Muhanned Cader (1966)
- ABOUT
- EXHIBITIONS
- BOOKS PUBLISHED
- WORKS
- EDUCATION
“It is through drawing that he strives to formulate a visual language combined with signs and symbols observed in the objects and materials of everyday. Typically, many of the forms in his work are rooted in abstraction that comes from an observation of shapes, forms and colours in nature.” – Mariah Lookman
Muhanned Cader is a Sri Lankan artist born and raised in Colombo. As a student Cader showed an interest in art during his early years, and later went on to receive a formal art education at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the late 1990s. Cader is recognized by Josephine Breese as an artist that belongs to a distinct school of thought in the contemporary art scene in the country due to his “fascination with abstraction”. He uses abstract motifs and imagery that may not directly depict his take on socio-cultural and political aspects of human existence, but could yield a multiplicity of meanings. Due to his ability to communicate universally through abstraction Cader has come to occupy a space of profundity and repute in Sri Lanka as well as overseas. He has exhibited in the US, UK, Australia, India, Singapore, Pakistan as well as Bangladesh on various artistic platforms since the early 1990s. He is also the first artist from the contemporary art scene of Sri Lanka to have had one of his work, “Nightscapes – Ocean, River and Sea” represented at a renowned Christie’s New York auction. Cader received the prestigious “Kala Suri” award presented by the Government of Sri Lanka in 2005, and the Bunka Award given by the Japan Sri Lanka Friendship Cultural Fund in 2004. He has taught at the Vibhavi Academy of Fine Arts in Colombo and has been a visiting lecturer at the Ramanathan Academy of Fine Arts located at the University of Jaffna. He currently divides his time between Colombo, Sri Lanka and Oxford, UK.
Cader refers to his art as a representation of “true politics”, as he aspires to remove obvious political associations or commentary from his work. However, the abstract shapes and geometric variations he uses on the canvas can invite and inspire readings about power. His use of such uncommon and unique formats prevents the viewer from seeing the full scene, creating the mind space for “true politics” to emerge as a visual metaphor. For his solo exhibition Glueandstick held in 2017 at the Barefoot Gallery, Cader revived the cut-out technique used by Henri Matisse, using glossy and colourful cutouts from magazines such as the National Geographic to create high quality digital prints that make a commentary on environmental degradation as well as the negative repercussions caused by the political world such as loss of habitat and human displacement. Mariah Lookman, curator of the exhibition claimed that the works take Cader further in his journey of constructing an artistic identity for himself as he explores “bad politics” alongside “true politics” through visual metaphor associated with the slowly deteriorating wildlife and natural beauty of Sri Lanka. The abstract pieces from magazines make a statement by themselves: “these abstract compositions reflect Muhanned’s visual system of forms that he has been using to critique bogus ideas of development seen in his recent exhibitions, and become more pertinent in the present time of massive political change,” said Lookman. His previous exhibitions such as Island (2016) and Jungle Tide (2015) also dealt with the natural world and the rapid changes happening in Sri Lanka in terms of urban development promoted under the label of progress.
Cader has always worked with the aim of “breaking the frame”, which he does mainly by avoiding the use of the rectangular frame on his canvas. The exhibition A Different Lens held in 2013 at the Koel Gallery in Pakistan is one attempt where he breaks the frame in relation to landscapes of the sea and the sky, using shapes that almost resemble the known such as a lion, a dove or a human bone. Although such works may not directly deal with political issues, Cader ensures that they disrupt the politics of image making. Such thinking can be traced to his fascination with cartography and the need to remove rigid framing of imagery and visuality. His installation “Galle Fort; Fort Kochi” displayed at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale in 2014 uses non-rectangular shaping and framing to depict his rejection of fixed notions of identity. For this piece he used graphite on wood to signify different shapes and images he discovered on the coast of Kochi.
Cader is also known for his series of artworks such as Never Mind the Bullshit (2011) and Coded and Loaded (2010), which are collections developed not necessarily as exhibits but as collectives that force reflection. Never Mind the Bullshit is a collection created using washed up materials found on the beaches of the island of Sri Lanka. Referring to the collection Cader said, “through these paintings, gouache on paper, I have juxtaposed the idea of tragedy with glory, for at the end of any conflict, the winners, or heroes are celebrated, and the rest forgotten. With this body of work, I have in my way paid a tribute to the ordinary and not glorious. In memory of all those, and all that stands resistant to the test and trials of time.” The collection is significant in that it uses unconventional and day-to-day material in the process of creation, highlighting the need to celebrate not only the heroes who brought peace ending the ethnic conflict, but also the ordinary citizens who underwent trauma living with a constant state of insecurity and fear. Such collections, therefore, although not as politically charged as the works of some of Cader’s contemporaries, engage in a socio-cultural and political commentary relevant to Sri Lanka as well as the universal context.
Year | Exhibition | Venue |
2019 | COLOMBOSCOPE: Sea Change | Colombo, Sri Lanka |
2018 | Abu-Dhabi Art 2018 | Abu-Dhabi |
2018 | Seven Plus One | Lionel Wendt Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
2018 | Lahore Biennale 01 | Lahore, Pakistan |
2018 | Dhaka Art Summit | Dhaka, Bangladesh |
2017 | Glueandstick | Barefoot Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
2016 | Island | Talwar Gallery, New Delhi, India |
2015 | Jungle Tide | Talwar Gallery, New York, USA |
2014 | Kochi-Muziris Biennale | Kochi, India |
2013 | A Different Lens | Koel Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan |
2012 | Lines of Control | Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Cornell, USA |
2011 | Scripted Across the Indian Ocean | Green Cardamom Gallery, London, UK |
2011 | Lines of Control | British Council, London, UK |
2011 | Non-Aligned | Barefoot Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
2011 | Contemporary Art from Sri Lanka | Asia House, London, UK |
2011 | Drawn from Life | Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal, UK |
2010 | Casting Light | Saskia Fernando Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
2010 | Visual Responses During the War: Selected Works of Artists | Lionel Wendt and Harold Peiris Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
2009 | APT 6, Art Asia Pacific Triennial | Brisbane, Australia |
2009 | Drawn from Life: Drawing Form | Green Cardamom Gallery, London, UK |
2009 | Colombo Art Biennale: Imagining Peace | Colombo, Sri Lanka |
2009 | Borderland | Collyer Bristow Gallery, London, UK |
2009 | The One-Year Drawing Project: An Exhibition of Drawings | Devi Foundation, New Delhi, India |
2008 | Drawn from Life: Drawing Space | Green Cardamom Gallery, London, UK |
2008 | Drawn from Life: Drawing Process | Green Cardamom Gallery, London, UK |
2008 | Recent Developments in Contemporary Sri Lankan Painting | Bezuidenhoutseweg 407, The Hague, Netherlands |
2007 | Drawing Sculpture | Barefoot Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
2006 | Singapore Biennale: Belief | Singapore |
2005 | Curry Side of the Moon | Barefoot Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
2004 | Landscapes | Zahoor-ul-Akhlaq Gallery, National College of Arts (NCA), Lahore, Pakistan |
2004 | Drawings | Paradise Road Galleries, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
2003 | Birth of Un-Cool | Vibhavi Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
2002 | 79 Days in Lahore | Zahoor-ul-Akhlaq Gallery, National College of Arts (NCA), Lahore, Pakistan |
2001 | In Black and White | Barefoot Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
1999 | Nightscapes | Barefoot Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
1999 | No Groups Show | Vibhavi Academy of Fine Arts (VAFA) Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
1998 | International Artists Camp | National Art Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
1998 | In-dependence | Lionel Wendt Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
1998 | Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture | Heritage Art Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
1997 | KHOJ International Artists Workshop | New Delhi, India |
1997 | Untitled, Drawings and Paintings | Heritage Art Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
1996 | Untitled, Drawings and Paintings | Sri Lanka Foundation Institute, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
1996 | Student and Faculty | Vibhavi Academy of Fine Arts (VAFA) Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
1995 | Untitled, Drawings and Paintings | Barefoot Gallery, Colombo, Sri Lanka |
1994 | Untitled | Below Nine Gallery, Chicago, USA |
1993 | Faculty and Students of Colour Show | School of the Art Institute of Chicago, USA |
1992 | Untitled Group-Show | Gallery X, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, USA |
Series
Year | Series |
2011 | Never Mind The Bullshit |
2010 | Coded and Loaded |
Ref :MC 1
Title :Book 4, Glue and Stick
Signed :Reverse
Year :2017
Measurements in Cms :21 x 26
Material Used :Mixed Media Photo Collage print, Ink Jet on Hahnemuhle 100% Cotton Acid and Lignin-Free Paper – 305 gsm
Ref :MC 7
Title :Book 4, Glue and Stick
Signed :Reverse
Year :2017
Measurements in Cms :21 x 26
Material Used :Mixed Media Photo Collage Print, Ink Jet on Hahnemuhle 100% Cotton Acid and Lignin-Free Paper – 305 gsm
Year | Qualification | Institute |
1994 | BA | School of the Art Institute of Chicago, USA |
1990 | Kendall College of Art and Design, USA |