An aesthetic outlet to religious fervour | Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF)

Pakistan Press Foundation

An aesthetic outlet to religious fervour

Pakistan Press Foundation

By: Anil Datta

Karachi: The city’s art galleries are awash with Islamic calligraphy exhibitions, appropriately enough, in the holy month of Ramazan.

It is testimony not only to the religious fervour that exists in our society but also to the tremendous talent whereby the artists give an aesthetic outlet to their religious fervour.

The ArtScene Gallery in Defence is just one of these. A calligraphy exhibition based on around 50 works is on display at the gallery and continues up until Monday.

All the artists appear to be lyrical colourists and seem to have a keen sense of colour combinations.

All 50 of them could be termed beautiful. However, some of these stand out even among the real masterly ones.

One of these is an oil-on-canvas painting of Surah al-Rehman by Javed Qamar. The colour scheme in here is eye-catching and so appealing that it magnifies many times over the aesthetics that go to consolidate one’s faith. Qamar has the knack of communicating the religious side of his personality.

However, the most interesting aspect of virtually all the calligraphic exhibitions going on in town currently are works on Islamic themes and Islamic scriptures by a man who adheres to a faith worlds away from Islam.

The ArtScene show is no exception. Here too a painting of his, that of the Kalimah Tayyibah, occupies a prominent spot. He is Chitra Pritam, a pupil of the noted artist Jamil Naqsh.

There is also an imposing painting of the Qul by Saba Shahid, with the inscription in black against a striking orange background. She seems to have the knack of making things eye-catching.

Another beautiful exhibit is the Surah al-Fateha by Jamshed Qaiser. All the artists have impressive antecedents.

Tariq Javed, for example, having participated in numerous group shows and solo exhibitions within the country, has also participated in group shows in Dubai, China and India, and also in group shows organised by the Pakistan National Council of the Arts in Japan, the US and the UK.

The News


Comments are closed.