Art when it goes unconventional
By: Anil Datta
Karachi: The Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture has rendered yeoman’s service when it comes to promoting art, especially among the youth.
Currently it is hosting an art exhibition titled, “Inside Jamshoro”, an exhibition of paintings and sketches by the students of the Centre of Excellence in Art and Design, Mehran University, Jamshoro.
The show is unconventional in that there are no paintings of landscapes, or those giving a surrealistic representation of nature and life, nor are there any pieces of modern art like abstractism, impressionism or other modern forms. If visitors are going to the gallery to view anything that would appeal to the aesthetic sense, a thing of beauty, they are likely to be disappointed.
Instead that the visitor is likely to see is representation of ideas and forms in the light of modern crafts like computer analysis and computer programming. There are paintings of graduated scales, sewing machines, game boards complete with dice and other paraphernalia of indoor games, like Ludo.
For instance, there is a large Mona Lisa in colour with the gaze in a certain direction. Juxtaposed on the face is the same face in black and white with the gaze fixed in the opposite direction.
At first sight it gives off a really weird effect. However, according to the artist, Imran Soomro, it is supposed to represent the way the portrait has been the subject of controversy and analysis through the ages. It has been exposed to computer analysis and other kinds of physical and chemical tests. This Mona Lisa is supposed to be connotative of the interest it has all along aroused.
Then, there is a map of Pakistan, again by Soomro. While to the casual viewer, it is just a random map of Pakistan, Soomro tries to assert the separate, independent of Pakistan through the painting, as he puts it.
Then, there is the meticulously drawn sketch of a sewing machine by Madiha Bhatti. According to the artist’s statement, social activism and education are equally important for both men and women since both have an equal right to carve out their careers. However, she laments that in Pakistan women’s rights go by the board and they are confined to household chores rather than education and endeavours which would be constructive to society at large. The sewing machine is represented as an instrument of women’s empowerment as it enables the woman to facilitate her household chores and also helps her earn.
In short, the exhibition is not only unconventional but is really interesting, requiring an overly fertile imagination to make head or tale of the works.
The exhibition runs up until November 10. Those planning to visit it must not expect anything of art as the term is conventionally understood to be. It could be described as a blend of art and geometry.
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