Mohsin Shaikh — Molten Majesty | Cosmopolitan Art Magazine Pakistan

Behind the Artist

A life in images.

Based in Rawalpindi, Mohsin Shaikh is a multidisciplinary artist who studied painting at the National College of Arts, Lahore. Painting remains at the centre of an adventurous practice shaped by material experimentation, observation, personal memory and questions about the world around him.

Art first entered his life as a child, encouraged by his mother. When societal expectations nearly led him away from the field, his friend Umair Fayyaz urged him to pursue his studies at NCA. There, teachers including Ustad Bashir Ahmed and Quddus Mirza helped deepen his understanding of the ideas and feelings behind an image.

For Shaikh, art is not an object separate from life, but a means of giving form to emotions and questioning accepted truths.

“For me, being an artist is not simply about making images. It is about questioning what we accept as truth.”

Mohsin Shaikh · Artist interview

Memory & Meaning

Where memory becomes material.

In his Chalkboard Series, memories of struggling with academics become a way to question education, authority and the instability of truth. The phrase “Nothing is true” sits at the heart of that inquiry.

His Cosmic Clouds series grew instead from tender childhood evenings spent lying beside his mother and inventing worlds among the stars.

Selected Works

Chalkboard / An exploration of truth and memory

Process

The beauty of not knowing.

Experimentation is central to Shaikh’s process. He draws, tests, fails, changes direction and follows curiosity into new materials and visual languages. Daydreaming often precedes the physical act of making: images and forms unfold in his imagination before he brings them to paper or canvas.

His work repeatedly returns to heartbreak, tenderness, solitude and the contradictions of human behaviour. Creating becomes a kind of catharsis, allowing otherwise unspoken feelings to take new form.

Selected Works

Cosmic Clouds / Finding wonder beyond the familiar

“I think art becomes most exciting when I do not already know exactly where it will end.”

Mohsin Shaikh · On experimentation

Molten Majesty

All power melts.

In Molten Majesty, Shaikh examines the hunger for power, wealth and status through animals, crowns and molten gold. Gold becomes a deliberately conflicted image: beautiful and precious, yet capable of burning and destroying.

Animals embody innocence and instinct, while human symbols of authority mark them with the consequences of greed. The series presents a tension between natural purity and the corruption of desire.

Discussed in his interview in relation to an exhibition at Ejaz Art Gallery, this body of work asks viewers to recognise their own humanity behind the glitter of ambition. The interview does not establish a confirmed exhibition date.

Selected Works

Observations of nature / Intimate studies

In Conversation

In the artist's words.

What does art mean to you beyond being your profession?

“Art, to me, is everything. It is love, anger, sadness, anxiety, silence, hope, and every emotion I carry within myself.”

What does your creative process look like?

“An Adventure with lots of experiments.”

Is any single artwork in Molten Majesty particularly meaningful?

“All of them.”

How do you feel about audiences' different reactions?

Shaikh welcomes the range of responses, from beauty and personal recognition to discomfort. A work that unsettles the viewer, he suggests, may prompt them to confront something about themselves.

What do you hope viewers take away?

More than a memory of the paintings, he hopes visitors carry an emotional trace and recognise a little of themselves beneath the imagery of power and gold.

Selected Artworks

Inside Mohsin's world.

Explore selected paintings, from chalkboard-inspired worlds and cosmic skies to intricate studies of birds.

Artwork by Mohsin Shaikh, image 1 — Mohsin Shaikh · Selected artwork

Artwork by Mohsin Shaikh, image 2 — Mohsin Shaikh · Selected artwork

Artwork by Mohsin Shaikh, image 3 — Mohsin Shaikh · Selected artwork

Artwork by Mohsin Shaikh, image 4 — Mohsin Shaikh · Selected artwork

Artwork by Mohsin Shaikh, image 5 — Mohsin Shaikh · Selected artwork

Artwork by Mohsin Shaikh, image 6 — Mohsin Shaikh · Selected artwork

Artwork by Mohsin Shaikh, image 7 — Mohsin Shaikh · Selected artwork

Artwork by Mohsin Shaikh, image 8 — Mohsin Shaikh · Selected artwork

Artwork by Mohsin Shaikh, image 9 — Mohsin Shaikh · Selected artwork

Artwork by Mohsin Shaikh, image 10 — Mohsin Shaikh · Selected artwork

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