Publications

154 Profiles
Inner Majesty /Outer Immensity: The Work of Fareen Butt
By Dominique Nahas
Fareen Butt¹s visual renditions of mountain peaks and
passes such as her Mirage Himalaya series of 2010 are
madeofpreciousgemsandmetals.Theartist¹stechnique,
a cross-cultural amalgamation of Japanese nihonga,
East Indian gemstone painting and Post-Impressionist
pointillist painting is unique in the world in terms of
its virtuoso application over expansive pictorial fields.
Such virtuosity, as we shall see, is at the service of a
complex vision of layered artistic intentionalities. She
uses brushes as well bespoke tools used to sort, blend,
apply and handle her specially made and prepared
materials in the form of aggregates, nuggets, powders,
dusts, foils as well as gemstone and mineral pigments of
various densities. All of these materials and their binders
are then placed within designated compositional areas,
like pieces of a giant puzzle that appear to fuse on the
surface of her pictorial surfaces while remaining distinct
and individuated as well. The result is a body of work
through which is implicated a thorough mindfulness of
her subject matter and its content as well as devotional
commitment to her artistic practice.
Butt¹s vision in terms of mark making and composition
takes shape incrementally as well as laterally. She literally
builds the surfaces (there are 3 to 7 layers that are applied
in each painting) of her work, shaping patterns next to
patterns, very much as one would expect and in a very
real way her working process embodies the subject of her
work, the earthen body. Not coincidentally such work
can be appreciated from different angles of viewing and
from various positions and angles of inspection. What is
immediately evident is that she has become controlling
of the magicalization of surfaces. A full viewing and
experiential experience requires multiple viewings or
being in the presence of each work for long durations.
The mystery element takes hold through Butt¹s visual
play as all of the bits of tactile information she uses
Mirage Canyon 2-5, Mirage Mountainscape Series, 2009, minerals including turquoise, copper, agate, sapphire, emeralds, 600x150cm - private collection
in New York, courtesy of the artist.

155Profiles
to create each work snaps into visual coherency that
allows the representational motif to come into view
as an overall gestalt from a certain viewing position
and just as easily becomes unfettered as the eye gets
closer to the surfaces allowing a full enjoyment of free-
flowing patterns. Mountain-scapes as a subject matter
in aesthetics is heady material. Inherent in the subject
matter itself is content that is layered and incrementally
satisfying. Depictions of mountains, the so-called
“vertical empires” in the East and West is fraught with
intimations of dwelling with or in the precincts of the
Divine. In ancient Greece Mount Olympus was the
dwelling-space of the gods and goddesses. In Taoist
tradition the peaks of mountains were the abode of the
immortals. For the Taoist High places were places from
which to feel the essence of immaterial spirit, not, as
Simon Schama reminds us, to survey the panorama of
the earth or as a site of human triumph and possession.
In Medieval times in the West depictions of elevation
and high mountains were often as reminders of liminal
areas for meditation by ascetics devoted to meditation
and prayer. In German literature, a topos is the Venus
Mountain (venusberg) that also appears in Richard
Wagner¹s opera Tanhauser. This mountain is a Œhellish
Mirage Bamboo 1, Mirage Bamboo Series, 2009, minerals including sapphire, agate, jasper, alabaster, emeralds 2009, 180x150cm - Private collection in
New York, courtesy of the artist

156 Profiles
paradise², a place of lust and abandon, where time
flows differently; the visitor loses all sense of time, and
through he thinks h his stay only lasts a few hours, when
he finally leaves the mountain seven years have passed.
Fareen’s depictions of individual mountain peaks and
mountainscapes are extraordinary visual metaphors
for transformation itself. Her paintings of the highest
peaks on earth as in her Himalaya Series Mirage works
cannot but remind us of the myth of Shambhala with
its reference to the Tibetan Buddhist “Pure Land” as
the site and society in which all its inhabitants are
enlightened and who live in sequestered tranquility far
above the earth¹s other denizens. Such a territory a
mythicalandfabulouskingdomwhoserealityisvisionary
or spiritual as much as it is physical or geographic gained
popular appeal in the West in the 19th century through
the Theosophical Society¹s founder HP Blavatsky who
mentions the Shambhala myth in his writings thus
giving occult spin to this mind-space. The legend and
concept of Shangri-La was further extended by James
Hilton¹s 1933 novel Lost Horizon as well as popular
National Geographic articles of the same time period
Mirage Tower 1, Mirage Mountainscape Series, 2010, minerals including platinum, paladium, onyx, sapphire, amethyst, 180x150cm - Courtesy of the artist

157Profiles
on eastern Tibet that mediatically opened up that area
of the world to millions of people.
Butt has spoken and written about the alchemical
considerations in her work. She has made it clear that
she feels very much as one of these early metaphysicians
who attempted to find the Philosopher¹s Stone of
complete complementariness with God by what we
recognize now as pre-scientific experimentations with
chemical substances such as quicksilver, salt and sulphur
and solvents. C. G. Jung wrote of alchemy as a hermetic
philosophy dedicated to the releasing of “the world
creating spirit concealed or imprisoned in matter.”
He continues: “Nietzsche¹s metaphor in Zarathustra,
an image slumbers for me in the stone says much the
same thing, but the other way round. In antiquity the
material world was filled with the projection of a psychic
secret, which from then on appeared as the secret of
matter and remained so until the decay of alchemy
in the eighteenth century. Nietzsche, with his ecstatic
intuition, tries to wrest the secret of the superman
from the stone in which it has long been slumbering”.
But it is the other way about with the alchemists: they
were looking for the marvelous stone that harbored a
pneumatic essence in order to win from it the substance
that penetrates all substances since it is itself the stone
penetrating spirit and transforms all base metals into
noble ones by a process of coloration.
My implication here is clear: Fareen Butt¹ s artistic
intentionalities are inscribed, palimpsest-like, on top
of those of the alchemists in antiquity. That is, to
uncover the ³spirit-substance² of matter as a means
of self-transformation and self-actualization. This
goal incidentally is the originary reason why all artists
throughout history have wanted to be and have become
the artists we know them to be in the first place. Fareen
Butt, as part of her artistic process uses substances
alluding to the ³first cause² of self transformation:
³prima materia², as the alchemist would term it, in the
form of earthly and elemental materials and substances
such as silver, coral, turquoise, malachite, jasper, ruby,
malachite, emerald, gold, silver as well as in some cases
meteor minerals. Her meta-subject, the Mountain,
with all of its suggestiveness of being at the center of
the earth and of ascent, ascension to and toward power,
strength and timelessness becomes part of a larger
associational themata of self-actualization through
psychic transformation. There is certainly an extra
physical aspect to Butt¹s vision. The attendant mystical
suggestions become part of the auratic presence of
her work. Another aspect of the work that pulsates
throughout it is that its inner and outer vision becomes
matched incongruously yet marvelously so. This partly
has to do with her subject matter that refers to time and
timelessness (that is to a time anterior to the temporal
time as we know it.). This allows her paintings retinal,
auratic and haptic qualities to cascade into revelation.
Dominique Nahas is an independent curator, art critic
and a senior faculty in Yale Univeristy.

XX XX
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Biographie
expositions personnelles
descriptif
___
expositions collectives
descriptif
10 / www.luxe-immo.com10 / www.luxe-immo.com
Fareen Butt
En tant que peintre, vous utilisez des pierres précieuses dans vos œu-
vres. Pouvez-vous revenir sur votre parcours artistique ?
J’ai toujours aimé créer. Ma mère et ma grand-mère étaient maîtres
de tapisserie tandis que dans la famille de mon père, il y avait des
musiciens doués. Le goût des arts m’a donc été inculqué dès mon
plus jeune âge. Mes parents m’ont nommée ainsi en hommage à un
jardin en Iran entretenu pour le royaume et ma mère créa une petite
tapisserie de ce jardin peu de temps après ma naissance. Dès mes
deux ans, ma mère m’a appris à dessiner des paysages complexes
et ensuite, alors que j’étais adolescente, elle m’a encouragée à sui-
vre des formations chez des joaillers et artisans locaux de la région
(nous vivions alors à Islamabad). À cette époque, j’ai eu la chance
de pouvoir voyager et découvrir les traditions des créations locales,
telles que le Rajasthan, la Passe de Khyber, le Népal, le Cachemire, le
Tadjikistan, l’Ouzbékistan, le Turkménistan et Xinxiang. Quand j’étais
dans ces régions, j’observais comment étaient utilisés les éléments
naturels et les minéraux par les artisans locaux. Je trouvais que la
sincérité de l’expression locale et les paysages à couper le souffle qui
m’entouraient étaient une source d’inspiration incroyable.
Quelles ont été les différentes étapes de ce parcours artistique ?
Quand j’ai officiellement commencé à peindre, j’avais l’habitude de
créer des espaces abstraits inspirés par Le Veda. Ce sont les séries
appelées Akasa et Ekaksara.
Pour le dire plus simplement, Ekaksara ne peut exister sans les élé-
ments d’Akasa. Dans ces travaux, la lumière est créée par l’inclinaison
naturellement phosphorescente des pigments et par l’interaction des
couleurs. D’un point de vue strictement physique, les travaux contien-
nent des pigments de matériaux naturels qui réagissent à la lumière
naturelle (ou à son absence) de façons très intéressantes ; il s’agit
d’expériences dans le domaine de la création/réaction à la lumière
naturelle. Les méthodes utilisées sont la fluorescence, la phosphores-
cence, la théorie des couleurs et la relativité de la couleur.
Les idées, les préoccupations et les thèmes de ces séries ont une
tendance conceptuelle. Il s’agit d’une méditation visuelle sur les
concepts de la Création de Sufi et de Vedic. Ils explorent les éléments
de l’espace et de la lumière. L’espace peut, dans un premier temps,
être considéré comme le fait de regarder le même phénomène depuis
You are a gemstone painter. What has been your path to art?
I have always been creative. My mother and grandmother were
masters of the tapestry arts while my father’s family were gifted mu-
sicians. So an appreciation for the arts has been inculcated from
a very young age. They named me after a garden in Iran that had
been manicured for royalty, and my mother created a small tapestry
of the garden soon after my birth. Since I was two years old my
mother taught me to draw complex sceneries, and later as a teena-
ger encouraged me to take on apprenticeships with local jewelers
and artisans in the region (we lived in Islamabad at the time). While
living there, I had a chance to travel and see the local creative tra-
ditions of regions such as Rajistan, Khyber Pass, Nepal, Kashmir,
Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Xingxian. While in these
regions, I observed the use of natural elements and minerals in local
artisanal crafts. I found the honesty of the local expression, as well
as the breathtaking landscapes encountered on my travels, to be
incredibly inspiring.
What stages did you go through?
When I formally started to paint, I used to create abstract spaces
inspired by the Vedas. These works are referred to as the Akasa and
Ekaksara Series.
To put it simply, the state of Ekaksara cannot exist without the ele-
ments of Akasa. In these works, light is created through the naturally
phosphorescent inclination of the pigments, as well as the interplay
of color. Physically, the works contain pigments from natural mi-
nerals that react with natural light (or the absence of) in interesting
ways; they are experiments within the realm of creating / reacting
to natural light. Techniques involve fluorescence, phosphorescence,
color theory, and color relativity.
The ideas, concerns and themes for this series have a conceptual
leaning. These works are a visual meditation on the Sufi and Vedic
concepts of Creation. They explore the elements of space and light.
Space can first be considered as looking at the same phenomenon
from two different angles. The first, which is always introduced by
the compound word, Akasa-Dhatu (space-element) means Space
Fareen Butt est spécialisée dans la peinture
utilisant des pierres précieuses comme ma-
tière de ses toiles. Elle est née à Toronto et vit
à New York. Elle a exposé et créé de nom-
breuses pièces sur commande au niveau in-
ternational. Elle a aujourd’hui suscité l’intérêt
de quelques collections réputées, ainsi que
celui de musées. Peindre avec les pigments
de pierres précieuses fut employé pendant
des milliers d’années par de nombreux arti-
sans du Japon à la Perse. On peut trouver
dans les œuvres de Fareen de l’or pur et de
l’argent, mais aussi du saphir, de l’onyx et
des minéraux plus familiers aux géologues
comme la withérite (minéral phosphorescent)
ou le muonionalusta (minéral trouvé dans les
météorites). La série Mirage est inspirée de
paysages sacrés. La série Akasa est inspirée
des notions « védiques » de lumière, espace
et création.
Fareen Butt is a gemstone painter born in
Toronto and based in New York. She has
exhibited and created commissioned works
internationally. Several prominent collec-
tions, as well as museums have created in-
terest in her works. Painting with gemstone
pigments has been employed for thousands
of years by a variety of artisans from Japan
to Persia, in which the medium consists of
precious stones and metals. Fareen’s work
can contain pure gold and silver for example,
as well as sapphire, onyx, and minerals more
familiar to geologists such as witherite (phos-
phorescent mineral) or muonionalusta (mine-
ral from a meteor). Conceptually, the Mirage
Series is inspired by sacred landscapes. The
Akasa Series is inspired by vedic notions of
light, space, and creation.
fareenbutt.com

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luxe immo
ARTS-
DESIGN
titre, année
descriptif
dimensions
www.luxe-immo.com / 11www.luxe-immo.com / 11
Fareen Butt
luxe immo
ARTS-
DESIGN
Mirage Canyon 17.1 / 17.2, 2010, minéraux sur toile : agathe, cornaline, saphire, lapiz, cuivre, topaze, météorite, grenat, 5 x 6 pieds
minerals on canvas including agate, carnelian, sapphire, lapiz, copper, topaz, meteorite, garnet, 5 x 6 feet
Canyon 20 (détail / detail), 2010, minéraux sur toile : or, platine, palladium, météorite, pyrite, onyx, améthyste, topaze, quartz, 5 x 6 pieds
minerals including gold, palatinum, palladium, meteorite, pyrite, onyx, amethyst, topaz, quartz, 5 x 6 feet each

luxe immo / ARTS-DESIGN /
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as a physical void region or as that which delineates material phe-
nomena (like a room). The second is introduced by the term, Akasa
(space). It means space as a phenomenon for the existence and mo-
vement of matter (like a womb, or a pause in thought). In physical
existence, these dualities merge. They are two codependent perspec-
tives of the same reality. Ekaksara is the state of occurrence of this
phenomenon.
Space can secondly be seen as the universe revealing itself in dual
basic properties: as light/motion, and as that in which motion takes
place, namely Akasa. This space is that through which things step
into visible appearance, i.e., through which they possess extension or
corporeality. Akasa is derived from the Sanskrit root ‘kas’, meaning ‘to
radiate, to shine’. It can be better understood as ‘Ether’ or the medium
of movement.
The principle of light is Prana, the omnipresent rhythm of the universe.
The fundamental element of the cosmos is Space. Space is the all-
embracing principle of higher unity. Nothing can exist without Space.
Space, in existence, is the universe. Space underlies and makes mul-
titude and multiplicity possible. It is the source of the entire cosmos.
The Bindu, or point of creation, is one and yet infinite. Through these
Bindus of color, iridescence and light, my works come together. They
continually strive to visually meditate on the notions of Ekaksara, Aka-
sa and Prana: of Space and Light within Ether, preceding the moment
of Creation. Ekaksara is all of Creation as we know it today.
On the canvas, the stabs of paint congregate initially to create a space
of communion. Through rhythm and repetition, they gain presence
and loose form as they merge together. The image can be an abstrac-
tion of space: space between raindrops, waves in an ocean, night and
day, life and death, each thought, the bardo state, or of meditation. It
is also a motion. This movement is the essence of creation, the emer-
gence of light and dust. The transition of light can be likened to shifts
occurring in these spaces, to a shift of consciousness.
After needing to be very exact with the colors mixed to create each
gradation in pointillism, I could not find specific colors amongst the
traditional oil painting pigments but remembered seeing the colors
years back during my travels.
So I began to study art forms that used mineral pigments. At this
point I also remembered the majestic landscapes I had visited, that
imbued a vibrant liveliness. I was inspired to paint them using mi-
neral pigments.
deux angles différents. Le premier, qui est toujours présenté par le mot
composé Akasa-Dhatu (élément espace), signifie « Espace » en tant que
région physique vide ou comme celle qui délimite les phénomènes ma-
tériels (comme une pièce). Le second est présenté par le terme Akasa
(espace). Il signifie « Espace » en tant que phénomène pour l’existence
et le déplacement de la matière (comme un utérus, ou une pause en
pensée). Dans l’existence physique, ces dualités fusionnent. Ce sont
deux perspectives co-dépendantes de la même réalité. Ekaksara est
l’état de fait de ce phénomène.
L’espace peut ensuite être considéré comme l’univers se révélant lui-
même en des propriétés basiques doubles : comme la dualité lumière/
mouvement où dans ce cas le mouvement est Akasa. Cet espace est
celui à travers lequel les choses prennent une apparence visible, c’est-
à-dire, à travers lequel elles s’étendent ou prennent forme. Akasa est
dérivé de la racine sanskrite « kas », qui signifie « rayonner », « briller ».
On le comprend mieux comme « Ether » ou le moyen de se mouvoir.
Le principe de la lumière est Prana, le rythme omniprésent de l’uni-
vers. L’élément fondamental du Cosmos est l’Espace. L’Espace est le
principe global d’unité supérieure. Rien ne peut exister sans l’Espace.
L’Espace, dans l’existence, c’est l’Univers. L’Espace est la base de
tout et rend la multitude et la multiplicité possibles. Il est la source de
tout l’univers. Le point central, appelé Bindu, est unique et pourtant
infini. À partir de ces points de couleurs, d’iridescence et de lumière,
mes travaux se mettent en place. Ils aspirent continuellement à médi-
ter visuellement sur les notions d’Ekaksara, Akasa et Prana : de l’Es-
pace et la Lumière au sein d’Ether, précédant le moment de Création.
Ekaksara, c’est la Création, comme nous le savons désormais.
Sur la toile, les coups de peinture s’assemblent au départ pour créer
un espace de communion. Avec le rythme et les répétitions, ils ga-
gnent en présence et prennent forme en fusionnant. L’image peut être
une abstraction de l’espace : l’espace entre les gouttes de pluie, les
vagues dans l’océan, la nuit et le jour, la vie et la mort, chaque pensée,
l’état de méditation. C’est également un mouvement qui est l’essence
de la création, l’émergence de la lumière et de la poussière. La tran-
sition de la lumière peut être comparée aux changements observés
dans ces espaces, à une évolution de la conscience.
J’ai eu d’abord le besoin d’exactitude dans le mélange des couleurs
pour créer chaque niveau en pointillisme, mais ensuite, je n’ai pas réussi
à trouver des couleurs spécifiques parmi les pigments traditionnels de
peinture à l’huile, je me suis alors rappelé les couleurs admirées des
années auparavant pendant mes voyages. J’ai donc commencé à
Mirage Himalaya 9, 2010, minéraux sur toile : quartz, topaze, or, améthyste, émeraude, aigue marine, 3 x 7 pieds
minerals on canvas including quartz, topaz, gold, amethyst, emeralds, aquamarine, 3 x 7 feet

titre, année
descriptif
dimensions
luxe immo / ARTS-DESIGN / Fareen Butt
Mirage Half Dome 2.1 / 2.2, 2010, minéraux sur toile : or, péridot, grenat, turquoise, 3 x 7 pieds / minerals including gold, peridot, garnets, turquoise, 5 x 6 feet
Canyon 20 (détail / detail), 2010, minéraux sur toile : or, platine, palladium, météorite, pyrite, onyx, améthyste, topaze, quartz, 5 x 6 pieds
minerals including gold, palatinum, palladium, meteorite, pyrite, onyx, amethyst, topaz, quartz, 5 x 6 feet each

xx
Thus I began the Mirage Series. The works are of abstracted lands-
capes. The chosen landscapes are places rendered as sacred by
the many belief systems of the world. Expressed through the solid,
exceptional medium of gemstones and precious metals, the works
embody the opulent existence of permanence and omnipresence
found to permeate from these landscapes.
Like a mirage on the horizon, there is a more ethereal perspective
upon these lands captured by the paintings.
Your technique is quite particular. How can you describe it?
The works are created by crushed minerals, gemstones, and meteors.
The technique of application for the Akasa and Ekaksara Series is similar
to pointillism; well known artists of this style include France’s Seurat and
the more contemporary abstract expressionist Richard Pousette-Dart.
Each point of paint is approximately 1-3 mm. The paints are created
in the ancient Japanese technique of Nihonga, using pigments derived
from precious and semiprecious stones. Contemporaries of this techni-
que include Hiroshi Senju, Chen Wenguang and Makoto Fujimara.
For the Mirage Series the technique of application includes also Seurat
and Richard Pousette-Dart style. The technique also includes an adap-
tation of such methods as Gemstone Painting of Persia and Hindus-
tan, as well as the ancient Japanese technique of Nihonga, which use
pigments derived from precious and semi-precious stones. Contem-
poraries of this technique include Hiroshi Senju, Chen Wenguang, and
Makoto Fujimara.
Contemporaries of this technique include Hiroshi Senju, Chen
Wen-guangand Makoto Fujimara.
A major influence of the Mirage Mountainscape series is also the artist
Zhang Daqian. Zhang is a modern Chinese landscape artist. His works
recently broke the auction record for highest selling modern artist: it was
Picasso at $311.6 million, in 2011 Zhang’s work reached $506.7 million.
How would you describe your paintings to somebody discovering
them for the first time?
Through this unique material, the paintings capture the omnipresent
spirituality of mountains.
What is your favorite subject, your main inspiration?
My main inspiration comes from unique and breathtaking moun-
tainscapes worldwide.
Can you tell us about your next projects?
I have a few private yacht commissions to be completed in the near
future for prominent families. Of course there will be a new body of
work available for purchase next year. These works are available for
purchase on the web as well as to view during private exhibitions co-
ming up in Monaco, Macau, Dubai, Seoul, Singapore, Luxembourg,
London, Zurich, Davos, New York, New Delhi and several other cities.
I’ll be exhibiting during the Top Marques show in Monaco on April.
Paul Conrad
expositions
Fareen Butt a toujours proposé des expositions privées dans des
événements exclusifs un peu partout dans le monde. Ses prochaines
expositions privées auxquelles on ne peut assister que sur invitation
se dérouleront à Moscou, Saint-Pétersbourg, Dubaï, au Qatar, à Abou
Dhabi, Jakarta, Bombay, Macao, Hong Kong, Pékin, New York,
Londres, Shanghai et Taipei.
EXHIBITIONs
Fareen Butt has always exhibited privately in exclusive venues throu-
ghout the world. Upcoming private exhibitions by invitation only are
planned in Moscow, St Petersburg, Dubai, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Jakata,
Bombay, Macau, Hong Kong, Beijing, New York, London, Shanghai
and Taipei.
étudier les formes d’art utilisant des pigments minéraux. C’est à ce
moment-là que je me suis aussi souvenue des magnifiques paysages
que j’avais vus et qui transmettent une vibrante vitalité. Ils ont été
ma source d’inspiration pour les peindre en utilisant des pigments
minéraux. C’est ainsi que j’ai commencé la série Mirage. Les travaux
représentent des paysages abstraits. Ceux que j’ai choisis sont des
lieux considérés comme sacrés par les différentes croyances dans
le monde. Reflétés par le moyen solide exceptionnel des pierres et
métaux précieux, les travaux incarnent l’opulente existence de la per-
manence et de l’omniprésence émergeant de ces paysages. Comme
un mirage à l’horizon, on voit une perspective plus éthérée sur ces
paysages saisis par les peintures.
Votre technique est assez particulière. Pourriez-vous nous la décrire ?
Les pièces sont constituées de minéraux écrasés, de pierres pré-
cieuses et de météorites. La technique d’application pour les séries
Akasa et Ekaksara est similaire au pointillisme ; des artistes de ce sty-
le très connus sont par exemple le français Seurat et l’expressionniste
abstrait plus contemporain Richard Pousette-Dart. Chaque point de
peinture fait environ de 1 à 3 mm. Les peintures sont créées selon
l’ancienne technique japonaise de Nihonga, qui utilise des pigments
issus de pierres précieuses et semi-précieuses. Parmi les contem-
porains appliquant cette technique, on trouve Hiroshi Senju, Chen
Wenguang et Makoto Fujimara.
Pour la série Mirage, la technique d’application est également empreinte
du style de Seurat et Richard Pousette-Dart. Elle inclut aussi une adap-
tation de méthodes telles que la peinture de pierres précieuses de Perse
et d’Hindoustan ainsi que l’ancienne technique japonaise de Nihonga.
Les artistes contemporains utilisant cette technique sont Hiroshi Senju,
Chen Wen-guanget Makoto Fujimara. L’artiste Zhang Daqian a éga-
lement était une influence majeure de la série Mirage Mountainscape.
Zhang est un artiste de paysage chinois moderne. Il a récemment bat-
tu le record de vente aux enchères pour un artiste moderne vendant le
plus : jusqu’à présent il s’agissant de Picasso à 311,6 millions de dollars,
en 2011 le travail de Zhang a atteint 506,7 millions de dollars.
Comment décririez-vous vos peintures à quelqu’un les découvrant pour
la première fois ?
À travers ces matériaux uniques, les peintures saisissent la spiritualité
omniprésente des montagnes.
Quel est votre thème favori, votre principale source d’inspiration ?
Ma première source d’inspiration vient des montagnes uniques et à
couper le souffle du monde entier.
Pouvez-vous nous parler de vos futurs projets ?
J’ai quelques commandes privées pour des yachts à finir pour des fa-
milles illustres. Bien sûr, une nouvelle série de travaux sera également
disponible à la vente l’an prochain. Ces œuvres sont disponibles à la
vente sur Internet ainsi que dans différentes expositions privées qui
aura lieu à Monaco, Macau, Dubaï, Séoul, Singapour, Luxembourg,
Londres, Zurich, Davos, New York, New Delhi et bien d’autres villes
encore. J’exposerai également à Top Marques Monaco en avril.

titre, année
descriptif
dimensions
luxe immo / ARTS-DESIGN / Fareen Butt
Mirage Alps 1.2 , 2010, minéraux sur toile : or, platine, palladium, météorite, saphire, lapiz, cuivre, quartz, topaze, 3 x 11 pieds
minerals including gold, platinum, palladium, meteorite, sapphire, lapiz, copper, quartz, topaz, 3 x 11 feet
Mirage Canyon 19.1 / 19.2, 2010, minéraux sur toile : or, argent, palladium, platine, rubie, topaze, saphire, cuivre, météorite, 3 x 5 pieds
minerals including gold, silver, palladium, platinum, rubies, topaz, sapphire, copper, meteors , 5 x 6 feet each
Akasa 137, 2012, approximativement 300 minéraux différents sur la toile, 5 x 5 pieds
approximately 300 different mineral pigments on canvas, 5 x 5 ft each
Akasa 137, détail / details

know THE CoMPLETE YACHTInG CoMPAnY, LEAd THE CoMPLETE YACHTInG LIfE IssuE 8 / 2012

For those who love art, featuring it aboard a yacht
can present a number of challenges. Will it be
ruined by the dry salt air? Will watercolours fade
and oil paintings crack? Perfectly suited for
seafaring, however, is the dazzling work of Canadian
artist, Fareen Butt.
Words by Catherine Milner
Bejewelled

38
F
areen Butt’s intriguing and unusual
paintings combine physical resilience
with sparkling beauty. Made from crushed
gemstones and minerals painted onto
canvas, they are reminiscent of religious
icons in that their actual ingredients echo
the potency of their image. For Ms Butt is
the queen of mountains.
“Mountains are revered as significant
by various belief systems,” she says. “From Mount
Sinai in Judaism to the Himalayas in Hinduism
and Buddhism to the Sierra Range by Native
Americans, there is an energy about mountains that
is immediate and unmistakable. A sunset reflected
off a mountain is one of the most beautiful things
you will ever see. It is a spiritual moment reflected
in the majesty of something solid. Regardless of who
you are or what you know, you will be able to relate
to that experience.”
And people apparently do. One of her works was
bought to furnish M/Y Pelorus at the time Roman
Abramovich owned the yacht, and commissions are
tumbling in so fast, Butt has had to employ five new
assistants in the past month to cope.
Born in Toronto to an Afghan mother and a
Kashmiri father, Butt’s work synthesises cultural
influences from both the East and West. During her
teens she worked as an apprentice for jewellery
designers in Islamabad and Rajasthan (the birthplace
of gemstone painting), before attending Parsons
previous page & above
Close ups of ‘Himalaya’
right
Dazzling artist, Fareen Butt
OPPOSITE
A close up view of ‘Canyon’
“there is an energy about mountains
that is immediate and unmistakable. a
sunset reflected off a mountain is one
of the most beautiful things you will
ever see.”

39
bejewelled
will divulge about how she manages to keep her
costs down.
Applied onto a flat canvas using a synthetic
binding agent that hardens like glass, the finished
panels Butt creates can be simply hung on the walls
of the yacht, or fitted into doors or cupboards.
According to Pascale Reymond, co-founder of
Reymond Langton Design, yachts offer an infinite
potential for artistic experimentation and invention.
“Including bespoke art pieces, both as integrated
architectural features or as loose ornamentation, wall
hangings and paintings are all a very important part
of our overall yacht designs,” she said. “It reflects the
owner’s personal taste and character, and enhances
the overall interior atmosphere.”
Helena Howcroft, Reymond’s design assistant,
says: “Sometimes, they can be huge pieces. We
recently made, for instance, a panel that ran the
course of a lift up through the decks, or they can be
small enough simply to hide a television.
Howcroft adds: “Fire regulations can restrict the
kind of art you can put in a lobby area or near an
exit. They have to be made with paints, lacquers and
finishes that aren’t flammable.”
Favourite spots for larger oeuvres include the
dining rooms and state rooms and the walls of the
beach club, though any outdoor works should not
contain metal on account of the corrosive effects of
salt air.
Because the air on most modern yachts is strictly
New School for design in New York.
Her early work was pointillist – in the manner of
the 19th-century French painter Georges Seurat – but
frustrated by the limited palette of colours that most
commercial paint manufacturers produce, she began
to research making her own. “As the stipples became
smaller, I needed to find more innovative ways of
working with the colours, needing a specific red
or grey or blue,” she says. “I started to explore
how paint was made once upon a time, and took
it from there.”
The problem, she discovered, was that many
pigments in their raw form are toxic, often containing
arsenic and lead, and so, inspired by Japanese
Nihonga paintings, she moved on to creating
paintings using emeralds, sapphires, amethysts,
rubies and diamonds, instead. She also now
incorporates precious metals into her work, such as
platinum, gold and silver, sometimes coupled with
such simple materials as coal and marble dust. “I
also use the more rare purple gold and minerals
found only in meteors that are not native to earth,”
she adds.
Given such precious components, the prices Butt
charges for her work seem surprisingly reasonable.
A panel measuring about 5ft by 6ft will cost between
$40,000 (€30,750) and $50,000 (€38,435),
for instance, with only the bigger ones measuring
7ft by10ft shooting up to more than $100,000
(€76,855). “I have friends in high places,” is all she ›

41
bejewelled
controlled, explains Howcroft, there should be no
real problems hanging conventional wall art in the
main interior areas of a vessel.
“Only in cabins, or in the areas that lead out to the
exterior, do we recommend caution, and we don’t
usually recommend people to have sculptures that
have any moving parts because of the noise they
might emit when the boat rocks or its engine
vibrates,” she says.
Different parts of the yacht are bound to lend
themselves to different materials. “Embossed leather
can suit a masculine and contemporary interior,
whereas a fabric wildlife picture would suit an area
used by children,” says Howcroft. “A stone sculpture
can look great in a spa.
“But we really take our lead from our clients, who
usually have a very strong idea of how they want
their yacht to be.”
Howcroft mentions a Balinese suite her company
recently installed for a client, decked with bamboo
and woven copper art works, and a bathroom
studded with art panels made of mother-of-pearl and
Murano glass.
“Tobacco leaves, onyx, marble, shells – we have
a huge library of materials that we use in making art
for the yachts,” she says.
A new aesthetic, it seems, is being born out of
superyachts. Although many clients have ‘loose’ art,
in the new-build industry there is increasing demand
for bespoke art.
“There’s a lot of activity at the moment for stylish,
affordable pieces that appeal to interior designers,”
says Anthony McNerney, the London-based head of
“a new aesthetic, it seems, is being born
out of superyachts. in the new-build
industry there is increasing demand for
bespoke art.”
left
‘Himalaya’ is created using
crushed gemstones and
minerals painted onto canvas
the contemporary art department at Phillips de Pury &
Co. “Often they aren’t the sort of things you’d see in
our auctions.”
But Joseph Clarke, who owns the Millennium
Gallery in St Ives and sells a lot of works by Cornish
artists to furnish yachts, insists that the idea that all
owners want is stylish rather than good art is
“snobby” and outdated. “The fact is many people
have the most amazing collections on board that
include paintings by such artists as Picasso and
Bacon,” he says.
He does, however, add that yacht owners do tend
to favour “works about the elements” over the urban
kind of art that dominates the contemporary
international art scene at the moment.
Simon Allen, who makes wave-like carvings in
wood that he then gilds, for instance, is highly
popular, says Clarke, as is David Whittaker, who
creates Claude-like landscapes.
“When you are out at sea and surrounded by
nature”, says Clarke, “you either want works inspired
by the earth and land – because it reminds you that
you are at sea – or ones that reflect the sensations
you are having out there.”
Butt concludes: “My works run in tandem with
yacht design today on many levels. Both come from
time-honoured international traditions, and are
exclusively made with the personal tastes of the yacht
owner in mind. Finally, both can be wedded to
create the perfect atmosphere that breathes life into
the skeleton of a finished yacht.”
www.fareenbuttart.com
‹

MIRAGE MOUNTAINSCAPES: Landscape of Creation
New Works by Fareen Butt
Jacqueline Dennis is a junior specialist in Indian and Southeast Asian art at Sotheby’s New York
and a freelance writer for arts publications. Jacqueline Dennis joined Sotheby's in 2010. In
addition to cataloguing the Indian and Southeast Asian Art sales, Ms. Dennis is responsible for
business development and cataloguing of the Modern and Contemporary Indian Art sales in both
New York and London. Prior to Sotheby's, Ms. Dennis was an associate at Aicon Gallery,
focusing on Modern and Contemporary Indian and Pakistani art. She holds her MA in Indo-
Tibetan Buddhist Studies from Naropa University; and her BA in Asian Studies and Comparative
Religion from the University of Vermont.
In her new work, Mirage Mountainscapes, Fareen Butt expands upon her foray into
visionary/hallucinatory abstract landscape through her signature lens of crushed gemstone,
mineral and precious metal-based pigments. Inspired by aerial landscape photography, the
Mirage Mountainscape Series (2009-2010) explores the sacred geography of Kailasha and
Everest amidst the Himalayan peaks, the Egyptian mountain desert of Mount Sinai, and the pale
granite expanse of the Sierra Nevadas.
During her extensive travels in northern India, it was Fareen’s visits to the foothills of the
Himalayas that affected a shift in her style from abstractionism to abstract landscape. “I knew
what I was trying to say, and I was trying to express it in the abstract for so long,” she explains.
“Experiencing that moment with the mountains, I never thought I’d be doing representational
landscapes. Usually artists go from representational to abstract/conceptual, but now I am truly
comfortable with representational, abstract landscape.”
Born in Toronto and raised in southern California by her Afghani mother and Kashmiri father,
multiculturalism is the eclectic inheritance and singular continuity in the autobiography of
Fareen Butt. This continuity lends itself well to her creative methodology: an idiosyncratic

East/West synthesis of Japanese-style Nihonga painting with the pointillist application of
chromoluminism in the style of the French artist Georges-Pierre Seurat, expressed in the spare
and mystic language of a Sufi poetess. “You don’t have to be part of a religious tradition to feel
the spiritual quality of some of these extraordinary landscapes,” Fareen explains. “There is an
interreligious spiritual dialogue [present in the Mountainscape paintings] past the stories and
perspectives of world religions.”
Subtitled “Landscape of Creation”, Fareen’s predominantly large-scale canvases invoke an
elemental metaphor for the transcendent quality in human experience. As she explains, “The
imagery I use include mountainscapes revered as significant by various belief systems. These
landscapes are millions of years older than even humanity and it's religions. Their quiet yet
powerful presence alone is testament of something silent and invisible and yet omnipresent
beyond humanity's fathom.”
The artist’s abstracted landscapes are visually deconstructed to convey the merest form, shadow
and play of light; yet it is her sublime use of texture and density of color that illuminate the
images from within. Seurat’s study of chromoluminescence, a tenet of color theory that
demonstrates the optical illusion of complex, variegated pigment through the dense application
of disparate gemstones in close proximity (i.e. pointillism), is transformed by Fareen’s radical
use and manipulation of handcrafted pigment.
At this juncture it is important to note that the elements of subject and technique herald the
artist's works as truly innovative in Asian Contemporary Art today. Most artists pursue the
everchanging, fleeting aspects of sociopolitical, economic, and contemporary cultural changes in
the emerging economies of India and China. Furthermore, the techniques employed by these
artists are usually rooted in western art, from oil painting to the more recent instillation/
sculptural form. Fareen instead has firmly rooted her works in the art history, ideology, and
technique of these cultures whilst further exploring them through a self-created, contemporized
technique and perspective.

While the crushing of minerals is a cross cultural artistic endeavor, in both India and Japan this
concept was elaborated upon by the use of gems, semiprecious stones and precious metals in the
ateliers of the Mughal and Meiji imperial courts. Contemporary innovators of Nihonga painting
(literally “Japanese-style”) include artists such as Takashi Murakami (who began as doctoral
student in Nihonga painting, before developing his signature Superflat style), as well as
American artists Makoto Fujimura and Judith Kruger.
Trained by traditional Rajasthani gemstone painters during her sojourns in India, the artist’s
relationship with handcrafting pigment grew out of her pointillist methodology. “I started doing
pointillism in oils,” she explains, “and as the stipples became smaller, I needed to find more
innovative ways of working with the colors, needing a specific red or grey or blue. I started to
explore how paint was made once upon a time, and took it from there.
“When I discovered these natural elements and how they have properties of their own, my
artwork went from total pointillism to partial pointillism. Now I am so engrossed with the
materials themselves that pointillism has become an afterthought.”
The visual language of Seurat is still perceptible in Fareen’s oeuvre, while increasingly subtle – a
strict departure from the artist’s Ekaksara and Akasa I-III Series of 2006-2009. In Mirage Sinai
1, the visual pyrotechnics of Fareen’s chromoluminescent sky border a camouflage shadow
tableau illuminated by topaz, sapphire, opal and garnet, flecked with gold leaf. Fareen’s most
ambitious large-scale works can take up to four months for the artist to complete.
Exhibiting worldwide, from Monaco to Dubai to Pakistan throughout the past five years, Fareen
has braved the rise, fall and return of the contemporary South Asian art market. At a moment
when collectors continue to break records at auction for South Asian modern art, Fareen is
poised for a critical breakthrough. “I strongly felt that for a long time South Asian artists had
been encouraged to stay conservative, not to be so experimental,” Fareen explains. “A safe
direction to move out is often only political. Now things are changing, with India booming, and
the population becoming more open to the various ideals of art. South Asian contemporary art is
becoming a true art movement.”

Through the Mirage Mountainscape series, Fareen Butt demonstrates her powerful intoxication
with the creation and application of unique pigments. “Expressed through the solid, exceptional
medium of gemstones and precious metals,” the artist explains, “the works embody the opulent
existence of permanence and omnipresence which permeate these landscapes. Like a mirage on
the horizon, there is a more ethereal perspective upon these lands captured by these paintings.”

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