Brilliant and peaceful landscapes
By: NADEEM ZUBERI
The use of brilliant colours in paintings indicates Hamid S. Alavi’s bold approach towards life. He paints the natures beauty among man made mud and brick buildings. The few trees and some signs of vegetation here and there provide a soothing effect to his paintings.
The shrubs alongside a road with yellow flowers, the leafless trees among electricity wires, shallow pool of water and muddy road between huts freshen his paintings with real life structures that goes unnoticed yet has there significant place in our life and atmosphere. You can witness all this in his recent solo exhibition at Citi Art Gallery, Karachi which opens today and will continue for a week.
The collection of about thirty five paintings by Hamid is a manifestation of in-depth observation of surrounding. Using his visual vocabulary of bright colours in oils with a wide open sky in various tones of blue, red and orange which present different time of the day and seasons he portrays the rural and urban landscapes beautifully.
He is not just a painter but a successful fashion designer also and this knowledge helps him as an artist in his career. Various circumstances in his life lead him to Art world which was his dream since he can remember and now he is fully living his dream.
In the beginning of his painting career he experimented with watercolours and soon moved on to oils. Starting his professional career in 2006 under the tutelage of A. Q. Arif he worked hard over the years to improve painting with palette knives, a technique still rare with artists in Pakistan.
He is mainly fascinated by the night and evening time. He presents the captivating ambience when the night is falling and the day is departing. The quiet night life attracts him as the night brings a time away from the days hustle and bustle, a time of tranquility and rest.
He captures the details of the landscape playing with moonlight and shadows in night scenes and with sunlight and shades in day time images. He very effectively portrays the light effects on the ground and on buildings. The dim lights in the rooms of the buildings also create a dreamy effect in his paintings.
He has great observation he keenly observes and set the landscape in his mind while walking through streets in the city and passes in narrow lanes at the country side. He travels admiring blooming flowers and lush green trees at the roadside and enjoys cloudy blue and red skies during his journey.
Afterwards he transforms his feelings and experiencing during the visit on the canvas. He paints in detail so that the viewer can feel the same way he feels while visiting that particular place.
The main feature of his painting is that he finds nature’s beauty in every nook and corner of the site whether it is a deserted road or a jungle of brick wall houses and cable wires hanging in the air. His brush brilliantly captures the focus spot in the specific painting.
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