Home Journal Artists on Mitchell: Ruby Chishti

Artists on Mitchell: Ruby Chishti

On a white postcard, with a stamp shape at bottom right, scraps of fabric are arranged in slashing horizontal marks, creating an abstract composition.
Ruby Chishti, fabric sketch after Joan Mitchell, 2011. Fabric on Faiz Ahmed Faiz centenary postcard.
Mandres is a vertical abstract painting with bold brushstrokes in red, blue, brown, black, and white creating a central form with splatters and strokes dotting the white ground of the canvas.
Joan Mitchell, Mandres, circa 1962. Oil on canvas, 87 1/2 x 79 inches (222.3 x 200.7 cm). Private Collection. © Estate of Joan Mitchell.

#JoanMitchell100 Ruby Chishti on Mitchell: “Joan Mitchell taught me to trust the storm.”

“Mitchell’s paintings reached me at a moment when I was losing my hold on the world. Even as my mind drifted, her fierce, gestural strokes cut through the fog. I began stitching scraps—torn, frayed, barely holding—turning them into my own brushstrokes on panels and on a postcard made for the celebration of the birth centenary of renowned poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz. In translating her energy into cloth, these small pieces became proof that something in me was still responding.

“The title for this piece comes from a verse in one of Faiz’s poems, in urdu:

آج اک حرف کو پھر ڈھونڈتا پھرتا ہے خیال


“Today again a thought looking out for just the right word to convey its truth.”

Ruby Chishti kneels in the corner of her studio, a room with white walls and wooden floors, with a window behind her showcasing a view of a lake and trees. Ruby is a Pakistani-American woman with medium light skin and short dark hair. She wears overalls, white tank top, and brown hat and works with fabric strips on a dress-like sculpture that she is assembling on the wall.
Ruby Chishti in her studio in Lake Peekskill, NY

Ruby Chishti is a New York-based artist and a 2024 Joan Mitchell Fellow. Learn more about her work at rubychishti.com.

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