Rashid Rana Selects Zahoor ul Akhlaq as Future Great in ArtReview

Rashid Rana selected Zahoor ul Akhlaq for ArtReview's Future Greats series in its January & February 2016 issue. Akhlaq, born in Delhi in 1941 and died in 1999, studied at Lahore's National College of Arts, graduating in 1962, and later attended Hornsey College of Art, Royal College of Art in London, and Yale University in New Haven. He taught at Bilking University in Ankara and served as a professor at the National College of Arts for over 25 years. Rana, a former student of Akhlaq, argues that his mentor's work transcends simplistic labels like late modernist, which he views as ethnocentric and misleading for South Asian contexts. Akhlaq synthesized diverse influences, including Minimalism and traditional Indian and Persian manuscript painting, challenging East-West dichotomies prevalent during his career. His practice engaged with both past and present beyond geographical borders, providing frameworks for contemporary artists on identity and location. Posthumous contextualization of Akhlaq's work is gaining traction amid rising interest in contemporary practices from the region, expected to solidify his legacy. Rana emphasizes that Akhlaq's impact on Pakistani artists surpasses that of any other figure, overturning expectations and setting precedents in a non-linear artistic trajectory.