SHAFIQUE FAROOQI
(Click on image for an enlargement)
 Untitled - #F84 Black Pen & Ink 11"x15" |
 Untitled - #F95 Black Pen & Ink 11"x15" |
 Untitled - #F9 Black Pen & Ink 11"x15" |
 Maharani Acrylic on Canvas 18"x24" |
 Grace of Eastern Beauty Acryic on Canvas 18"x24" |
 Khushbu (Smell) Acrylic on Canvas 18"x24" |
 Search of Life Acrylic on Canvas 18"x24" |
 Messenger of Love Acyrilic on Canvas 18"x24" |
The Creative Qualities, skillful handling of media, intellectual response to the technique are the salient features of Shafique Farooqui‘s paintings. Creation of new worlds, with or without familiar objects, is a valuable and visual experience. His continues progress and struggle in various fields academic studies from landscape to Journey of lines, Colors, Shapes and lines are arranged on Canvas in a vibrant composition. The shapes suggest drama and movement by creating sense of space, while the lines gives the dynamic force and rhythm, like Paul Kale. Taking a line for a walk is Farooqi‘s unique style. He is going to have a great influence on the new generation of the Artist.
Shah Nawaz1942 born in Sialkot. Pakistan
SHORT COURSES / WORK SHOPS:
1985 Worked in the Studio of Harry L. Johnson, Washington DC.
1990 Etching Printmaking Workshop in Memar Senan University, Istanbul
1991 Worked with Prof. Namik Denizhan, (Sculpture) Istanbul.
1994 Training on the Job as Project Director on Vocational Education for Disable Persons,
by SWOZ in Holland.
JOBS EXPERIENCE:
1965-75 Punjab University Lahore.
1975-80 Pakistan Administrative Staff College, Lahore.
1980-81 Civil Services Academy, Lahore, Pakistan.
1990 - Fountain House, Lahore
1999 - Project Director, ZODD, Istanbul
ART WORK AND COLLECTERS
Sheik Aid Hospital Lahore. 80 Paintings
Civil Hospital, Lahore. 5 Paintings
World Bank IMF Building
Tam International USA
Smithsonian Institute USA
Princes Wijdan of Jordan
Research Center for Islamic Art and Culture, Istanbul
Press Museum, Istanbul
Consulate General of Pakistan in Istanbul. )
Beyoglu Belediye Istanbul
Bursa Metropolitan Corporation, Turkey. (6 Paintings)
Purl-Continental Hotel, Lahore. 10 Paintings
Fattier Memorial Hospital Lahore. 50 Paintings
Ittifaq Hospital Lahore. 20 Paintings
Pakistan Administrative Staff College, Lahore 5 Paintings
Arab Security Center Riyadh Saudi Arabia, (20 Paintings)
Directorate General Civil Defense Islamabad. (4 Paintings)
Institute of Business Administration Karachi)
Ministry of Foreign affair Islamabad. (20 Paintings)
Fountain House Lahore. (6Paintings)
Lahore Metropolitan Corporation. (10 Paintings)
LOK-Virus Museum, Islamabad,
PERSONAL SOLO EXHIBITION
80 Solo Shows in country and abroad
PARTICIPATION IN GROUP EXHIBITION:
Participated more then 85 group exhibition in USA, England, Saudi
Arabia, Germany Egypt, Sudan, France, Canada, Holland, Turkey, India,
Iran,’ Iraq, and National Exhibitions in Pakistan.
AWARDS
20 awards and 15 honors from country and abroad
ART PUBLICATIONS
1-Symbiosis Concept in Art Journey of Lines
2-Poetry of Lines
3-Journey of Lines with Symbols
4-Journey of Lines with Calligraphy
5-Journey of Lines with Colors
On the afternoon of 3rd June 1987, I have moved freely in a landscape I knew well and felt delight in the patch of light in an afternoon say and the lonely road that reminds me of an early Jauhrabad poem .
I will go where no read goes
And the road will go will go with me
All this reminds me of a time
Before time began
When what we are
Was berated deep into snow.
Much that is depicted in these paintings is
Passing being changed through "Progress".
Every painting seems a portrait of the artist.
Well done, Faro.
(Mrs. OTT Said, Lahore)
ALIVE- ‘‘Having life ‘‘ not dead or inanimate; still in existence, force, operation; active; knowing or realizing the exisstence of; sensitive; marked by alertness and activity
The above is Webster’s definition of a word, while at the same time, for me, it is about the most accurate way I can think to describe a man, SHAFIQUE FAROOQI is truly, alive.
Whether this quality causes him to be an artist or whether being an artist deeps him "ALIVE’’ I know not. I do know that it is a rare privilege to spend time in the company of such a man of the countless ways the creativeness, talent and life within him chooses OT show itself, his art; the calligraphic paintings, watercolors and his land scopes, seems to do it strikingly. From the movement of his brush strokes to the range and variety of moods created by the choice of colors, one has to life by doing so. It is this city’s distinct honor to have, even for a brief period, the work of so gifted a man in its midst.
(Harry L Johnson Chairman, DC Slide Registry, Washington Dc May, 1995)
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From the press
Shafiq Farooqi:
a compassionate artist
In Shafiq Farooqi’s landscape paintings, there is always a central object, perhaps a tree, that has attracted the artist’s full attention. He has treated it in the spirit of a portrait, and has generally succeeded in revealing the whole atmosphere of the landscape in reference to the single tree.
There is always a question in his mind while painting the central object in his landscape; what is so peculiar about it? Thus while doing his landscapes, he is guided by their aesthetics and also by the painting of a thing of vegetative beauty. The soul of natural objects seems to be the theme of his landscape paintings.
In his mid-career Shafique Farooqi has taken to the painting of calligraphy. His calligraphic paintings aimed at painting the letters of the Arabic alphabet, and he avoided illustrating them in the conventional manner. He use the brush and the palette-knife in creating the mood and the harmony felt that the letters have a character of their own, which it is the responsibility of the artist to portray.
His paintings on disabled persons have won him honor and distinction in Turkey, England and Germany, and has been prized most for his compassion for the retarded and handicapped children.It is interesting to note that Shafique Farooqi has evolved his own version of beauty which is not formally accepted by painters in our time. He has, however, gone further away in his symbolic art, and has portrayed the complexmodern man as an aggregate of variegated personalities. This symbolic painting gives numerous shades of colour interfacing into one compact figure.
As an artist, Shafique Farooqi has succeeded in bringing anguish in the soul to his art of painting. Though trained on the conventional lines, he has evolved his own vision of creative consciousness and has completed a work which affirms his originality and commitment for beauty which lies hidden in the visual scenes, and which has been released only by him.
His paintings have given something creative to his age, and in this lies his own fulfillment and satisfaction as an artist.
"The Frontier Post"
May 13,1993
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Following the rhythm of life:
Dance of life; ruins of heritage; saint’s saga; quest for light; silent unity-are some of the titles given to a set of ’line work’ by Shafique Farooqi-an artist with well-established repute, both within the country and overseas His ’lines; while relying the calligraphic flow, rhythm and movement create images that translate his intuitive perception of reality-of the visual, as well as beyond the limit of visible. It's spontaneous and impulsive, from within. ’ I feel myself in the grip of ’ line’ as much as a poet may feel himself in the grip of words
There was once a stage in his art career when his talent focussed mainly on the language of colors now it is the bold and free-following "line that rules him, speaking in figurative terms. Shafique believes his line work are an individual expression added to the national art scenario which, in due course, will become his identity, his subjective expression of creative art. The mysterious powerful lines (in black ink) are subtly patterned-though seeming most unpainted at a casual glance. Symbols like labyrinth, birds, fauna, images, vaguely representative of human figures occur recurrently in the array of this series
From "The Nation"
April 29,1999