It’s hard to figure out if Rashid Rana is an artist or a professor of philosophy when he tries to explain his modernist approaches. The Pakistani artist, who exudes an air of intelligence, humility and a sense of humour, has exhibited extensively over the world in the past decade or so, having enjoyed sweeping success with his distinctive imagery and pictorial handling of multimedia. His work Red Carpet broke the world auction record for a Pakistani work of art in a 2008 sale at Sotheby’s, New York. Born in Lahore, Pakistan, and educated in both Pakistan and Boston, the conceptual artist tries to show his interactions with his past and present ‘surroundings’ through his art.

Currently having his first solo exhibition in Hong Kong, titled Translation/Transliterations, the artist is showcasing 20 pieces created from 2007 to 2011, highlighting both his photo sculptures and large-scale photo mosaics, which seek to explore the relationship between large and small images, with the recurrent use of photography. “The title of the exhibition was given by the most recent series Translation/Transliteration,” explains Rana. “Titles are tricky; they can never do justice to what the exhibition really is about.”

Rana likes his art to be interactive with the public, and not just serving as a form of passive aesthetic consumption. “I told myself I am not going to make my art to an audience of 20 people,” he says. “It’s intentionally designed to meet a wider audience. I realise my works have to be playful to reach more audience. I intentionally create works that would entice viewers and make them engage in them.”

The interactive experience that Rana’s work offers has to do with the artist’s playful mastery of the contradictory and paradoxical relationship between large and small images. On his Flesh and Blood series, which questions the relationship between tradition and modernity, he explains: “As a whole, the painting looks like a traditional Western abstract painting in the 50s. The small images come from porn, fashion magazines, slaughterhouses and medical journals; people are not sure what the images are [when seen from afar]. In one way I am decontextualising them, putting them together as an image of sex and violence.”

Interview: Joey Li

Rashid Rana’s solo exhibition, Translation/Transliterations is at Art Centre’s Pao Galleries until Nov 18.

Artwork images courtesy of Gandhara-art; portrait photo by Calvin Sit