BETWIXT
Shoaib Mahmood
Anant Art Gallery, 2008
Catalogue essay: Latika Gupta
"Located betweixt tradition and (post) modernity, Shoaib Mahmood’s paintings are reflective of issues that confront most South Asian societies today. In the recovery and utilization of a technique and style of painting Shoaib formulates a strategy in art which parallels wider cultural projects in which local roots are asserted even as nations attempt to claim their place on the global platform. In drawing from traditional techniques and cultural referents, Shoaib’s art becomes very relevant in contemporary world art as it engages with international trends on its terms and utilizing its own language that reflects the specificificities of the society from which it is born."
(excerpt from the catalogue essay ‘BETWIXT’ by Latika Gupta)