Naqsh Raj - Paintings

Until 10 October, 2026

Naqsh Raj - Paintings

We’re delighted to present a collection of recent paintings produced by the Islamabad, Pakistan-based artist and educator by Naqsh Raj. 

Repetition, texture and sequences of colour characterise this period of the artist’s paintings. The artist’s process is a hybrid of ‘process led’ painting with with a unique technique akin to print making developed by the artist.

Thousands of narrow rectangles cover the surface of the painting and are laid down by a rudimentary printing process similar to screen printing. The artist places a template on the surface in order to ‘paint through the spaces’, resulting in a subtle three-dimensional surface texture that is repeated but never the same. Raj then works by hand to introduce sequences of colour that sit over the underlying grid. Gold, pinks, greens, blues, oranges and white sit on a dark background that reveals patches of coloured under painting.

This labour intensive process produces a natural patina reminiscent of weathered architectural surfaces, where flakes of paint fall from mortar or reveal the colours of previous generations. The grid surface also has a natural undulation and variation that is reminiscent of hand-printed textiles, a craft process that dates back to 3rd millennium BC.

The paintings also resonate with major figures in art history. Raj attributes the earth tones in the paintings to her awareness of the Flemish 17th Century painter Anthony Van Dyke, and cites Kandinsky and abstract expressionism as reference points. The labour-intensive, grid-like surface has parallels with Agnes Martin’s grid paintings produced in the 1960s, although the process, colour palette, and looseness of the grid is distinctly the artist’s own.

These paintings are subtly multilayered, painted forms lie below the surface of the grid, edges reveals layers of the process as they reveal washes of colour that form the skeleton the works. With slow looking these impactful paintings increasing reveal geometric patterns within the overall composition, a rhythm and geometry that could only have been rendered by a human hand. 

Biography

Naqsh Raj (b. 1984) holds a Master’s in Visual Arts from the National College of Arts, Lahore, and has taught Art and Design for over a decade in Pakistan and for several years in the UK. 

She has received several honors, including the main prize in Open 23 at Tarpey Gallery, UK. She was also shortlisted for the John Moores Painting Prize, in 2023. Her work is in private and corporate collections in New York, London, Dubai, and with various prominent collectors in Germany, France, Italy, and Pakistan.

She has received several honors, including the main prize in Open 23 at Tarpey Gallery, UK. She was also shortlisted for the John Moores Painting Prize, in 2023.

Prices

Medium sized paintings: 100 x 100cm paintings £4500

Large paintings: 169 x 198cm £7000

Including UK installation and delivery

All work is available for sale jonathan@beameditions.uk