The restless line

Anwar
2005

Texts: Meera Menezes


“There are ancient murmurs that resonate through Anwar’s works. As they cleave their way through space and time, they are carried aloft on the backs of restless lines. The lines heave and flow as they play out to a predestined tune escaping from the depths of the artist's soul. At times they mimic primordial forms, at others unintelligible scratchings reminiscent of a child's doodles. They are strong-headed and self-willed on these lines, seeking their own destinies- some subjugate themselves to form and structure, and others choose to be driven by an internal spirit exulting instead in the expanse before them. These signs and signifiers may recall prehistoric mark-making but have arisen in a moment of divine madness, a movement of deewangi, that the artist finds himself in. “This madness has been with me since my childhood. Painting catches hold of you and does not let go.””


(excerpt from the catalogue essay by Meera Menezes)