Rashid Rana
Rashid Rana (born 1968, Lahore; lives and works in Lahore)
2007
Edition 1/5; C-print + DIASEC
H. 95 x W. 135 in. (241.3 x 317.5 cm)
Collection of Pallak Seth
Image courtesy of Gallery Chemould and Chattertjee & Lal Mumbai
2007–2008.
Artist’s edition; C-print + DIASEC
H. 95 x W. 125 in. (241.3 x 317.5 cm).
Image courtesy of Gallery Nature Morte, New Delhi
Today, every image and idea (whether ancient or contemporary and media generated) encompasses its opposite within itself. Thus we live in a state of duality. The perpetual paradox, which reins in the outside world, is a feature for the internal self also. Thus all our moves are made not in one upward direction, but in two opposite ones—simultaneously. This internal conflict, which translates formally into my work through mirror images, symmetry, and the grid/matrix, underlies and pervades nearly every topic I choose to explore.
The works in Hanging Fire come out of this interest in duality and the complexity of transcending the rigid divisions we create in our perception of images. The Dis-Location and Red Carpet series, like much of my recent work, are an attempt to translate the physical, psychological, and temporal aspects of our current epoch into the “idea” of two dimensionality, whether it be represented in the form of painting, photography, video, or sculpture.