riyaz design: contemporary indian miniatures

the juxtaposition of patterns really appeals to me

a slightly more traditional look

downright British and downright amusing

again, the patterns are great.
this one is almost Magritte-like

I was so excited by these paintings by Riyaz Design this past weekend at The International Asian Art Fair that I just wanted to share them with you. These East-meets-West contemporary takes on traditional Indian miniature paintings are by Alexander Gorlizki, an English artist, and Riyaz Uddin, a master Miniature painter from Jaipur, Rajasthan. The two met in 1997 and together formed Riyaz Design.

"Alexander wanted to combine the superb technique and sensibility of Indian Miniatures with a more modern approach to painting and design: to introduce new subject matter, compositions and colour palettes as well as new narratives. He tried to imagine the Surrealist painter René Magritte working centuries ago in the court of the Mughal emperor Akbar.

"When Alexander met Riyaz he found an artist who was old enough to have developed amazing levels of skill and concentration — he had been painting for 13 years — yet was young enough to be willing to experiment and even subvert his own tradition."

It helps to know a bit about traditional Indian miniatures so you can see how and where Gorlizki's and Riyaz's unique examples depart. You may want to take a look at this link or this example at Prahlad Bubbar Ltd. from London. At the Fair, Prahlad Bubbar's miniature paintings were museum quality. Now mind you, when I worked at at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, it was in Japanese Art, not in Indian miniatures. But I picked up certain information from the curator and the conservators. Prahlad Bubbar had very beautiful pieces indeed.


[images from riyazdesign.com]