Artwork of Xandria Noir displayed

Islamabad :The Islamabad Art Festival 2019 (IAF19) exhibited the minimalist artwork of self-taught contemporary Pakistani artist Xandria Noir here at the French Embassy.

The event titled ‘Moi et le monde imparfait’ (me and the imperfect world) was attended by French ambassador Marc Barety, IAF19 president Jamal Shah, members of the diplomatic community, artists and art lovers, including students, and journalists. The French envoy appreciated the works of Xandria Noir and said the artist’s talented and varied ways of expression had taken viewers to her meditative journey.

He said the artwork was an attempt to make the world better.

Xandria Noir, who works in multi forms of art from painting to new media to drawing to video art to photography, thanked the French Embassy, especially the ambassador, for allowing the exhibition of her art pieces on the embassy’s premises. She said her paintings had empty spaces, which suggested that greater space was imperative for a better world.

Holding a bachelor’s degree in social sciences from Karachi University and a certificate in 3D animation from Arena Graphics, the artist’s earlier works (1993-2005) practised semi-minimalist representational forms inclusive of abstract figures, landscapes, and calligraphy on wood, canvas, paper, and pottery. However, when she resumed attending her canvases after an eight-year-long gap, her work presented large-scale canvases emphasising on bold black strokes in conjunction with bright colours. Soon her work evolved into minimalist art reflecting her personality and pursuit of peace from her emotional suffering and traumas. Xandria’s work includes minimalist paintings in acrylic, installations, ink on paper and giclèe prints in new and mixed media, photography and video art. Some of her pieces from the 2013-14 period were inspired by works of Robert Motherwell, Clyfford Still, Franz Kline and Jackson Pollock.

In Xandria’s works, light and lines of different dimensions freely inhabited weightless spaces displayed to the delight of the observers. Each was meant to antagonise, upset, frustrate and agitate the viewers through different anti-social strategies. Her works attempted to create composite bodies defying superficial boundaries.