His startling strokes of calligraphic expression outpace the dynamism of his swiftly executed sketches. His sketches are full of sheer movement, a sensibility which comes perhaps from his days as a photographer. According to Eric Gibson of Art News, New York. "Gulgee’s work is an example of the continuing dialogue between Eastern and Western artistic traditions. The artist is attempting to fuse two traditions: Islamic calligraphy, in which writing both carries a religious text and decorates a page, and the Western style of Abstract Expressionism, with its movement brushstrokes."
Commenting on his work Annemarie Schimmel says, "Guljee is no doubt the finest artist in Pakistan, able to capture the finest movement of soul and body in his drawings, highly inventive in his calligraphic paintings, and incredibly skilful in his compositions made of Lapis Lazuli." Guljee’s passion is his art, his passion for making works of art shines through his formal portraits of world celebrities and almost overwhelms the subject.
Following are the excerpts of his exclusive interview to the daily Nation, Lahore.
About his work getting better as he gets older:
My work is getting better as I grow older. That is how the world feels about it too. But surprisingly my work is more satisfying and even the critics love my love and write beautifully about it, but the man in the street the poor people they respond to it as the ordinary people see with the eye of the heart and they love my work. I get so much affection from them.
What else do you want to achieve?
I have achieved a lot of perfection. The way my work is proceeding and I can see one of my projects is doing really good with the name of God. Mine is the Sufi mystic way of writing, for that I have done 70-80 paintings. Now my paintings have acquired a greater taste, may be I will have to do another 100 to get what I want. I have always enjoyed what ever I have done.
About what the Muslim world is going through:
The sad thing is that the Muslim world is going through a very bad period. They have been totally brainwashed. The west has taken away from the Muslims, their glory, heritage, cultural places, precious to us and a lot of other things have been taken away. What is more important is the avalanche of propaganda that we get from the West they have robbed us of our pride as Muslims. As an artist I feel a lot of pain.
The Muslim art all around the world:
With all the money God has given the Muslim world they have not even made one centre in London, Rome or Paris, where the work of the Muslim artists can be shown with the respect it deserves. If they do not do it then who is going to do it?
If you do imitate their work nobody is bothered, but if your work has its own wilderness in the western world. I was giving a lecture in the museum about 5 years ago and the best of the best were there and I showed them about a hundred slides of my work. I was told that our artists went to Japan and after three weeks of staying there their work sold for 30 to 35 Million dollars. The best work is in the third world but you never hear about it because there is a war going on all over the world but what is done in this part of the world is not permitted to go on and there is no recognition, no opportunities, no exhibitions in good museums. People buy the fourth rater’s work and feel very proud ke goron ka kaam laga hay.
About the western media:
Muslims have control over the media, its an avalanche. They do not have confidence, I myself am a product of western education. Do not misunderstand me, I am not anti West. Learn whatever possibly you can learn. You must learn, you can not ignore it but you have to have confidence in yourself, which is good for us.
About his mural at Allama Iqbal Airport Lahore:
I always get help from God. I was thinking of making it since 3 years, but then I made it in 3 weeks. When I went to Cordoba, I had planned a thing which was 35 feet by 10 feet. They had a lot of room but not in their hearts.
When Allama Iqbal went to Cardoba he wrote a very beautiful poem which said, "every thing perishes in life but work by artists of passion." I love this phrase in the centre khudi ko kar buland itna". Sabak phir parh shujat ka... Liya jai ga kamm tum se dunyia ki imamat ka, and all that I have done in eastern work.
How can we survive?
We are artists. We can only hope from the new generation. Children are last hope unless they are aware of what is going on how will they work on improving the situation around us. You people are young generation please do something to save art.
About Gulgee’s background and his family
My daughter is married and lives in Los Angeles. She has two children. I act like a nine year old and they think I am like them. I become a child with them. You know my son Amin Gulgee. My wife Zaro has always been my source of inspiration and my strength.
My mother was from Hazro a place near Attock and my father was from Attock itself. I was born in Peshawar and my schooling is from Peshawar Convent.
My father was an executive engineer in the Frontier. I planned to be a painter and my father was planning to send me to the art school in Paris. My father was an orator, he could make a hundred people laugh or cry so the political agents got angry at him. But my father said, "this is my own private time, I will do whatever I want to and the political agents threw him out of his service and made sure that years afterwards he could not find a chaprasi’s job.
When I was 10 years old my teacher said, "Abdul Muhammad, (my name before I started painting) you are a very intelligent and talented child. You do not require any more tutoring". After my father lost his job I left my studies. We had no money to eat. We were honest and God fearing people. My father told me I had two options, if I want to study then it is only possible through scholarships and if I want to get scholarships then it must be in professional subject like Engineering. So I took mathematics. I got a scholarship to Ghoragali, Murree. I did my BSc Engineering with honours when I was only 19 years old in first class first so then I got a 3 year scholarship to the US, Columbia Howard, and then I came back.
His Initial Career:
I was doing painting all the time, so when King Zahir Shah came to Pakistan in 1967, Sikandar Mirza asked me to do his portrait which is one of its kind. I told him I will make it but there is one problem. I know it is important for us, but when I start painting I have no control. The reaction I get with the sitters is what I paint. So get it made by the society painters, they have ways of making things beautiful like a plastic surgeon.
So I did his portrait. He was so happy with it that he invited me over to Kabul where I was treated like a royalty. I have been very lucky all my life. The women of Kabul saw my exhibition and were very impressed. One of my favourite things that is a waistcoat was given to me by princess Mariam daughter of the King of Afghanistan. I still have it.
On his belief and faith:
There is one thing that I have learnt, that if a person is not greedy then all the ways and avenues are open for him. This is a very minor thing but it has been true in my case all the time. God creates avenues for his mankind. I feel Allah himself is in your hands, if you love him truly.
About his work:
My work is the externalisation of my inner journey. Through it I communicate with the pulse of life. The Calligraphic form and movement that emerges is not predetermined or cerebral, it is intuitive and articulates something deep inside me.
It is important that no thought of how people will react to my work intrudes, as that would destroy the thread and take the truth away.
I am enchanted by Islamic calligraphy and feel close to the Sufis mystics. At the mystic level barriers melt away and religious experience whether Buddhist, Hindu or Muslim becomes one.
One could call it human experience of the ineffable. For me the medium of the unknown is space and the calligraphic choreography of my paintings is the dance of the dervish. To me the act of paintings is the making real of the essential and Yogic experience of life as pure movement. I find it difficult to speak about my paintings because the act of putting together words only explain and cannot make real the experience, which for me, is the only reality, the only value that gives meaning to my life. I live only when I paint. The rest is but a wait, a preparation mixed with prayer for crossing the threshold-form life into the experience of life.
About his Studio:
In my studio there are portraits of Agha Khan’s grandfather in Lapis Lazuli and some of his own too. If I give one of these to the families they will present me with a house in return as they are so generous. As much as I love them, I believe should stay in Pakistan.
About his work in stone:
I have lots and lots of Lapis Lazuli cut and polished, I have sketches and I mark each and every stone with a line whereas the gemstone cutter cuts them later on. I fit them together. If they do not set together I change the stones because I am a perfectionist.
On his achievement, success and what next:
I see myself essentially in relation to my work, how a person feels. Success is a matter of chance and not that important for myself. Every artist knows inside how he stands where he is going. Look at Van Gogh, he couldn’t sell a thing in his whole life and yet he pursued what he was after. I see my work and am very happy with them. I have always had a spark. I followed it and its leading me to a very beautiful field.
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