[Reader-list] CONFINEMENT by Adeela Suleman, COMMUNE ARTIST COLONY

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CONFINEMENT


Adeela Suleman's Solo Show of sculpture
at
COMMUNE ARTIST COLONY
14th - 19th February, 2007
Opening on Wednesday 14th February at 5:00 PM
please join us

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Raania Azam Khan Durrani
Director,
Commune Artist Colony,
Sadiq Godowns,Miskeen Gali,
Off Old Queens Rd, Karachi
Fax: +92-21-2440279
Phone: +92-21-2440538

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FITTINGS INTO ART
Quddus Mirza

  Normally during a domestic fight, the new function of household
items is discovered. Often the utensils for cooking, storing and
serving food are used for hitting the spouse or to get protection from
the onslaught of one' better (but bitter at that moment!) half.
However these utensils are not widely used as weapons, since these are
picked as the irrefutable argument at the last stage of conflict.
Yet Adeela Suleman, in a peaceful manner, has found some other utility
of these ordinary items, which are in every kitchen and house in this
society. Adeela has a considerable association with these objects,
because in her previous body of works, the pots and pans were
transformed into beautiful and strange pieces, which were part of her
installations that dealt with the idea of appropriating the popular
culture.
It is obvious that Adeela, like many of her contemporaries, is also
assimilating popular urban culture in her art, but her specific
strategy separates her from a number of other 'users'. In fact, more
than the strategy, it is her position – of being an insider – that
saves her from being enticed into the fashion and fantasy of lower
art/culture or turning into a feminist, politically motivated artist
and the exploiter of post modernity. Actually her work, due to its
openness of possibility cannot be classified into one movement or
style. It constitutes an insider's response to the life and art around
him/her.
The two elements, life and art, have been blended in a seamless manner
in her sculptures and installations. In the past, Adeela created works
around the objects that are mainly used by women, and she converted
these into other functional objects – after a long process of altering
their appearance with the help of paint, soft fabric and popular
designs. All of those works retained a link with a woman's view of the
world around her.
The recent work of Suleman seems to be moving beyond the boundaries of
gender, even though it is all about male and female
experiences/physiques. These sculpture pieces, single or combines, are
derived from the fittings in the houses, especially from the
bathrooms. She has selected the drain covers, shower handles, water
pipes and other such things to build works, that – still remaining the
mechanical and industrial products – suggest parts of the body or
other organic forms.
 In this way, the choice of her material – from the bathroom fittings
have an indispensable affinity with the meaning/reading of these art
pieces. As one becomes aware of one's body in no other place, more
than what one experiences inside the walls of a bathroom. During the
shower or a bath, a person comes into (or returns) to his/her
bare/pure self (at least physically) and in most cases has the chance
to view one's own body and to examine it in detail – and from various
angles.
Thus the relationship of the body, the awareness of its presence and
the realization of its sensuous pleasure are associated with the
sanitary fittings within a bathroom. Adeela, in her work, brings out
that connection into an open space and highlights the physicality of
man and woman's body – either as a tool or like a vessel through
combining the simple parts into one organic shape. The shape that may
not be named into a specific organ, but one cannot avoid recalling all
the suggestive/suggested substitutes.
With the current body of work, Adeela has shown a maturity in her
chosen vocabulary, since most elements in these works are not changed
from their initial state. Basically it is the careful placement and
the number of these pieces that has completed their transformation –
into a work of art. A process that every artist aims for (and, which
was best seen in the 'Bull's Head' by Picasso, where the seat and
handle bar of a bicycle were joined, which look like the animal's
head). This work by Pablo Picasso affirmed that instead of manual
labour, it is the idea, which elevates an object into the realm of
art: A concept that is evident in the new works of Adeela Suleman!

Dear friends,
Above is an article for you to read, written by Qudus Mirza (Art
Critic/Artist)on Adeela Suleman, a Karachi based artist who makes
sculptures out of objects. This article is part of the catalogue for
her solo show on  display at the Commune Artist Colony from 14th Feb
to 19 th Feb. The group will meet at the commune to discuss her works
in light with Quddus's appraisal on Suleman.

Read and join us on Monday the 19th, February, 2007 at the Commune.
Time: 6 : 00 pm
Address: Commune Artists Colony, Sadiq Godown, Miskeen Gali, Off Old
Queens Road, Karachi

This is an open invitation, so please forward it to art students,
artists and others interested are welcome


Faisal Siddiqi   siddiqilaw at yahoo.com   Cell: 0333 2327326
Auj Khan         aujkhn at yahoo.com        Cell: 0300 268 1441

The study group is an initiative by Faisal Siddiqi and Auj Khan supported
by VASL. Visit VASL at   www.vaslart.org

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