Imran Qureshi

This summer we present a major exhibition by the highly acclaimed artist Imran Qureshi across our two venues plus a site-specific commission for Truro Cathedral, making this arguably Qureshi’s most ambitious UK exhibition to date.

See How the Dark of Night is Red, showing at both Newlyn Art Gallery and The Exchange, offers visitors deeper insight into Qureshi’s work.

NEWLYN ART GALLERY

The exhibition at Newlyn is quiet and reflective, presenting new and existing works, many on paper, reflecting Qureshi’s mastery of the processes and devices of Muhgal Miniature painting, but also the confidence with which he subverts them.

THE EXCHANGE

For the single large gallery space at The Exchange, Qureshi has devised an installation where, characteristically, painted imagery spills from large canvases, across wall and floors.

To mark the exhibition, Qureshi was commissioned to create a temporary work for Truro Cathedral, After which I am no more I, and you are no more you. It was presented there until 15 July, after which a billboard-sized image of the commission will be displayed on the Ramp Wall at The Exchange, alongside film documentation of its installation.

Showing across our two venues.

Follow the exhibition on social media using #ImranQureshi

Imran Qureshi’s work draws on the processes and iconography of Mughal miniature painting, a tradition which dates back over 400 years, and combines these with contemporary installation techniques.The resulting work ranges in scale from intricate paintings on wasli paper, a type of handmade paper specifically for painting miniatures, to towering, sculptural installations.

In recent years Qureshi has attracted international acclaim for his eloquent responses to some of the challenging and troubling issues of our age, and his firsthand experiences of terrorist acts in his home country of Pakistan. In spite of the horror of these acts, Qureshi’s work reflects a faith in a common humanity.

The exhibition at The Exchange features two new installations in a subtly lit environment. In the first area, Qureshi has created See How the Dark of Night is Red, a series of paintings that begin on canvas and continue onto the walls and floor. At the rear of the gallery, with a team of volunteers he created And They Still Seek the Traces of Blood, a sister piece to his Truro Cathedral installation. 15,000 sheets of A1-sized printed paper have been scrunched and thrown into an arc. The images on the sheets are of his floor paintings made in Bradford as part of the 14-18 Now, First World War centenary art commissions. We also present two individual paintings, Blessings upon the Land of My Love, 2016, and Midnight Garden, 2016, both acrylic on canvas.

The exhibition at Newlyn begins in the lower gallery with Breathing, a looped projection of gold leaf, a material that is used often in his paintings. The upper gallery is dominated by a 9 metre long vitrine presenting The True Path, a concertinaed book in which Qureshi uses a sequence of dots to guide you through a journey that negotiates its way through an earthly terrain of life’s physical and spiritual challenges.

Red pigments dominate much of Qureshi’s work, whether they are small and intricate paintings, as presented in the upper gallery at Newlyn, or larger canvases, floor paintings and enormous paper installations, as presented at The Exchange.

Qureshi grew up in Hyderabad and lives in Lahore, Pakistan.