008, Oil on canvas, 152 x 213 cm. 


Have I Ever Opposed You? at Gowen Contemporary
Aji V.N., 'Untitled' 2008 Charcoal on coloured paper, framed with UV protection glass, 75 x 175 cm


Have I Ever Opposed You? at Gowen Contemporary
Installation View, Have I Ever Opposed You?, Faye & Flemming, Geneva, CH, 2010. 

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Have I Ever Opposed You? at Gowen Contemporary
Installation View, Have I Ever Opposed You?, Faye & Flemming, Geneva, CH, 2010. 

Have I Ever Opposed You? at Gowen Contemporary
Nalini Malani, 'Mutants III' 1996 Fabric dye on milk carton pasted on cloth, 138 x 97 cm. 

Have I Ever Opposed You? at Gowen Contemporary
Abir Karnakar, 'Within The Walls I' 2008 Triptych, Oil on canvas Each panel 183 x 122, total dimensions 183 x 366 cm


Have I Ever Opposed You? at Gowen Contemporary
Kanishka Raja, 'Cruise (Green Stripes)', 2008, Oil on canvas, 152 x 213 cm. 


Have I Ever Opposed You? at Gowen Contemporary
Aji V.N., 'Untitled' 2008 Charcoal on coloured paper, framed with UV protection glass, 75 x 175 cm


Have I Ever Opposed You? at Gowen Contemporary
Installation View, Have I Ever Opposed You?, Faye & Flemming, Geneva, CH, 2010. 

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Have I Ever Opposed You? at Gowen Contemporary
Installation View, Have I Ever Opposed You?, Faye & Flemming, Geneva, CH, 2010. 

Have I Ever Opposed You? at Gowen Contemporary
Nalini Malani, 'Mutants III' 1996 Fabric dye on milk carton pasted on cloth, 138 x 97 cm. 

Have I Ever Opposed You? at Gowen Contemporary
Abir Karnakar, 'Within The Walls I' 2008 Triptych, Oil on canvas Each panel 183 x 122, total dimensions 183 x 366 cm


Have I Ever Opposed You? at Gowen Contemporary
Kanishka Raja, 'Cruise (Green Stripes)', 2008, Oil on canvas, 152 x 213 cm. 


Have I Ever Opposed You? at Gowen Contemporary
Aji V.N., 'Untitled' 2008 Charcoal on coloured paper, framed with UV protection glass, 75 x 175 cm


Have I Ever Opposed You? at Gowen Contemporary
Installation View, Have I Ever Opposed You?, Faye & Flemming, Geneva, CH, 2010. 

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