JAMALI

Jamalli grew up in Peshawar in the northwestern Himalayas. At age 13, he was sent to a British military academy from which he was expelled at age 16. He believed in peace, not war. He went to live in primitive and austere conditions in the Rajasthan desert for five years with the Sufis. He studied their dancing that can induce a trance-like state.

Jamali is a mystic. His paintings reflect a mystical sense of being along with a sense of unity with the elements. In what he calls his fresco tempera technique, ground pigments are applied to a prepared canvas, on which Jamali dances. The pigments are then chemically bonded to the canvas resulting in a highly textured, complex surface. Jamali’s canvas dancing is no doubt carried out in a trance-like state, but the important point is the residue of this state is alive on the canvas.

Many of Jamali’s surfaces have leaves, twigs, even insects embedded in them since they were made outdoors, subject to the elements, creating a heavily encrusted result with a rich patina. His paintings have the look of prehistoric cave paintings. They often have the same crude, lush energy—peculiarly elegant because it is so primitive.

His works are in 1500 private collections in the United States. He brings together mysticism and quantum mechanics in a beautiful, powerful exotic art.












New River Gallery
914 East Las Olas Boulevard, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
954-524-2100 www.newrivergallery.com