London, Aicon Gallery, Lahore Lovelies; Talha Rathore and Hasnat Mehmood, 15 July 2007
Catalogue Essay
Talha Rathore incorporates the language of traditional Basholi, Guler and Kishangarh schools of miniature painting in her work and utilizes its techniques and iconography to create startlingly unique and contemporary works. Rathore's works reflect issues of identity, displacment and womanhood. A recent Pakistani immigrant now based in New York, Rathore uses the painstaking technique of traditional miniatures to express their feelings on life in one of the world's most industralized and contemporary cities, New York. Literally rooting this series of works in the grid-like topography of Manhattan, she uses an actual subway map as the "canvas" for her paintings.
In the present work, Rathore undertakes expeditions both real and imagined, to probe through layers of personal experiences and encounters. Having being trained and taught in the ancient Pakistani tradition of miniature painting, Rathore submits to the sensuous tactile quality of the wasli surface and the seduction of warm tonal colours. The characteristics of Rathore’s works refer to organic structures and botanical forms, mutating and multiplying in various shapes and sizes, at once mysterious and occasionally disturbing. (Taken from www.artdaily.com)