Modern mythology

Mythology on the one hand and popular imagery on the other have always been sources of inspiration for artists of all types.

What sets each artist apart is how he or she uses them. Muhammad Zeeshan in his show Posternama at Latitude 28, combines Islamic imagery derived from Sufi as well as high artistic traditions with modern laser scoring techniques to create an interesting and fresh series of works. The relationship between the popular, tradition and creativity meld in the crucible of the artist's creative vision The art reflects Zeeshan's training as a miniature artist at National College of Arts, Lahore and also his professional work as a billboard painter.

The result is a poster like work which has a familiar image of a shrine or a Sufi saint that has been burned and reworked through digital transfer and laser burning on paper.

One interesting series is the Ghous Pak. In this series the image of the Hazrat Abdul Qadir Gilani and the shrine dedicated to him have been depicted from various angles largely inspired from as it appears on posters available to the devotees. The multivalent viewpoints which this series explores are within the rubric of the intersection of religious imagination, devotion, passion and artistic reinterpretation. Buraq is a mythical human faced equine creature that is believed to have carried the Prophets, especially Prophet Mohammad on his journeys.

In Indo-Persian art it is often depicted as a winged horse with a helmet wearing face against a green hilly background. In Zeeshan's version the eyes stand out in the visage, bright and expressive. The other animal in his work the Zuljana is the decorated horse that is taken out during the Ashura procession in memory of Imam Hussain's horse, in this case is caparisoned horse is scarred with laser scouring suggesting perhaps a thousand war wounds.