Miniature 2.0

Focusing on contemporary approaches to miniature painting, the exhibition brings together the works of 14 artists from different countries such as Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Azerbaijan. The artists do not treat miniature solely as a historical object, they emphasize its theoretical potential as a contemporary art form. Using various forms such as sculpture, video, photography, and installation, they bring out miniature from books, where it has resided for centuries, give it a new dimension, and search for ways in which miniature can live in the contemporary world.

Contemporary miniature goes beyond its former context in terms of form and content, and it focuses on issues such as colonialism, orientalism, economic inequality, gender, politics of identity, discrimination, social violence, compulsory migration, and representation. The exhibition emphasizes the artists’ various approaches to traditional miniature, as well as revealing the commonalities between them.

Curated by Azra Tüzünoğlu and Gülce Özkara, the exhibition features work by Hamra Abbas, Rashad Alakbarov, Halil Altındere, Dana Awartani, Fereydoun Ave, CANAN, Noor Ali Chagani, Cansu Çakar, Hayv Kahraman, Imran Qureshi, Nilima Sheikh, Shahpour Pouyan, Shahzia Sikander and Saira Wasim.

 

Top Image

Hayv Kahraman
Nabog, 2014
Keten üzerine yağlı boya I Oil on linen
Each panel: 292.1 x 139.7 x 5.08 cm
Diptych: 292.1  x 279.4 x 110 x 5.08 cm
© Hayv Kahraman. Courtesy of the Artist, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York,
VELMETTER, Los Angeles, and The Third Line, Dubai.

  

Right Hand Images

Halil Altındere
Tesla to the Moon, 2019
Acrylic on canvas (miniature painting technique)
67.5 x 128 cm
Miniature painting artists: Filiz Adıgüzel Toprak, Fatma Akdaş
Courtesy of the artist and Pilot Gallery 

Imran Qureshi
Moderate Enlightenment, 2009
Opaque watercolor and gold leaf on wasli paper
18 x 14 cm
Private collection Courtesy of the Artist

Shahpour Pouyan
After 'Anushirvan, His Ministers and Buzurgmihr in Conversation', 2016
Mixed media on Japanese rice paper
25 x 17 cm
Courtesy of the Artist and Lawrie Shabibi

Saira Wasim
Silent Plea, 2018
Paper-cut, ink, gold leaf and gouache on wasli paper
71.5 x 65 cm
Courtesy of the Artist