Incognito
Acrylics on Canvas
21×24 inches
2013
Collection: Mrs. Nasreen Mahmud Kasuri
Countless visuals zip through one’s eyes and minds in daily routine, whether reading newspaper, watching TV or simply travelling on roads, but the abundance of images and the fast lifestyle does not allow one to retain and think about these images. One constantly repeats the process of seeing, ignoring and forgetting images. In fact, human memory now has become more of a digital memory as it has shifted to the computer chip and flash drive of the digital media.
The short-term memory and the life on go are the current themes that Ali Raza explores in his paintings. He plays on the dialectic of physical static-ness of painting hung on the wall and the movement of the viewer. Within one painting, Raza folds and unfolds different layers of disjunctive images with multiplicity of perspectives. While one moves back and forth in front of the painting, the embedded images changes as if following the process of remembering and dis-remembering, which resonates to one’s lifestyle and distractions that one dwells in now-a-days.
Ali Raza was born in 1969, in Lahore, Pakistan. He received his BFA from National College of Arts Lahore, in 1992 where he taught from 1994-1998. Ali moved to USA to pursue his MFA, graduating from University of Minnesota in 2001 with major in Painting and a minor in Art History. He served as an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota from 2002-2004. In 2004, Ali accepted a tenure track position of painting at Appalachian State University, North Carolina. In 2013, after getting tenured as Associate Professor, Ali decided to join School of Visual Arts and Design, Beaconhouse National University, Lahore, as an Associate Professor and Director of MA in Art and Design Studies. Living and working between USA and Pakistan, Ali has displayed extensively nationally and internationally.
Photo Courtesy | Ali Raza