Ghulam Asghar

Ghulam Asghar was born on 9^th December 1940 in Rawalpindi, Pakistan in a martial family. After completing high school education he studied for two years in the pre-medical group before deciding to become a painter.

In the late fifties it was hard for a boy of mediocre means to enrol himself in another city away from home and bear the expenses of the College of Arts in his country. Therefore, he went into apprenticeship with the then great artists of that time who were masters of the art in film publicity. It proved to be a better opportunity to achieve something because of the rapid turnover of films in theatres and in their turnover. He became a fast learner and worked as full time artist in the cadre for over ten years.

In 1963 he was invited to work for a highly reputed local furniture industry as a furniture designer. In 1968 it provided him an opportunity to go abroad to master modern woodwork technology. As a young man of nearly 27 years he opted to travel to Germany by road (he was penned the account of this hazardous travel in his book "The Riders of the storm" which is in the process of being printing). After completing his studies in woodwork designing and woodwork technology for three years he returned home and changed his profession to become a furniture and interior designer for the rest of his life.

A born artist with a God gifted talent, he kept on working as an amateur painter all his life, experimenting in all forms of painting mediums. His favourite medium, however, always has been working with white pencil on black paper which he calls reverse painting. He is of the view that hardly any other artist has adopted this technique. His paintings reflect his soul and depict the tremendous love for life. As a result they tend to leave a lasting impression on the viewer.

He is also a writer with a novel, a travelogue, a book of short stories and a book of his selected poetry.

He is presently living in Bishkek with his wife and son.