A formal approach to pattern is unusual in my work. I
often rely on chance and accidental groupings as stimulus for beginning a composition. This piece of work begins with the intention of formality but this is soon lost as the composition progresses.

There is a consistency in the form of the tile modules which make up the material of the piece, but the surface of the tiles and the intensity of detail is disrupted as the eye
moves across it.

The piece makes fleeting reference to the rugs of North Africa. In particular those seen in Morrocco, where the weaver often begins the rug design in a disciplined and studied manner but eventually loses control of scale and detail as the weave progresses. A randomness creeps in which is then amplified across the remainder of the
surface, resulting in a duality of order and chaos in one piece.
  Lubna Chowdhary

Born 1964 in Tanzania to Pakistani parents, who then migrated and settled in industrial Lancashire in 1970.
After a dismal education in the north, embarked on an inspirational Art Foundation course, which changed the course of her life. Eventually, after a protracted journey 
she arrived at the glorious capital, London and the Royal College of Art where she received an influential travel Scholarship to visit India. Influential in raising many questions of identity, both her own and of the work she
was creating.

Since then the man made urban environment has been her primary creative influence. In the past 12 years "Metropolis" her major creative output has been "Metropolis" a multi object work of 1000 pieces that has evolved in a random rather than linear manner. It is a work, which refers to technology and popular culture; it explores ideas of production and obsolescence within our material world. Cataloguing human output before, during and beyond our present existence on earth. Each object communicates a visual echo of a time. Through its form and surface it carries history, stimulates memory, suggests value and generates meaning. It is a response to modern life and our present day reality where language, culture, traditions, boundaries and time begin to dissolve.

Recent work and the work in this exhibition, develops and indulges a long held fascination with the decorative surface. Her past approach to pattern and colour has been intuitive and occasionally hesitant due to the European response to the decorative. The term "horror vacuii" - horror of empty space has been particularly inspirational. The term makes reference to the all over designs prevalent in the middle east and Indian subcontinent and it has inspired Lubna’s own confidence to decorate on a purely two dimensional surface.



www.lubnachowdhary.co.uk