Lubna Agha
Lubna Agha (May 2, 1949 - May 6, 2012) was an American artist. She was of Pakistani descent and lived in Brookline, Massachusetts.[1]
Her art invokes a dialogue between the modern-abstract and traditional forms and practices of Islamic paintings. Her work taps on visual images once a part of daily life but now a part of history—from places as geographically disparate as South Asia and North Africa. She painted mainly on canvas and wood, applying an infinite number of painted pixels and organic shapes that evoke mosaic tiling, intricate carvings, and ornate metalwork.
Her work has been exhibited in art museums and galleries in Pakistan and the United States, as well as Britain, Japan, Jordan, and Switzerland.
Her paintings are part of the permanent collections at the Asian Collection at Bradford Museum, UK, National Council of the Arts, Pakistan, and the Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts, Jordan.
The Karachi School of Arts dedicated an Art Gallery to her name. The Lubna Agha Art Gallery was inaugurated with a showing of her work and a memorial lecture in March, 2016. [2]
A book about the artist by Marcella Nessom Sirhandi entitled Lubna Agha: Points of Reference was published by The Foundation of Museum of Modern Art, Pakistan in 2007.[3]
Agha died of complications from gallbladder cancer at her home in Brookline, MA on May 6, 2012.
Individual exhibitions
- 2016 Inaugural Exhibition: Lubna Agha Art Gallery, Karachi School of Arts, Karachi, Pakistan
- 2016 "A Path All My Own" - Retrospective Exhibition: VM Art Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
- 2012 Points of Reference: Paintings Cite Islamic Visual Legacy: Gardiner Art Gallery, Stillwater, OK
- 2007 International Visions Gallery, Washington DC
- 2001 Chawkandi Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
- 1996 Chawkandi Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
- 1991 Himovitz Solomon Gallery, Sacramento, California
- 1987 Indus Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
- 1985 Djurovich Gallery, Sacramento, California
- 1983 Rara Avis, Sacramento, California
- 1981 Alta Galleries, Sacramento, California
- 1981 Stuart/Scott Gallery, Fair Oaks, California
- 1980 Indus Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
- 1976 Contemporary Art Gallery, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
- 1975 Pakistan Art Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan
- 1973 Indus Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
- 1972 Contemporary Art Gallery, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
- 1971 Arts Council of Pakistan, Karachi, Pakistan
- 1969 Pakistan American Cultural Centre, Karachi, Pakistan
References
- Contemporary Painting in Pakistan by Dr. Marcella Nessom Sirhandi
- Painters of Pakistan by Amjad Ali
- Image and Identity: 50 Years of Painting and Sculpture in Pakistan by Akbar Naqvi
- Unveiling the Veiled by Salima Hashmi
- Painting in Pakistan by Ejazul Hasan