Opening Success!

Photos from the widely attended opening of Gendering Detail on Friday, May 5th. The exhibition continues to run at Art Square Gallery until the end of this month.









Huge thanks are in order to four outstanding artists: Amna Amir, Sehr Jalal, Tazeen Qayyum and Talha Rathore; to Ali Khan, director of the South Asian Gallery of Art; and to Juni Birol, director of the Art Square Gallery.

Gearing up for the Grand Opening

Just a few finishing touches (like moving chairs in order to accommodate the legions of visitors) and we are ready to open.

Talha and Sehr have both travelled to Toronto and will be at the opening along with Tazeen. In lieu of Amna's presence (living in Dubai), we have put up some detailed descriptions of her paintings that will answer a lot of questions that might arise from viewers.

As you can see, the colors in the work alongside those orange projecting walls just make the whole gallery resonate. Just perfect for making the argument that the "miniature" is about the most dynamic type of contemporary art being produced in North America today.

We have put out magnifying glasses to underscore the "detail" element of Gendering Detail - again it was a bit of a risk, I don't want to fetishize the cultural implications of this work (and the magnifying glass can have so many negative connotations), but as I see people walk through the gallery who are unfamiliar with this technique, they pick up the mag. glasses and really devote the kind of attention that this work demands. In the context of a typical western canon of contemporary art, that kind of focused attention does not usually come naturally. So in that sense, the mag. glasses work. We'll see what kind of feedback we receive this evening...

6-8pm - Art Square Gallery (334 Dundas W.) - Hope to see everyone there!

The installation begins!

Over at Art Square Gallery (334 Dundas W.) today, Juni Birol (gallery director), his staff and I installed about 90% of Gendering Detail.

At the end of it all, we took a step back and were blown away by what we saw - the work is so strong, the colors so vibrant, the technical qualities so sharp - it really looks fantastic.

I was so glad with the final color that Juni chose for the two projecting walls, they contribute to the space's intimate feel while also further brightening the space. Given the entomological display vocabulary that is a significant part of Tazeen's work, we decided to arrange her pieces in a non-linear fashion, so that the composition of the works themselves referenced the museum display sequence. It worked out beautifully - enhanced by the fact that they are framed within glossy shadow boxes.

Talha is driving from New York on Thursday and Sehr is flying in on Friday for the reception on May 5th.

Now things are getting really exciting.....!!

Important packages from Dubai

Talha Rathore, Tazeen Qayyum and Sehr Jalal will all be at the opening of Gendering Detail next Friday, May 5th at Art Square - ready to talk about their new work and get a taste of the Torontonian collecting scene.

Unfortunately Amna Amir is unable to make the trip from Dubai, but I'm pleased to report that her paintings have arrived and look incredible! Because of the way in which they combine figural subject matter with abstract and haunting overtones, they really help to pull the entire show together, providing important visual threads between all of the paintings/collages. See example below:


I have also been discussing the cafe display with Tazeen that will briefly outline the making of a miniature painting. There are some lines here that we don't want to cross - the fetishization of an "eastern" technique, for instance, is definitely what we need to avoid. Yet, I can't help but feel that an introduction to this technique, in this context, will make people aware of its local presence in the diaspora as well as encourage visitors to "see" this finely detailed work as part of a contemporary canon.

All works are in, all posters and cards are printed - in just four short days, the installation begins!

Just a reminder...

Gendering Detail
Contemporary Miniature Painting by:
Talha Rathore, Tazeen Qayyum, Sehr Jalal, Amna Amir
Curator by Kristy Phillips (ABD), Independent Scholar

Art Square Gallery, Toronto, Ontario Canada
May 5-28, 2006

South Asian Gallery of Art, Burlington, Ontario Canada
July 1-31, 2006


In the West, “the detail” is historically relegated to the domain of the decorative and unimportant and to the interior domestic sphere of the feminine. In contrast, the colossal exterior is an overwhelming and potent entity associated with the domain of men. Given these obstacles to appreciating “the detail” in Western traditions, how does it assume a triumphal position in the contemporary paintings of Amna Amir, Sehr Jalal, Tazeen Qayyum and Talha Rathore, four women artists trained in the miniature technique?

In fact, it is within their very struggle with preconceived notions of artistic intricacies that the established structures of contemporary art have been shaken, and cleared a space for new artistic vocabularies. While the history of miniature painting in South Asia has ensured an easy acceptance of its form in the East, each artist, now living and presenting her work in the diaspora, has had to negotiate the reception of the “detail” in a Western environment. Gendering Detail presents work that speaks to this displacement of artistic technique, as well as physical being, and responds provocatively to this suturing of cultures, of gendered domains, and of modes of viewing.


For further details contact Kristy Phillips: phil8632@umn.edu

Harder than it looks: notes on technique

In addition to featuring the paintings/collages/printing by these four artists, Gendering Detail will also include a section of the gallery devoted to the technique of miniature painting.

Talha, Tazeen, Amna and Sehr were all trained at the National School of Arts in Lahore, Pakistan - the only school in the world that teaches the technique of miniature painting as it was practiced at its height in 16th-century Persia and South Asia. Although all of their work explores highly contemporary issues of femininity, displacement, and cultural "othering," they all adhere in varying ways to these old traditions. This way, our Western ideas about "tradition" somehow being antithetical to the development of contemporary art are completely unended.

Highlights of the technical process of making a miniature include the making of paintbrushes with the hair from a squirrel's tail. In the course of their studies, each women had to catch and kill a squirrel (sometimes done by others!) in order to select the proper hair which comes from a particular part of the tail and can only be found on squirrels of a particular age. Tazeen has an extra one of these tails that she is including in the exhibition.

More details on technique to come tomorrow.....

Exhibition details plus associated events...

Gendering Detail: Exhibition of Contemporary Miniature Paintings

By Talha Rathore, Tazeen Qayyum, Sehr Jalal and Amna Amir

May 1-28, 2006

Art Square Gallery, 334 Dundas Street West, Toronto

Mon-Fri: 10-9 pm, Sat-Sun: 10-5 pm

Opening reception: Friday May 5, 2006 from 6-8 pm

Chief Guest: Haroon Siddiqui, Editor Emeritus of the Toronto Star and recipient of Order of Canada

South Asian Gallery of Art (SAGA) in partnership with Art Square Gallery and Centre A: Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art, is pleased to present for the first time in Canada works of four international contemporary miniature artists. The exhibition titled Gendering Detail, curated by Kristy Phillips, features the intricate brushwork and creative expressions of Talha Rathore (New York), Tazeen Qayyum (Toronto), Sehr Jalal (Boston) and Amna Amir (Dubai). Each artist has received training in the traditional techniques of miniature painting from the National College of Arts (NCA) in Lahore, Pakistan, but they produce work that speaks to the current era. They employ the evocative nature of the detail as an instrument to explore their contemporary space as women in South Asia and other parts of the world, in Islam, and as political and sensual beings. The viewer, rendered giant by the minutiae of the work, is forced to revisit the act of viewing miniature paintings in the 16^th century as an intimate encounter of physical investigation, to scrutinize the complexity of brushwork and ultimately admire the devil in the detail.

From July 1-31 the show will travel to Burlington, Ontario where it will be exhibited at SAGA's new location in Artists Walk at Village Square. From November 4-December 16, Gendering Detail will be exhibited at Centre A: Vancouver International Centre for Contemporary Asian Art. This show is sponsored by Inforica and DAWN Canadian Labels.

ADJUNCT PROGRAMS WITH SAVAC [South Asian Visual Arts Collective]:

Saturday, May 6, 2006, 8:00 pm

Premiere Performance: The Flowering Tree, Conceived, Choreographed and Performed by Gitanjali Kolanad

Robert Gill Theatre, 214 College Street (St. George entrance)

Tickets: $15 at the door, for advance tickets please call Box Office: 416.978.7986

Sunday, May 7, 2006, 2:00 pm

Matinee Performance: The Flowering Tree, Conceived, Choreographed and Performed by Gitanjali Kolanad

Robert Gill Theatre, 214 College Street (St. George entrance)

Tickets: $10 at the door, for advance tickets please call Box Office: 416.978.7986

Sunday, May 7, 2006, 3:30 pm

Panel Discussion: Transforming the Guru

Robert Gill Theatre, 214 College Street (St. George entrance), Free Admission

Panelists include dancers/choreographers Ananya Chatterjea and Gitanjali Kolanad and visual artists Ambreen Butt and Talha Rathore who as a result of their gendered experience create work, which often moves outside tradition. The panelists will speak about their own practice and engage in a dialogue across disciplines with moderator Dr. Gillian McCann.

Transforming the Guru is a panel discussion that explores the influence of feminism on the male dominated guru Parampara of South Asian dance and miniature painting.