رنگ (Rang)

The رنگ (Rang) series of paintings involve pencil drawings of underlying geometric constructions on cotton rag black paper and are painted with gouache.

 رنگ (Rang) pronounced rung, comes from the Urdu for colour, of which this series makes an extensive study in combination with form and texture.

The gird pattern used in this series is one throughout, drafted in pencil, yet is presented with varying emphasis and deconstruction in each painting. The final composition is born of an underlying, sub-divided square grid with a repeat barrel motif and elements extracted from octagonal forms.

The simple yet intriguing structure in the pattern led to a consideration of how our visual engagement can be altered through experimenting with positive and negative spaces, a manipulation of the view. Colour also plays a very large role in our perception of visual forms and therefore the series has become a means to study colour interaction and explore the concept of these variables to create illusions.

The pattern is a point of departure from an initial reference with the site of the Lahore Fort in Pakistan, where the pattern can be found in one form upon the famous exterior Picture Wall. However, the pattern can also be found at the Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain. These locations are often described in an art historical context as being part of the ‘Islamic World’, however, the series contends that the continuity in engagement with such surface design and visual language demonstrates a connection that goes beyond a singular time and place. The exploration through pattern and colour only begins to touch on ideas of wavering on the boundary of both ‘belonging’ and not, in these locations, yet feeling a resonance regardless.