- 64
Shezad Dawood
Estimate
30,000 - 50,000 GBP
Log in to view results
bidding is closed
Description
- Shezad Dawood
- The Protector, The Judge, The Majestic
- Neon, tumbleweed with enamelled aluminium plinth
- 163 x 51 x 51 cm. (64 ⅛ x 20 x 20 in.) each
- Executed in 2007
Provenance
Acquired from Paradise Row, London, 2008
Exhibited
London, Paradise Row, Shezad Dawood: If I Should Fall From Grace With God, 23 November 2007 - 20 January 2008
London, Saatchi Gallery, The Empire Strikes Back: Indian Art Today, 29 January - 8 May 2010
Literature
The Empire Strikes Back: Indian Art Today, Jonathan Cape, London, 2010, illustration p. 58-61
Catalogue Note
London based artist Shezad Dawood’s combined Pakistani and British heritage is reflected in his artworks. He produces a critical examination of identity by employing aesthetics from Modern European and Contemporary spheres. His various installations, videos and performance pieces explore and question the notion of ‘being South Asian’. This trio of sculptures leans on the artist’s liberal Islamic upbringing. Each work in the series is made from neon lighting, entangled with tumbleweed, showcased on an enamelled aluminium plinth. The traditional scripts that emanate from the glass vitrines exude an aura of the divine but by using these man made and industrial materials, this message is delivered in an extremely contemporary context.
The Bestower, The Majestic, The Protector, each spell out one of the ’99 names of Allah’ that was showcased at Dawood's inaugural solo show at Paradise Row in London in 2008. According to Islam, all of the objective nouns together describe every aspect of the divine. The names were originally denoted by the eleventh century Sufi mystic, Imam Al Ghazali, and are now embraced by Muslims, yet at the time they were rejected by orthodox clerics for being sacrilegious. Hence the artist’s work is also a comment upon the role of negotiation in religious belief and its transient nature.
The glow of the script is both mystical and transfixing, exemplifying the clinical deftness that is indicative of Dawood's oeuvre. The meandering and shrouding tumbleweed is a reference to the American West and its rise of a new social religion entrenched in patriotism. By merging these cultural symbols Dawood is exploring both Islam and the doctrine of the early American frontier; two ideologies which arose from similarly barren settings. This installation is arresting at first glance but also intricately layered with deeper meaning, another hallmark of Dawood's opus.
The Bestower, The Majestic, The Protector, each spell out one of the ’99 names of Allah’ that was showcased at Dawood's inaugural solo show at Paradise Row in London in 2008. According to Islam, all of the objective nouns together describe every aspect of the divine. The names were originally denoted by the eleventh century Sufi mystic, Imam Al Ghazali, and are now embraced by Muslims, yet at the time they were rejected by orthodox clerics for being sacrilegious. Hence the artist’s work is also a comment upon the role of negotiation in religious belief and its transient nature.
The glow of the script is both mystical and transfixing, exemplifying the clinical deftness that is indicative of Dawood's oeuvre. The meandering and shrouding tumbleweed is a reference to the American West and its rise of a new social religion entrenched in patriotism. By merging these cultural symbols Dawood is exploring both Islam and the doctrine of the early American frontier; two ideologies which arose from similarly barren settings. This installation is arresting at first glance but also intricately layered with deeper meaning, another hallmark of Dawood's opus.
Dawood's internationally recognised practice has garnered critical success and he has several forthcoming exhibitions due to open this year:
Solo Exhibition:
London, Timothy Taylor Gallery, Kalimpong, 16 September – 22 October, 2016
Group Exhibitions:
Tokyo, Mori Art Museum, The Universe and Art, 30 July – 18 October, 2016
Blackpool, The Grundy Gallery, Neon: The Charged Line, 2 September – 23 December, 2016