Works of Shahzia Sikander - Case Study Example

Drawing 1 from 51 Ways of Looking (Sikander, 2004) uses layers of drawing, some very faint, and others, like the repeated black circles, much denser. This one line has therefore two different meanings, depending on whether the viewer reads it as belonging to the face, on the left, or the body on the right.             In the other work, the painting Perilous Order (Sikander, 1997) there is a mingling of traditional forms, such as the marbled frame of Pakistani miniatures, and modern techniques, including the way that the figures break out of the lines of the frame (MOMA Multimedia, no date).

  The work has traces of Islamic art in the calligraphic patterns outside the oval in the center, and elements of Hindu philosophy in the way the legs turn into roots at the bottom of the painting (PBOS video, no date). This juxtaposition of contrasting elements is typical of postmodern aesthetics, where ambiguity, layering, and a fusion of abstract and figurative elements are common. I like the novelty of this because it makes me think more carefully about the widely used patterns, traditions, formats, and styles that we tend to take for granted.

Seeing them put together in these dense layers reveals more of their properties, and makes them somehow new. The black circles, for example, appear disruptive of the main composition at first, but the longer they are viewed, the more they become part of the whole.