Shahzia Sikander
The Last Post
September 14, 2012–June 1, 2013
Linda Pace Foundation
San Antonio, TX
Guided tours by appointment
www.lindapacefoundation.org
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The Last Post (2010) is inspired by Sikander’s ongoing interest in the colonial history of the Indian Subcontinent as well as the British opium trade with China. She animates the protagonist of The Last Post, an East India Company man who appears in various guises, as dissolving, exploding, and reconstituting himself throughout the work. Through the assorted metamorphoses of the main character, The Last Post can be seen as a metaphor for societies and cultures in constant, never-ending transformation.
Drawing as a basis for animated works and as finished works on paper remains the foundation of Sikander’s artistic practice. Through drawing and animated images, the artist explores themes of history, memory, cultural identity, power, disruption, societal tension, and flux. The large-scale work on paper Walled States (2011) pictures disruptions along cultural and geographical boundaries and will be presented in conjunction with the animated video installation.
The music soundtrack for The Last Post is composed by Chinese American musician Du Yun, whose genre-defying work exists at the crossroads of chamber music, avant-garde, opera, theater, pop, cabaret, storytelling, visual arts, and noise. Her written compositions, ranging from solos to orchestras, have been performed across North America, Europe, Mexico, Argentina and China, and are broadcasted internationally.
Go to www.lindapacefoundation.org to make arrangements to visit the exhibition. A video from Sikander’s project will also be available to view on the website.
About Shahzia Sikander
Shahzia Sikander was born in 1969 in Lahore, Pakistan, and currently lives and works in New York. She holds a BFA from the National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan, where she studied miniature painting, and an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. Sikander was a Core fellow of the Glassell School of Art at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston from 1995-1997 and was a participant in the Artpace International Artist-in-Residence program in San Antonio in 2001. She is the recipient of numerous awards and grants including the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 2006. Sikander has had numerous solo exhibitions throughout the world and her work is included in the collections of the Linda Pace Foundation, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Blanton Museum of Art, among many others.
About The Linda Pace Foundation
The Linda Pace Foundation supports the charitable vision of its founder in various ways. A private foundation, it is a supporter of distinct organization Artpace, as well as other contemporary art projects through grants. The Foundation also maintains CHRISpark, is the steward of Pace’s collection of contemporary art, and presents the collection and related programs at its campus on Camp Street in San Antonio and through artwork loans to museums around the world.