Quddus Mirza

Quddus Mirza is a Pakistani art critic, artist and art educator who is based in Lahore. He currently writes in The News, he is the co-author of the Book “50 years of visual arts in Pakistan”, “The Rising Tide” and “Hanging fire”. His writings have been published in national and international newspapers and magazines.

Quddus Mirza was born in 1961. He graduated from National College of Arts Lahore in 1986 and Post graduated from Royal College of Arts London in 1991. He is famous for his writings on Pakistani art. He has curated many national and international exhibition, like, After all, LOVE‟ Flights of Fancy‟,“Beyond Borders”, and “Exotic Bodies”….

Quddus mirza’s work deals with the issues of pictorial investigation. He transmits the meaning of images created by collective consciousness in our society through media. His paintings address the multiplicity of meaning by fusing the five senses of a viewer. Deliberately uses bright colors and paints like a child with more gestural and inlay social and political meanings in it. Division of space and overlapping of brush strokes along with absorbing and exuding the visual history, force us to realize the analogies of realities.

Trained as a visual artist, he has been writing on Pakistani art since a decade in The News, Herald and in ART INDIA.

In his writings, he analyzes the parallel between east and west. He has rejected the term Pakistani art. He said there is no such thing which can be called Pakistani art but its Art from Pakistan. His writings address the issues revolving around art and life. Being an art educator he also questions about problems of art education, role of art galleries and institutions shaping and reshaping the Pakistani art. In his writings he examines the conventional trends of art in Pakistan especially initiated by modern miniaturists who transformed it for foreign curators due to prescribed by the art market in the west.

• Metaphoric Connections
• Noble Savage or the Contempt For Contemporary
• Pakistani Art and its South Asian Identity
• South Asian Art
• Media-Ting Art
• Beyond Many Borders