Raqib Shaw on Paradise Lost Artist Conversation at Art Institute of Chicago

Raqib Shaw has spent two decades at work on his monumental painting Paradise Lost. The autobiographical work traces Shaw’s life from his childhood in the ethereally beautiful but politically troubled region of Kashmir through, as the artist said, “exile and rebellion, artistic awakening, emotional turmoil, and transformation that still continues.” The work’s title references both John Milton’s 17th-century poem of the same name and Kashmir’s reputation as a paradise on earth. 

Shaw employs a unique artistic vocabulary and singular technique, developed using enamel automobile paint applied deftly with needle-fine syringes and a porcupine quill. The finished works are intricate, magical, and breathtaking in both color and complexity.

Join Raqib Shaw and Alsdorf Associate Curator of Indian, Southeast Asian, and Himalayan Art, Madhuvanti Ghose, as they discuss this epic masterpiece.