SULEMAN AQEEL KHILJI: "A visit to an Old Friend / ملاقات"

12.03.2026-18.04.2026 / PREVIEW: THURSDAY 12.03.2026 / 18:00-20:00

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STANDARD (OSLO) is proud to present an exhibition of new works by the artist Suleman Aqeel Khilji. Following a month spent at the Edvard Munch Studio at Ekely in Oslo in October last year, the exhibition takes its starting point from two paintings that came into being during this residency. Adding to these paintings, very much shaped by the experience of working in the painting master's studio, are three smaller, earlier paintings, which Khilji completed during his time as a student at the Royal Academy in London. 

"These mountains of pain, must now melt.
From this Himalaya, a Ganga (River) must emerge.

Today these walls have begun to tremble like curtains,
but the condition was that the very foundations must shake.

On every road, in every lane, in every city and village,
Every corpse should walk, hands raised.

Creating mere commotion is not my purpose;
My only focus is that this situation must change.

If not in my chest, then in yours,
Wherever it may be, the fire must burn (or stay lit)"

Dushyant Kumar - 1933-1975, Moradabad, India
Kumar was a prominent Hindi and Urdu poet and writer of the twentieth century, who wrote many popular poems and earned a name for his Hindi ghazal and Urdu.

Suleman Aqeel Khilji (b.1985 Quetta, Pakistan) lives and works in London, UK. He received his BA from National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan (2011) and his MA from Royal Academy of Art, London, UK (2025). Selected solo exhibitions include: "Parallel", The Radley Mews with Jhaveri Contemporary, London, UK; "TURNING INTO...", Weston Studio, Royal Academy of Art, London, UK; "BE-LONGING!", DOMINION Art Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan; "Landswept", Karachi, Pakistan; "See View", Vasl Artist Residency, IVS Gallery, Karachi, Pakistan; "Inayat and Others", Sanat Initiative, Karachi, Pakistan. His works have been included in group shows at Drawing Room, London, UK; St James's Church, London, UK; No. 9 Cork Street, Jhaveri Contemporary, London, UK; Satrang Gallery, Islamabad, Pakistan; Aicon Gallery, New York, USA; Rossi & Rossi, Art Divvy Project, London, UK; Zahoor-ul-Ikhlaq Gallery, Lahore, Pakistan; Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France. Khilji has been appointed aritst-in-residence at Eton College, Berkshire, UK this summer, and will also have a solo exhibition at White Cube, Paris, in June.  

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For further information please visit our webpage: www.standardoslo.no or contact Eivind Furnesvik at eivind@standardoslo.no or +47 917 07 429 / +47 22 60 13 10. STANDARD (OSLO) is open Wednesday-Friday: 12.00-17.00/ Saturday: 12.00-16.00. Sunday and Monday: Closed. Tuesday: Open by appointment.

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