Ali Kazim creates layered, textured watercolors and ink drawings of primarily desolate landscapes and isolated figures. His meticulous brushwork employs miniature painting techniques to capture the finest details like individual strands of hair. Kazim treats landscapes with the same forensic finesse and considers the ancient civilizations that once flourished in Pakistan. Deploying an archaeological approach, he documents ruins and uses clay to create objects seemingly excavated from long-buried cities.
Kazim received his MFA from London’s Slade School of Fine Art in 2011 and BFA from Lahore’s National College of Arts in 2002. He is Assistant Professor at Lahore’s National College of Arts.
His work was exhibited widely in solo and group shows internationally including at Seoul’s Art Sonje Center (2022); Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology (2022); Lahore’s 01 (2018) and 02 (2020) biennales as well as at its COMO Museum of Art (2019); Karachi’s 2019 as well as 2017 biennales; the 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art in Brisbane (2018); Oslo’s Office of Contemporary Art (2016); Vienna’s Hinterland Galerie (2016); Dhaka’s Art Summit (2016); Seoul’s Arts Centre (2016) as well as Hangaram Arts Museum (2015); and Warsaw’s Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle (2015).
Ali Kazim’s work resides in many public collections around the including Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology; London’s British Museum as well as its Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum; New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art (MoMA); and Brisbane’s Queensland Art Gallery.