Viewing ‘Nau, Nau, Doh, Chaar’ by Liaqat Rasul at Tŷ Pawb Art Gallery

This exhibition is a homecoming for artist Liaqat Rasul in the town he was born and raised in – the perfect location for his first institutional solo exhibition. This retrospective, titled “NAU, NAU, DOH, CHAAR,” (Urdu for 9924) at Tŷ Pawb Art Gallery in Wrexham moves through significant moments in the artist’s career to date, from 1999, the year Rasul made his fashion label into a limited company, through to more recent collage and fibre works, delicate, intricately crafted pieces that often transform everyday ephemera and overlooked items.

“I’m a low tech and spontaneous kind of artist, scissors, scalpel, tapes, cutting mat rulers and pens biros and pencils are ready to hand.” Rasul has said. “I adore colour and working immediately with mark making. I often use a thread and needle to combine parts of the collage, I don’t do neat and precise I enjoy being a bit messy and not perfect, I think its much more energised and beautiful to view.”

Sometimes suspended and kinetic, like mobiles, using textures, like pleats, drawing on his background as fashion designer, Rasul uses a unique mix of symbols, patterns and colours to create astonishingly detailed and evocative pieces. “NAU, NAU, DOH, CHAAR” is a testament to Liaqat’s extraordinary and wide-ranging artistic practice and offers a glimpse into the diverse influences that inspire him, from Indian textiles (the artist lived and worked in the country for 12 years) to his advocacy for mental health and wellbeing issues. And above all, the takeaway from Rasul’s works is one of fostering kindness towards one another, which is something we all need to hear at this time.