Artwork
Landscape
Landscape is a paint painting by the Contemporary Abstract artist Imran Qureshi. It dates from 2001 and is held in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. This miniature painting on wasli paper integrates opaque watercolour, Letraset transfers, and collage to create a layered composition.
About this work
Overview
This miniature painting on wasli paper integrates opaque watercolour, Letraset transfers, and collage to create a layered composition.
This miniature painting on wasli paper integrates opaque watercolour, Letraset transfers, and collage to create a layered composition. It depicts a rocket partially concealed by detailed green foliage, framed within a central rectangular zone that contrasts with a textured, multicolored background of red, orange, and brown. The work is housed in a custom box, emphasizing its object-like presence and intimate scale.
Subject & Meaning
The rocket, rendered with precision amid dense foliage, functions as a symbolic anchor tied to modern geopolitical tensions, particularly the nuclear rivalry between India and Pakistan and the aftermath of September 11. The overlapping English and Urdu newspaper fragments suggest competing narratives, while the camouflage-like leaves imply concealment, both of weapons and of historical truth.
Technique & Style
The artist employs meticulous brushwork to render individual leaves, showcasing traditional miniature painting skills. These are layered over printed text and collage elements, creating a tactile, fragmented surface. The use of wasli paper, a material historically linked to South Asian manuscript illumination, grounds the work in regional craft while subverting its conventions through contemporary imagery and mixed media.
History & Provenance
Created by Imran Qureshi, the work emerges from his broader practice of reinterpreting Mughal and Deccani miniature traditions to address postcolonial violence and memory. It was produced in the early 2000s, a period marked by heightened regional tensions and global shifts following the 9/11 attacks. The piece reflects Qureshi’s engagement with both local artistic heritage and international political discourse.
Context
The painting situates itself within a lineage of South Asian miniature art while responding to the trauma of modern conflict. The juxtaposition of botanical detail with newsprint evokes the tension between natural beauty and human-made destruction. The bilingual text underscores the cultural duality of the artist’s context, where colonial legacies and national identities intersect in complex ways.
Legacy
Qureshi’s integration of traditional techniques with urgent contemporary themes has influenced a generation of artists working across South Asia and beyond. This work exemplifies how historical forms can be repurposed to critique power structures and memorialize violence, expanding the scope of miniature painting beyond decorative function into the realm of political commentary.
Artist & collection
Artist
Imran Qureshi paints bold, blood-red floral patterns on white backgrounds that look like stains or blossoms at first glance.
