Faces and places
KARACHI: In art, contrary to the common perception, sometimes tangible things are harder to draw, paint or sculpt than intangible ones. The reason for this is that interpreting life from an experiential standpoint is a two-edged sword. You know, by virtue of knowing them through your senses, what you are trying to create and at the same time you have to come up with a different angle of what you’ve experienced which in your opinion is hitherto unknown to your viewer. A good measure of this feeling can be had at Spaces Art Gallery where an exhibition titled ‘2 Dimensional’ curated by Ammad Tahir is under way.
Shahzia Langah turns the physical into the academic in her interesting artwork Zabaan (mixed media on wasli). It can be construed as a tongue-in-cheek comment on social behaviours with different kinds of tongue-wagging, as it were. Or the artist is up to something else and wants to bring to light something that language cannot express.
Anum Shakil presents a striking work of art titled ‘Comfortably Numb’ (graphite and watercolour on paper). It’s an image of an unhinged individual, as could be gauged by her eyes, where ‘numbness’, or effects of it, is shown in blue. It is impossible not to get affected by this exhibit, for it is poetry done in black and blue.
Muneeb Khanzada, as he usually does, keeps things simple and extracts complexities out of it. ‘Slope’ (oil on canvas) is a cogent example here. The boy sliding down the slope is a symbol for a stratum of society for which going up is nearly impossible.
Qadir Jhatail elevates the show to the next level with his brilliant ‘Cityscape’ (oil on canvas). The viewer can easily notice the contemporariness in the patterns of life shown in the piece. It is embellished with aesthetic charm which dilutes the intensity of the subject matter, perhaps wittingly.
The other participating artists in the exhibition, which will continue until Sept 28, are Najia Omer, Farooq Ali, Asma Ansari and Huma Tasawar.
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