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A Divine Comedy of Errors: Political Paintings by Saira Wasim
Paradoxes of Genre: the Epic Miniature
Teeming with figures captured in mid-action, paintings by Saira Wasim
present grand narratives. If it weren’t for their petite size and
two-dimensionality, they might be mistaken for Greek mythology, Baroque
opera, epic film, or other monumental genres. Yet, these small paintings
represent a singular creation, one that transcends any individual medium or
genre. In Wasim’s hands, the centuries-old format of the miniature painting
has been transformed into a stage for human drama, a jam-packed cinematic
space that approaches the grandeur of Cecil B. DeMille and the glamour of
Bollywood. Like the protagonists of such grand genres, Wasim’s characters
gesticulate, prance, shoot, and fly in majestic style. They laugh and boast
in hideous fashion, and morph into grotesque hybrid creatures that hint at
transcendent themes of good and evil.
By conflating myriad genres, Wasim has invented a visual oxymoron: the epic
miniature. The grace and power of this peculiar oeuvre rests in its capacity
to embrace the extremes of scale, both literally and conceptually. For
instance, within a given painting, ten centimeters may host a bustling crowd
of characters, each depicted in fierce detail; and yet, those tiny elements
suggest a whole universe beyond the picture’s frame. Tricks of scale render
each element within the painting large and small at once. The human body, in
particular, becomes both magnificent and trivial. Though Wasim may pose
figures in statuesque gestures, or raise their bodies onto marble pedestals
and celestial vehicles, she simultaneously grounds the body in mortal
existence by carefully articulating the base elements of the flesh. Virtuoso
details invite us to examine world leaders through close-up views of their
nose hairs, fingernails, and sagging jowls.
Depicted thus, in all its grandeur and microcosmic frailty, the global
condition begs for pathos rather than rage. While Wasim’s bravado color and
dramatic imagery convey the gravity of our socio-political ills, her tiny
caricatures solicit mercy for a world gone bad. Portraits of gluttonous
power brokers, weak-willed political pawns, and hard-edged terrorists bear a
humanist mark, as if violence, hubris, and greed were signs of deep human
frailty. In the artist’s own soft-spoken words, her work sets forth a
“humble plea” for social and political reform.
Wasim’s prolific use of allegory – the staple of her Mughal, Renaissance,
and contemporary political sources – serves her work well, providing a
weighty counterpart to the levity of brightly colored details and seemingly
flippant caricatures. Concealed by the meticulous detailing and technical
virtuosity of her pictures, allegorical imagery bears a myriad of darker
truths.
It is these ironies – the devastating truths behind the celebratory veneers
and fear mongering of the post-9/11 world – that Wasim presents for us in
her tragic-comic paintings. The contradictions of scale intrinsic to her
epic miniatures serve us well in a time of need, bearing witness to
tragedies both personal and Dantean in scope. Her pictures chronicle our
age, offering a spectrum of insights. If we look closely, they bear myriad
gifts – not only tragedy and criticism, but also empathy, comic relief, and
perhaps even hope.
Extracts from an essay of Transcendent Contemplation’s catalogue by Anna Sloan, writer, curator and art historian.