Asim Butt (artist)

Asim Butt (born 26 March 1978) [http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/yourgallery/artist_profile/a/2721.html "Asim Butt"] , Saatchi Gallery Your Gallery. Retrieved 26 February 2008.] is a Pakistani painter and sculptor, with an interest in graffiti and print making. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/629/629/7140085.stm#asim "Asim Butt, 29, artist"] , BBC News 24, 13 December 2007. Retrieved 26 February 2008.] He is a member of the Stuckist art movement. [http://www.stuckism.com/world.html#Pakistan "Stuckist groups"] , stuckism.com. Retrieved 26 February 2008.]

Life and work

Asim Butt was born in Karachi. He attended Li Po Chun United World College. He started painting at an early age, but, at his parents' insistence, went to college, where he studied Social Sciences from the Lahore University of Management Sciences. He began a Ph.D. in History at UC Davis in California, but left the course after two years, when he participated in a group show mounted at the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery in March 2002 with Rigo '02 and LYRIC. He then returned to enroll in a B.F.A. in Painting in Karachi.

He participated in group shows in Karachi and Lahore, and in 2003 painted two murals in the environs of the shrine to the 8th Century Sufi saint Abdullah Shah Ghazi. This is an area visited by many people each day and also home to many of Karachi's homeless, including beggars, transsexuals and drug addicts. One mural, about America's Shock and Awe campaign in Iraq, was called , "5 Ways to Kill a Man",Baig, Amina. [http://jang.com.pk/thenews/jan2008-weekly/nos-27-01-2008/kol.htm#1 "Of Karachi, by Karachi, for Karachi"] , The News on Sunday. Retrieved 26 February 2008.] inspired by Edwin Brock's poem. The other was about glue-sniffing children he encountered, while painting the first mural. Both murals were later whitewashed by city authorities.

In 2005, Butt founded the Karachi chapter of the Stuckist art movement. That year he did three interactive performative pieces one of which sought to claim the Mohatta Palace Museum as a lived space, resulting in his being banned from it. In 2006, he graduated from the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture, Karachi. In 2007, he participated in group shows, "13 Satellites" (Lahore), "Emerging Talent" (Karachi) and "Sohni Dharti", part of the Shanaakht festival at the Karachi Arts Council.

He spoke out against the imposition of emergency regulations in November 2007 by starting an "art protest" movementBarker, Kim. [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-corr_pakistanjan13,0,613161.story "Youth rebellion is spreading"] , "Chicago Tribune", 13 January 2008. Retrieved 26 February 2008.] —spray-stencilling graffiti of an "eject" symbol of a red triangle over a red rectangle, an image which has now become widespread in Karachi. Butt said it was a representation to:He was caught on two occasions and claimed it was school art project work. He says that people's dignity has been overtaken by the predominant social and economic power of the military.

He also writes art criticism for Pakistani publications.fact|date=February 2008

He lives lives in Karachi's affluent Defence Housing Authority neighbourhood with his parents.

Notes and references

External links

* [http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/yourgallery/artist_profile/a/2721.html Asim Butt on Saatchi Gallery Your Gallery]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/629/629/7140085.stm#asim BBC feature (includes video)]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7148656.stm Asim Butt answers some questions (BBC)]