ASIA SOCIETY AND MUSEUM PRESENTS CONVERSATIONS WITH TRADITIONS: NILIMA SHEIKH AND SHAHZIA SIKANDER

NOVEMBER 17, 2001 THROUGH MARCH 3, 2002

Vishakha N. Desai, Senior Vice President of the Asia Society and Director of Asia Society Museum and Cultural Programs, who is also curator of the exhibition, said, “The Asia Society is a leader in presenting contemporary Asian and Asian American art in the United States. For over a decade we have consciously introduced Americans to the dynamic art practices in major urban centers in Asia. We would like to develop a more nuanced understanding of the diverse strands of contemporary Asian art, and are developing a new series of smaller-scale exhibitions of contemporary works by Asian and Asian American artists who create a kind of a dialogue with Asian traditions, which may fall outside of the framework of international artistic language. This exhibition is the first in this series.”

At first glance, the works of Nilima Sheikh and Shahzia Sikander share their starting point with the Indian court painting in the scale, composition, and even use of color. But looking further, a different relationship with both the pre-modern traditions and contemporary art practices emerges in the work of each artist. This complex and dynamic relationship makes the juxtaposition of the works of these two artists not only powerful but revelatory for the exploration of issues of tradition and contemporaneity.

Even their early encounters with the court painting traditions originate in different cultural and personal experiences. Sikander was trained at the National College of Art in Lahore, the only art school in the subcontinent that trains students in the miniature painting tradition in a modernized art school context and gives an undergraduate degree in the subject. The political implications of placing the miniature painting, primarily in the Mughal, or “Islamic,” style, for a new Islamic Republic of Pakistan, cannot be under-estimated. Sheikh, on the other hand, claims that her lineage “engages with tradition and history—a lineage born of pre-Independence Indian nationalism but fostered in the climate of progressive internationalism of the 40s and the 50s.”

Sikander’s training was precise in learning the technique of making a miniature, from preparing the “authentic” wasli paper and creating the right animal hairbrushes and mixing the vegetable dyes for color. Sheikh turned her attention to the miniature painting tradition in her mid-career, after she became a mother, which prompted her to look for more intimate and alternative ways of seeing the world, and she shifted to an intensive study of miniature painting. Her relationship to the pre-modern painting has been more visual than technical. Both artists talk passionately about the way they become completely immersed in the materiality of their work and the meditative quality of working slowly and patiently in the intimate format of a small-scale painting. They also talk about the process of painting, which allows them to enter a world that blocks out the cacophony of the mundane and everyday concerns. ”

Both artists are, in a sense, outside of the mainstream of whatever place they are in. Since 1993, Sikander has been in the U.S. and is very aware of the reception of her work in the context of mainstream contemporary Western art. Her concerns are at once to subvert the simplistic reading of her work as “exotic,” and to create a more personalized narrative that gives voice to her particular situation of being an immigrant. Sheikh, on the other hand, has been in Vadodara (Baroda) in western India, the home of arguably the best art school in the country, for all her student and professional life. Although very much at the heart of the contemporary Indian art scene, she, too, is acutely aware of the relatively singular position she occupies on that stage. There are very few contemporary Indian artists who have developed such a deep and long-standing relationship to the earlier painting traditions, not only of India but also from other parts of Asia. She finds closest affinity with a group of nationalistically oriented artists at the turn of the 20th century in India who sought to forge a new style of painting that could provide an alternative to the Westernized oil painting that was being introduced by the British all over India.

The artists had known of one another but had never met until the Asia Society brought them together in 2000 to discuss a commissioned installation for its renovated headquarters, the new Asia Society and Museum. Their piece, which they are creating as a team, will be unveiled at the time of the opening on November 17. The installation, made of ephemeral, transluscent strips of paper, will cover the wall space from the lobby to the third floor, where the “Conversations” exhibition is mounted, and will remain on long-term loan following the close of the show.

Nilima Sheikh was born in 1945 in New Delhi, India. She lives and works in Vadodara. She received her BA and MFA from the M.S. University of Baroda where she worked under the tutalage of the leading artists K.G. Subramanyan and Gulam Mohammad Sheikh; the latter is her husband. She has exhibited widely in India in solo shows, and has been included in a number of international exhibitions, including the Second Asia Pacific Triennial in Brisbane, Australia (1996), and the first Johannesburg Biennale in 1995. Her work is in the National Gallery of Modern Art of India as well as in a number of public and private collections in England, Australia and India. This is her first major exhibition in the U.S.

Shahzia Sikander was born in Lahore, Pakistan, in 1969, and now lives and works in New York. She received her BFA at the National College of Art in Lahore and her MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. Her solo exhibitions have been organized by the Hirshhorn Museum (Washington, D.C.), the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art (Kansas City), the Renaissance Society (Chicago), the Whitney Museum of American Art, Philip Morris Branch (New York), and at several galleries in New York, Houston, and San Francisco. Her select group exhibitions include the Whitney Biennial (1997), the second Johannesburg Biennale, the third Asia Pacific Triennial, and others in the U.S., Mexico, England and Austria. The exhibition is accompanied by a 68-page catalogue including a thought provoking discussion among the two artists and the curator. The Asia Society is also presenting a number of related public programs in conjunction with the exhibition.

“Conversations with Traditions” is made possible with the generous support of The Rockefeller Foundation. Contemporary art commissions at the Asia Society are made possible by The W.L.S. Spencer Foundation. Support for the Asia Society’s Cultural Programs is provided by the Friends of Asian Arts, Wallace – Reader’s Digest Funds, The Starr Foundation, the Booth Ferris Foundation, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Hazen Polsky Foundation, Inc., and the Harold J. and Ruth Newman Philanthropic Fund.

Other exhibitions opening concurrently on November 17 at the Asia Society and Museum are: “Monks and Merchants: Silk Road Treasures from Northwest China, 4th – 7th Century,” featuring recently excavated artifacts from Gansu and Ningxia, China; and “The Creative Eye: New Perspectives on the Asia Society’s Rockefeller Collection,” in which prominent artists, writers, musicians and performing artists have selected their favorite pieces from the Society’s renowned permanent collection. Also at the time of the opening, eight newly commissioned long-term installations by internationally known and upcoming Asian and Asian American artists, including that of Sheikh and Sikander, will be unveiled.

The Asia Society is America’s leading institution dedicated to fostering understanding of Asia and communication between Americans and the peoples of Asia and the Pacific. A nonprofit, nonpartisan educational institution, the Asia Society presents a wide range of programs including major art exhibitions, performances, media programs, international conferences and lectures, and initiatives to improve elementary and secondary education about Asia. The Asia Society is headquartered in New York City, with regional centers in Washington, D.C., Houston, Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Melbourne, Australia, and representative offices in San Francisco, Manila and Shanghai. For more information, contact the Asia Society, 725 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10021. (212) 288-6400.

Asia Society and Museum Hours: Tuesday – Sunday, 11:00 A.M. – 6:00 P.M., with extended evening hours Fridays until 9:00 P.M. Closed on Mondays and major holidays. Admission: $7; $4 for seniors and students with ID; free for members and persons under 16; and free to all on Fridays, 6:00 – 9:00 P.M

Asia Society Internet Sites and Resources

The Asia Society is a leader in the use of communications technology and the Internet to reach and connect people around the world. The Society's Web sites, which have earned more than a dozen national awards for excellence, include:

www.AsiaSociety.org - provides information about the Society's programs, exhibitions, and permanent collection, as well as general background on the Society.

www.AskAsia.org - is one of the premiere resources for K-12 educators and students interested in Asian and Asian American studies.

www.AsiaSource.org - presents interpretation of breaking news stories, analysis of trends in Asia, guides to Asian visual and performing arts, access to country profiles, and more.

www.AsiaBusinessToday.org - provides knowledgeable, unbiased information on a range of issues including US-Asia trade, technology developments, and global finance.

www.AsiaFood.org - online resource on Asian cuisines featuring two searchable databases of over 500 recipes and glossary terms.

The interconnected sites offer enormous resources of information on Asia, including background and interpretation of breaking news stories, analysis on trends in Asia and guides to Asian visual and performing arts, as well as access to country profiles and experts on all aspects of Asian public affairs, history, and culture. The renovation will enable the Society to use interactive technologies to more effectively promote communication between the peoples of Asia and America.

# # #