HAT International Research Fellowships - Rashid Rana

Rashid Rana

Residency at Manchester Metropolitan University

68 Images from my Archive

The followig is an extract from Asian Contemporary Art catlogue, Christie’s, May 2006

Rashid Rana is an artistic chameleon, working fluidly in a multitude of mediums and styles. Trained as a painter, Rana’s early grid works explored the language of minimalism and geometric abstraction. A growing interest in popular culture, art history and language resulted in significant shift in the late nineties. In his early work, found fabrics with repeating floral and animal prints were wittily juxtaposed against photorealistic paintings executed in oil and acrylics. Sourcing subject from popular film, media and art history text books, Rana also introduced textual puns in both English and Urdu to his canvases.
Over the last five years, Rana’s artistic methods have shifted again, moving from analog to digital. His recent forays in performative photographs, videos and compound prints continue to explore similar themes, however the technologies of new medias have enabled Rana to refine his technique. Rather than occupying discrete spaces, oppositional elements are made to function simultaneously in the same visual field.