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Nomad and Sedentary

Theories of Cultural nomadism take


their first ideational form in the late
post-modernist phase when the
invention of the internet presented
itself as an opportunity for a new
paradigm in knowledge distribution.
it was looked at as a technology that
would greatly influence the speed of
information-gathering and indeed
transform human communication.
Since then, the internet has been
appropriated by and subjected to vast
commercial exploitation: Cultural
Nomadism as a lifestyle is advocated
by those technicist corporations who
stand to gain the most by monetising
a set of human needs. This cultural
phenomenon situation has been
nowhere critiqued so forcefully as
from the Structuralist standpoint, and
from within sociology and an already
well-developed sense of technicism's
negative impact on Humanism.

This intended exhibition by three


local artists is based on close stylistic
and theoretical standpoints of each
artists practice. Karachi offers a high
level of visual and emotive
experience. Each artist as attempted
to translate his or her lived
experience to state ideas that range
from the ethnographic, to the
philosophical.
Karachi 2016

PMR: Being a nomad with strong cultural


links to both West And East, a situation
that I share with the other artists
working with this theme, I station myself
for now, as a sedentary in Karachi. To
quote from The Manifesto of Nomadism:
"The bore holes in plain sight...". I take
this opportunity to sink through
stratifications and hierarchies to reach a
particular source: Pythagorean principles
of geometric proportion and music, and
Aristotle's theory of presence and
absence of properties of matter and
substance, the ideational foundations
which are said to underlie philosophical
notions of identity and difference. This
allows for a close attention to and
exploration of considerations of colour,
form and temporality. The result is a
series of works that are visually musical
in the repetition of elements.
DIVE
Mixed media on canvas and wood
70cms x 225cms

Paul-Mehdi Rizvi has an academic


background in Medicine, Business
Administration (Information technology)
Web Design and a BTEC in Audio-Visual
Design. These qualifications and a skillset
that ranges from Fine Art to the Digital
Domain, have collectively helped him
work at professional levels in The UK as
well as Pakistan, as a Creative Head in
Advertising and as a Producer-Director in
Film and Television. Since deciding to
become a practicing artist, he has
indulged his tendency for auto-didactism,
and has been reading extensively in Art,
as well as Philosophy, Psychiatry and
Sociology with a focus on their
relationships to Aesthetics. As such he
now feels himself better informed and
enabled to continue working within
Contemporary Art at advanced levels.
He has exhibited successfully in Pakistan
since 2003, having displayed work in
independent group shows and at the
Alliance Francaise, with a solo show at
Artchowk gallery in 2012. A number of
group shows have followed since.

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