Important Notice

Rashid Rana’s photomosaic works reflect on notions of dualities and multiple perspectives. He often achieves this by clever juxtaposition, most evident in his photomosaic works where large images, upon closer inspection, reveal themselves to be composed of numerous smaller images. His works are “sometimes even heroic in scale, and they appear from a distance as slightly blurred, low-resolution renditions of banalities: landscapes, film posters... Rashid Rana’s photomosaic works reflect on notions of dualities and multiple perspectives. He often achieves this by clever juxtaposition, most evident in his photomosaic works where large images, upon closer inspection, reveal themselves to be composed of numerous smaller images. His works are “sometimes even heroic in scale, and they appear from a distance as slightly blurred, low-resolution renditions of banalities: landscapes, film posters or press photographs. Drawing near, one realizes that the large and visible ‘pixels’ are themselves smaller photographs, which magically assemble to compose the larger image. To step near, and away, and near again, to see dark and light photographs becoming the pupil or the highlight in somebody’s eye, is to experience marvellous visual complexity.” (Quddus Mirza, Adnan Manani, Kavita Singh et al., Rashid Rana, Mumbai: Chatterjee & Lal and Chemould Prescott Road, 2010, p. 25)

Language IV is a continuation of Rana’s much acclaimed Language series. Here, the artist pieces together an extensive photographic archive of texts found in Lahore’s cityscape - including posters, wall chalking, advertisements, political banners, and outdoor signage - to create a large-scale photomosaic work of art. By using thousands of micro photographs of texts that are mostly Urdu transliterations of English words, Rana comments on the use of language as a reflection of cultural history, and directs the viewer towards the legacy of colonialism in modern cultures.

Read More
Artist Profile
Other works of this artist in: this auction  |  entire site