From ‘Sacrifice’ to ‘Friends’, a potpourri of artworks
Karachi: By now we all must have got used to the proliferation of art galleries in town involved in a race with each other to hold exhibitions of works and hawk their pricey wares.
These shows are a hodgepodge of all forms of art, from classical realism to the most avant-garde abstractism, one where one really has to rack his brains to guess, or imagine, as to what the artist is really trying to convey, with a heavy bias towards the latter.
One such show is currently running at the Canvas Gallery in Clifton. The exhibition, showcasing the works of 20 artists, is an admixture of all forms of art, but it does reflect the creative genius of all of them.
One that deserves mention is Nahid Raza’s impressionistic painting depicting a woman seated on the ground leaning on a cushion.
Even though impressionistic, the expression in the woman’s eyes is really profound and seems to narrate an episode. The way the artist has captured the sensitivity of thoughts is highly commendable.
Then there’s Iqbal Hussain’s ‘Sacrifice’, a brightly coloured picture of a young girl lying prostrate on the ground with arms and legs outstretched, eyes heavenward as if in some kind of an offering, with a really morose facial expression. The concept of sacrifice seems to be aptly conveyed.
Ahmed Ali Manganhar’s ‘The Masquerade’ is a typical work of modern art whereby the viewer could construe it as anything.
It is a conglomerate of shady figures with ghostly, irregularly shaped faces, leaving the viewers to come to their own individual conclusions, and by rigmaroles, come to the conclusion that it indeed is a masquerade.
Belinda Eaton’s ‘The Pomegranate Woman’ is depicted in the form of a young, slacks-clad woman supporting a sugar bowl, with fringe hair-cut and the ground around her strewn with pomegranates.
One really has to don his thinking cap to imagine the relation between the pomegranates and the woman. However, that’s what modern art is all about: stirring the viewers’ imagination.
Then there’s Iqbal Hussain’s ‘Friends’: four plump, middle-aged women with cherubic, rotund faces in gaudy attire with the most flamboyant of colours.
Their faces, bearing profound expressions, seem to narrate something forbidden. It is this forbidden aspect that Hussain has so minutely captured.
The maximum price of the paintings is Rs400,000, the median being Rs150,000. The exhibition runs up until October 31.
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