Liaqat Rasul (British, B.1974) EnvelopLiaqat Rasul (British, B.1974)Envelop industrial plastic sheeting, cardboard, chunky felt tips, staples, tissue paper, wooden coffee stirrers, nylon net, staples, polypropylene plastic strapping, printed silk khadi, old shirt fabric, leather, grey board, packaging card, receipts, biro, rizzla paper, framed99 x 78.5cm (39 x 30 7/8in).ProvenanceThe Artist's Collection.Liaqat Rasul is a gay welsh dyslexic Pakistani male. He was born in Feb 1974 in Wrexham, North Wales. Liaqat studied fashion, gaining a first-class degree, specialising in textiles. He spent a year in industry, working and studying in New Delhi, India. Liberty's in Regent Street, London, bought his graduating collection, and he ran the business Ghulam Sakina for ten years, creating beautiful textile clothing. After Ghulam Sakina was liquidated in 2009, Liaqat decided to explore his life and career choices. He worked at the Roxy Beaujolais -run pub the Seven Stars, in Carey Street, while exploring art exhibitions and public art. A huge, heavy penny dropped in 2017, and Liaqat started making collages for friends. Small but vital art practice was initiated. Liaqat made a few pieces for commission, and in 2019 had his first-ever solo exhibition of eight pieces at the Tracey Neuls shop in Coal Drops Yard, London. The collage works are not a social or political statement; they are abstract and cartographic, made from old envelopes, stamped tickets, wooden coffee stirrers, misplaced printing on cardboard boxes, leftover yarn, swing tags, creased tissue papers, napkins, abandoned receipts, an old t-shirt chopped up, tatty found papers, packaging... marked with biros and felt-tip pens and stuck with PVA glue, sellotape on to card inserts and graphics on cardboard boxes left out in the street. Their bold, odd colours and real-world experiences create unique, buoyant collage tableaux.Making art is an act of hope. Liaqat invites the viewer to experience his low-tech, textured works, eyes darting about to take in the many elements, in their own time, meditatively, diverted from smartphones and the persistent digital world. Liaqat aims to create bigger and bolder collages and fibre works. Think tactile. Think analogue.He has been commissioned by Ty Pawb, Wrexham in North Wales, his place of birth to have his first solo exhibition in June 2024, which will then be on tour from Autumn 2024. He was part of the group show at Grosvenor Gallery, 'Patterns of the Past: Weaving Heritage in Pakistani Art' in the Summer of 2021, which was held in collaboration with Canvas Gallery, Karachi. The Crafts Council acquired a 3.5m tall portrait mobile and he has also been commissioned to work on a project with the elderly South Asian community in Gloucester, focussing on the migrant journey from Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.