The fragile beauty of Qureshi's work is modulated by socio-political reflections on contemporary life. The colour red is a clear allusion to the lifeblood that flows through our veins, while his flower motifs evoke the possibility of renewal and growth. A sense of balance is maintained between the dualities explored in these works, such as violence and beauty or death and regeneration, which are shown as opposing yet intertwined forces. For the artist, 'the flowers that emerge from the paint represent the hope that – despite everything – the people sustain somehow their hope for a better future'. Using the representational techniques of miniature painting to depict our modern reality, Qureshi's work speaks in part to the friction of a world in which novelty collides daily with orthodoxy.
Born in Hyderabad, Qureshi lives and works in Lahore, Pakistan. He studied miniature painting at the National College of Arts in Lahore, where he now teaches the discipline. Considered one of Pakistan's most important artists, he has received international recognition for his site-specific installations that respond to architectural space, referencing the historical or political significance of the buildings that contain them. These include Blessings Upon the Land of My Love, created in 2011 for the Sharjah Biennial, and They Shimmer Still, created for the Biennale of Sydney in 2012. In 2013, he created a large-scale, site-specific work for The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Roof Garden Commission in New York. The same year he was awarded the Deutsche Bank’s Artist of the Year and received his first solo exhibition in Europe at the Deutsche Bank Kunsthalle in Berlin. His work has since been shown in numerous solo exhibitions, including at the Barbican Centre, London (2016) and Kunsten Museum of Modern Art, Aalborg, Denmark (2016). He has also realised site-specific projects at the Washington National Cathedral, Washington, D.C. (2018) and Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (2018), among others.
2024
Scattered yet Together, Pulchri Studio, The Hague, Netherlands
Home, COMO Museum of Art, Lahore, Pakistan
The Garden, Nasir Bagh, Lahore, Pakistan
2023
Homecoming, Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris Marais, France
2019
The Seeming Endless Path of Memory, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Pantin, France
2018
By the People, Washington National Cathedral, Washington, D.C., USA
2017
And That Is How We Loved This Too – This Land, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
2016
The Seeming Endless Path Of Memory, Museo Civico, San Gimignano, Sienna, Italy
Newlyn Art Gallery, Newlyn; The Exchange, Penzance and Truro Cathedral, Cornwall, UK
Garden Within a Garden, Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford, UK
Where the Shadows are So Deep, Barbican Centre, London, UK
Idea of Landscape, Kunsten Museum of Modern Art, Aalborg, Denmark
2015
Idea of Landscape, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, France
2014
Deutsche Bank Artist of the Year 2013: Imran Qureshi, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, UK
Imran Qureshi: The God of Small Things, MSU Broad Art Museum, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA
Midnight Garden, Gandhara Art, Pao Galleries, Hong Kong
All Time Would be Perpetual Spring, Art on the Underground commission, Transport for London, London, UK
Salsali Private Museum, Dubai
2013
The Roof Garden Commission: Imran Qureshi, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY, USA
Artist of the Year, Deutsche Bank Kunsthalle, Berlin, Germany
MACRO | Museo d'Arte Contemporanea Roma, Rome, Italy
Salsali Private Museum, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
And They Still Seek The Traces Of Blood..., Zahoor Al Akhlaq Gallery, National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan
2010
All Are The Colour of My Heart, Chawkandi Art, Karachi, Pakistan
All Are The Colour of My Heart, Rohtas 2, Lahore, Pakistan
Pao Gallery, Hong Kong Art Center, Hong Kong
2007
Encounters: Imran Qureshi, Modern Art Oxford, Oxford, UK
Canvas Art Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
2006
Anant Art Gallery, New Delhi, India
2004
Corvi-Mora, London, UK
2002
Chawkandi Art Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
1996
Rohtas Gallery, Islamabad, Pakistan
1995
Alliance Française Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan
2023
Beyond the Page: South Asian Miniature Painting and Britain, 1600 to Now, MK Gallery, Milton Keynes, UK
2022
Amakin, King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, Ithra, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia
Christian Louboutin : l'exhibition(niste), Grimaldi Forum, Monaco
Amakin, Jeddah Saudi Art Council, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Deen o Dunya (The Sacred and the Earthly), Karachi Biennale, Karachi, Pakistan
2020
Miniature 2.0, Pera Museum, Istanbul, Turkey
Christian Louboutin: l'Exhibition(niste), Palais de la Porte Dorée, Paris, France
Brent Bienniale, Ealing Road Library, London, UK
2019
Imran Qureshi and Tomoaki Suzuki, Corvi-Mora, London, UK
Vergessene Aufklärungen, HALLE 14, Leipzig, Germany
2018
Lahore Biennale 01, Lahore, Pakistan
International Exhibition of Contempary Art, Yerevan, Armenia
Imran Qureshi, Al Jahili Fort, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates
Abu Dhabi Art 2018 Beyond, Al Jahili Fort, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates
Lahore Biennale 01, Lahore, Pakistan
2017
Two Wings To Fly. Not One, Pakistan National Council of the Arts, National Art Gallery, Islamabad, Pakistan
2016
Other States, Other Lives, Other Souls, Corvi-Mora, London, UK
This Night-Bitten-Dawn, Devi Art Foundation in collaboration with the Gurjal Foundation, New Dehli, India
2015
The Great Game, Iranian Pavilion, 56th Venice Biennial, Venice, Italy
Imran Qureshi & Aisha Khalid, Nature Morte, New Delhi, India
Minor Heroism, Galeri Zilberman, Istanbul , Turkey
Framing Fraktur Word & Image: Contemporary Artists Connect to Fraktur, The Free Library of Philadelphia, PA, USA
2014
Eurasia. A view on painting, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Pantin, France
Garden of Ideas: Contemporary Art from Pakistan, Aga Khan Museum, Toronto, Canada
Fields of Vision, Yorkshire Festival 2014, Yorkshire, UK
Don’t you know who I am?, M HKA, The Museum of Contemporary Art Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
Asia Triennial Manchester 2014, Imperial War Museum North, Manchester, UK
Nuit Blanche, 10 Place du Panthéon, Paris, France
2013
Extra | ordinary: 37 do-it-yourself art ideas for free, Canvas Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
The Encyclopedic Palace, 55th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
In Cloud Country: Abstracting From Nature – From John Constable to Rachel Whiteread, Harewood House, Yorkshire, UK
2012
Expanded Drawing, Casal Solleric, Palma, Spain
No Borders, Bristol Museum & Art Gallery (in paternership with Arnolfini), Bristol, UK
Sub-Topical Heat: New Art From South Asia, Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, New Zealand
18th Biennale of Sydney: All our relations, Cockatoo Island, Sydney, Australia
2011
Painting Show, Eastside Projects, Birmingham, UK
Realms of Intimacy: Miniaturist Practice from Pakistan, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA
Signature Art Prize Finalist Exhibition, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore, Singapore
Sharjah Biennial 10: Plot For A Biennial, Sharjah Art Museum, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Old Intersections – Make It New, 3rd Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, Greece
Political Patterns – Ornament im Wandel, ifa-Galerie, Berlin, Germany
Intimate Pictures, Pakistani Contemporary Miniatures, Tokyo Gallery + BTAP, Tokyo, Japan
And Nothing But the Truth: The Problem of Parrhesia, IVS Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
They Said it Was Love...., Lakeeren Art Gallery, Mumbai, India
2010
Mazaar Bazaar, Zahoor ul Akhlaq Gallery, National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan
Beyond the Page: Contemporary Art from Pakistan, Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena, CA, USA
Corvi-Mora, London, UK
2009
Mashq – Repetition Meditation Mediation, Green Cardamom, London, UK
East–West Divan: Contemporary Art from Afghanistan, Iran & Pakistan, La Scuola Grande della Misericordia, Venice, Italy
Hanging Fire, Asia Society, New York, NY, USA
Outside In: Alternative Narratives In Contemporary Art, University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Die Macht Des Ornaments, Belvedere, Vienna, Austria
2008
Living Traditions, Queen’s Palace, Bagh-e-babur, Kabul, Afghanistan
100 Years, 100 Artists, 100 Works of Art, London Underground, UK
2007
Friends of Rohtas, Rohtas 2, Lahore, Pakistan
Beyond the Page: Contemporary Art from Pakistan, Foyle Gallery, MAC Arts, Birmingham, UK
Portraits and Vortexes, The Experimental Gallery, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong, China
Corvi-Mora, London, UK
2006
Beyond the Page: Contemporary Art from Pakistan, Asia House, London, UK
I love my country but I think we should start seeing other people, Jack Hanley Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA
Belief, Singapore Biennale, Singapore
2005
Karkhana-A contemporary Collaboration, Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, USA
Miniatures Contemporaines Du Pakistan, La Halle Villefranche De Rouergue, France
One to One, Alhamra Art Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan
Re-inventing Narratives, La Galerie Mohamed el Fassi, Morocco
Beyond Borders - Art from Pakistan, National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai, India
A Gathering of Seasons, Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi, India
Chawkandi Art Gallery, Karachi
2004
Contemporary Miniature Paintings from Pakistan, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Fukuoka, Japan
Expander, Royal Academy of Arts, 6 Burlington Gardens, London, UK
Playing with a Loaded Gun, Museum Fridericianum Kassel, Kassel, Germany
The Drawn Page, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT, USA
Chawkandi Art Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
2003
Karkhana, Touchstones Art Gallery, Rochdale, UK
Contemporary Miniatures from Pakistan, K3 - Project Space, Zürich, Switzerland
Playing with a Loaded Gun : Contemporary Art in Pakistan, apexart, New York, NY, USA
The American Effect, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY, USA
Miniatures Pakistanaises, Maison d''Art Contemporain Chaillioux, Fresnes, France
New Work, Corvi-Mora, London, UK
Negotiating Borders, Siddhartha Art Gallery, Kathmandu, Nepal
Contemporary Miniatures from Pakistan, K3 - Project Space, Zürich
2002
The Galleries Show: Contemporary Art in London, The Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
Threads, Dreams, Desires, Harris Museum & Art Gallery, Preston, UK
Around the Miniature, Canvas Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
2001
Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool, UK
Manoeuvering Miniatures, IIC Gallery, New Delhi, India
Sakshi Gallery, Mumbai, India
Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney, Australia
In Conversation, Gallery Espace, New Delhi, India
Corvi-Mora, London, UK
Admit One Gallery, New York, NY, USA
2000
Alliance Française, Singapore
Pakistan Another Vision, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath, UK; Center of Contemporary Art, Glasgow, UK; Huddersfield Art Gallery, Huddersfield, UK; Brunei Gallery, London, UK
Canvas Art Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
Didrichsen Art Museum, Kuusisaari, Finland
Sim Sim Art Gallery, Lahore (with Farida Batool)
1999
Notices Gallery, Singapore, Singapore
Third Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane, Australia
Chawkandi Art Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan
1998
National Art Gallery, Malaysia, Malaysia
1997
Lionel Wiendt Art Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka
8th Asian Art Biennale, Shilpkala Academy, Bangladesh
Draped & Shaped, Cartwright Hall, Bradford, UK
Off-Set Portfolio Centre, Islamabad, Pakistan
Gallery NCA, Lahore, Pakistan
Australia
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
France
Kadist Art Foundation, Paris
Germany
Deutsche Bank Collection
Japan
Fukuoka Asian Art Museum
Pakistan
Embassy of the United States of America, Islamabad
National Art Gallery, Islamabad
The Presidency, Islamabad
UK
Bradford Art Galleries and Museums, Bradford
Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, Bristol
Harris Museum, Preston
Monsoon Art Collection, London
The British Museum, London
Victoria & Albert Museum, London
USA
Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo
Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum
Embassy of the United States
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The RISD Museum, Rhode Island
University of Chicago Booth School of Business
U.S Department of State
World Bank, Washington, D.C.