Superiority of imagination over reality
By: Jamal Shahid
ISLAMABAD: “These canvases portray the joy and contentment, bestowed by the inexhaustible beauty of nature’s infinite forms,” said one art connoisseur, visiting Satrang Gallery
The gallery is exhibiting a collection of paintings under the title ‘Bend in the Scapes’; a collection of art pieces by various artists, focusing on the beauty found in natural habitats.
Habitats include the urban and the rural. Thus lending “a visual canvas for social and anthropological analysis,” according to one art lover. And Wednesday night saw art lovers in plenty, conglomerating around the various exhibits on display.
The paintings had a local as well as an international dimension. From the countryside of Sweden, to Pakistan’s throbbing city of Karachi, the banks of the River Ravi and the fertile landscapes of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Thar Desert, were on display.
“These pieces confer energetic serenity,” whizzed one art student, as she quickly moved on to the next painting. Each artist brings his own, unique set of experiences to the exhibition.
Mughees Riaz, a painter, comfortable with capturing natural landscapes: sky, rivers, fields, buffaloes, crows and sunset scenes, added to the rural dimension. While Hanif Shahzad, with a degree from Karachi School of Arts, expressed an emotional bond with historical buildings in Karachi with free brush strokes, full of colours.
Ali Abbas, from Sindh University, reflected on Gypsies in rural Sindh.
“They have to keep moving, depending on weather conditions, finding new shelters and searching for food and water. Women play a pivotal role in the tribal way of life and are responsible to look after household chores — fetch water from distant wells and raise children,” Ali Abbas explained.
Backed with an arts degree from Punjab University, Raja Najamul Hassan, paints complex, diverse and amazingly beautiful outdoor scenes.
“I love to observe people as they look at my work and I consider my effort successful, if it makes the observer think and respond.”
Abid Khan, from Lahore Arts Council, believes in using a myriad of colours “asserting” as he says, “superiority of imagination over reality on canvas.” Gomal University’s Ajab Khan, tends to follow a more careful and realistic approach, while depicting scenes of harvesting and mustard fields.
Mishaal Rinch, who studied at the University of British Columbia, a young artist, explores cultural scenarios and depicts rural lifestyles in her paintings. “My work consists of a variety of portraiture and symbolic scenery,” she explains.
The exhibition also includes rare and old untitled impressions by Swedish painter Ivan Joern, born in 1902, powerful and colourful, but at the same time filled with agony. Best described by an art critic: “Oscillating between dreamlike romanticism and hallucinatory images.”
The exhibition will remain open till January 8.
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