Drawn from Life
  Abbot Hall Art Gallery, 14th January 2011 to 26th March 2011
  Abbot Hall Art Gallery presents Drawn From Life, a show concerned with the expanded notion of drawing, looking at it from various approaches and themes through the works of artists from from Asia, Europe, the US and the Middle East.

The exhibition is a continuation to the trilogy shows ‘Drawing Space’, ‘Drawing Process and ‘Drawing Form’, which were introduced at Green Cardamom between 2008 and 2009. This show offers a new take, by proposing an exciting conversation between pieces from Abbot Hall’s historic collection of 18th – 21st century paintings and artifacts and the work of mostly young international artists, who were part of the Drawn From Life series. The dialogue occurs through the juxtaposition of works from different eras and styles, as well as the development of a series of new commissions created in response to the collections and the locations.

Abbot Hall Art Gallery’s collection is emblematic of British identity and culture with artworks by the likes of J. M. W. Turner, Barbara Hepworth and L.S. Lowry. Thus by selecting pieces from Great Britain’s historical and cultural patrimony and juxtaposing them with artworks by current artists from South Asia, the Middle East and Euro-America, the exhibition opens up a dialogue between these different locales and eras, and uses art to explore questions of identity, history and the very act of living.

The exhibition is curated by Hammad Nasar in collaboration with Helen Watson from Abbot Hall Art Gallery. The exhibition includes a programme of talks and a publication with an essay by Katharine Stout, curator at Tate Britain and co-founder of the Drawing Room in London.

Among the artists featured are Hamra Abbas, Frank Auerbach, Muhanned Cader, Iftikhar and Elizabeth Dadi, Lucian Freud, Ali Kazim, Noa Lidor, LS Lowry, Paul Nash, Nadia Kaabi Linke. Ahmed Ali Manganhar, Rehana Mangi., Ben Nicholson, Nusra Latif Qureshi, Bridget Riley, Kurt Schwitters, Anwar Jalal Shemza, Graham Sutherland, Zarina and Muhammad Zeeshan.