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.