Ismail Gulgee
Ismail Gulgee
Engineer and Artist
Born: October 25th, 1926
Died: December 16th, 2007
Biography
Ismail Gulgee was born in Peshawar, Pakistan. He completed his early education in Pakistan and for higher studies he went to United States, there he completed his Civil Engineering from Columbia University and Harvard University. During his studies he started painting for his soul satisfaction. Gulgee explains it like this:
“My work is the externalization of my inner journey. Through it I communicate with the pulse of life. The calligraphic form and movement that emerge are not premeditated or cerebral; it is intuitive and articulates something deep inside me. It is important that no thought of how people will react to my work intrudes, as that would destroy the thread and take the truth away. I am enchanted by Islamic calligraphy and feel close to the Sufi mystics. At the mystic level barriers melt away and religious experiences, Buddhist, Hindu or Muslim, all becomes one. One could call it human experience of the ineffable. For me the medium of the unknown is space and the calligraphic choreography of my painting is the dance of the dervish. To me the act of painting is the making real of the essential Yogic experience of life as pure movement. I find it difficult to speak about my paintings because the act of putting together words only explains and cannot make real the experience, which, for me, is the only reality, the only value that gives meaning to my life. Therefore I will end this by adding that I live only when I paint. The rest is but a wait, a preparation mixed with prayer for crossing the threshold from life into the experience of life.” Gulgee being realistic and abstract in nature acquired totally a different meaning and entirely new sensitivity to the painting world. On his canvas the dynamic forces of creation and expression unite and energize a new being. At first he did all kinds of style of paintings. In the beginning his sketches were highly
Engineer and Artist
Born: October 25th, 1926
Died: December 16th, 2007
Biography
Ismail Gulgee was born in Peshawar, Pakistan. He completed his early education in Pakistan and for higher studies he went to United States, there he completed his Civil Engineering from Columbia University and Harvard University. During his studies he started painting for his soul satisfaction. Gulgee explains it like this:
“My work is the externalization of my inner journey. Through it I communicate with the pulse of life. The calligraphic form and movement that emerge are not premeditated or cerebral; it is intuitive and articulates something deep inside me. It is important that no thought of how people will react to my work intrudes, as that would destroy the thread and take the truth away. I am enchanted by Islamic calligraphy and feel close to the Sufi mystics. At the mystic level barriers melt away and religious experiences, Buddhist, Hindu or Muslim, all becomes one. One could call it human experience of the ineffable. For me the medium of the unknown is space and the calligraphic choreography of my painting is the dance of the dervish. To me the act of painting is the making real of the essential Yogic experience of life as pure movement. I find it difficult to speak about my paintings because the act of putting together words only explains and cannot make real the experience, which, for me, is the only reality, the only value that gives meaning to my life. Therefore I will end this by adding that I live only when I paint. The rest is but a wait, a preparation mixed with prayer for crossing the threshold from life into the experience of life.” Gulgee being realistic and abstract in nature acquired totally a different meaning and entirely new sensitivity to the painting world. On his canvas the dynamic forces of creation and expression unite and energize a new being. At first he did all kinds of style of paintings. In the beginning his sketches were highly