Shahid Khan

Columbus Dispatch article on Hawk Galleries' 'Brilliant' exhibition

Bio

Shahid Khan was born in Ahmadabad, India, and moved to Columbus as a young child. He received his MFA degree from The Ohio State University in 2021. Khan's glassblowing practice is internationally community oriented and tied to techniques and tradition. He has taken a journeyman approach to learn - apprenticing with top glass artists in Denmark, Japan, and Canada. He has had exhibits in Philadelphia, Austin, and Palm Springs, as well as here in Columbus. He has run glass studios and businesses and taught at OSU.

Artist Statement

Emma Laube, curator of a show with Khan's work explains, "The suggestion of utility engenders the impulse to categorize - but why? Khan's objects raise more questions than they answer, and that may just be the point: with too ready a resolution, we foreclose on possibility. What is the difference, Khan's work asks, between multivalence and ambivalence? Why do we talk about the unknown in negative terms? Confusion is often famed as an aberration in the otherwise seamless process of communication. But what if it's the end goal - or, at the very least, a pretty good place to wind up along the way? If we stay alert, Khan's work reminds us, misidentification is useful. After all, don't I foreclose upon myself as a viewer if I fail to remain curious?"