Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Owais Husain’s life journey

This artist perhaps has the most illustrious surname among the present generation of Indian artists.

MF Husain, his late father, remains our most popular, most established and the most celebrated modern painter. Having identity as the maestro's son has been a matter of pride, on one hand, and a burden of expectations to carry, on other hand; the proud son has done so with élan. Owais Husain is taking the legacy of his father ahead by walking into his footsteps and carving a niche for himself as a multimedia artist of immense talent and skill. He has built a reputation of his own.

Owais Husain, the low-profile son of a legendary artist, he mostly divides his creative time between Dubai and Mumbai. Born in 1967 in Mumbai, he studied at Lawrence School in Sanawar, Simla Hills, later seeking artistic pursuits like painting, drawing, textile printing, dyeing, photography and lithography. The artist went on to join the Sir J.J. School of Art in Mumbai. After completing his graduation (Painting) from Sir J.J School of Arts, Mumbai in 1990, he was in New York for a year and later set up a studio at the Kanoria Centre for Arts, Ahmedabad.

When his illustrious father lived in self-imposed exile in 2006 away from his beloved homeland, Owais began getting closer to him emotionally. Their tender bond received a fresh lease of affection in the face of adversity. In January 2010, the artist-in-exile opted to become a citizen of Qatar. His son had then remarked: "Giving up citizenship of India saddens my father. But they say that you can take a man out of the country but you cannot take the country out of him." The hurt and pain remained until the very end, but there was no bitterness.

Apart from a book of poetry and images, he has composed and choreographed an experimental opera for an installation in Doha and Qatar. Mostly figurative, his work dwells on those transfixed moments between ubiquitous people and peculiar situations. His assured brush strokes create thickly delineated forms in constant movements.

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