Islamabad is experiencing an overdose of cultural activities. It seems bingeing is here to stay all through the summer season. Moreover, it mars the beauty of an occasional event as overdoing of anything loses its attraction for the general public.
This week's calling commenced at the Nomad Art Gallery where there was a preview of AQ Arif's exhibition of paintings. However, the Karachi based artist couldn't make it for the preview which was disappointing as the correspondent is most interested in talking to the artist about his work as she feels that an honest projection of the work cannot be done without the input made by the artist.
Nevertheless, the display of history on canvas was marvelous. Each of the thirty exhibits was done exquisitely and intricately. Arif has displayed complete sense of professionalism in his attention to the minutest detail. He is sure of his style and knows what he wants to portray through his paintings.Arif has been exhibiting his work for past eight years but this is for the first time he is having a solo exhibition in Islamabad. It is a magnificent display of architectural heritage that is fast disappearing from the horizon slowly but surely. Arif has succeeded in preserving the historical sites in his work.
The background on A Q is that he took his Diploma in Fine Arts from Karachi School of Art in 1996.He started his career through teaching art at various schools in Karachi. However, his extra curricular activities involved book illustrations, portrait work, mural and truck painting. With the start of the new millennium , he devoted full time to painting. He is a realist painter and has worked on historical buildings that are becoming rare sites due to the development spree.Arif has participated in more than sixteen group shows. His initial appearance on the walls of the exhibition halls was in 1996.Ms. Nageen Hayat, the director of Nomad Centre was appreciative of the artist's growth over the years. She heads the self-funded independent gallery that is involved in promoting artists and their work since 1984.
My second invitation was from the Centre of Democratic Development to participate in a discussion on 'Terrorism and Human Rights Norm.' Ms. Hina Gillani, Secretary-General of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) and the United Nations Secretary General's Special Representative on Human Rights and IA Rehman, Chairman of HRCP, were the key speakers.
"Anti-terrorism laws and strategies being adopted by Pakistan and many countries in the name of the 'war against terror', undermines the standards established by the legal and normative instruments in the field of human rights. Practices contravening these principals are gaining an alarming degree of acceptability, which portends dim prospects for the promotion of human rights that can not be derogated from, even in public emergency, are not being called into question. Emergency measures are being commonly used to impose laws that permit arbitrary detention, fail to ensure free and fair trial, allow action against non-citizens disproportionate to the exigencies of security, and legitimize suppression of fundamental freedoms particularly of assembly and expression. Use of torture for extracting of information has increased."
This excerpt from the article written by Ms Hina Gillani formed the core on which the discussion took place. A number of politicians, parliamentarians, human rights activists, and lawyers participated while expressing their views on it.
It was an informative and an interactive discussion with emphasis on the need for a clearly laid down definition of terrorism, suggesting that Pakistan's current definition was ambiguous and was causing innocent people to suffer. Having said that terrorism itself violates human rights, the point stressed was that anti-terrorism laws and strategies were in direct contravention to human rights and these had to be guided by the norms of justice and respect for human rights. The discussion gave projection to the human rights abuses being carried out in the name of "war against terror."
My last summons was from the Khaas Gallery for the opening of the exhibition of paintings by Abid Khan. It was refreshing to view his work on the landscapes of the Northern Areas of Pakistan to which the scribe has blatant partiality. The artist avidly enlightened about his thirty exhibits on display. He started out on his painting journey in 1995. He was deprecating in his view about the paintings, which he had done. However, he felt that he has been able to achieve a personal goal of doing a subject, which has not been done by anybody before. He said that the Northern Areas and especially the snow scales were not the themes on which the other painters have worked.
He has had to undergo extreme weather conditions of the hilly areas in order to work on his canvasses. He felt that he has been able to capture the feeling of that environment. Responding to query that how long does it take for him to complete one painting , he said that it depended on ones mood, environment and the weather conditions. It was not predictable as sometimes it could take just one sitting whereas at other times it took much longer. The time period after the sunrise is short and one had to capture a specific time of the day.
This is his eighth solo exhibition, however, the third one in Islamabad. Abid is a Lahore based artist who works in oil on canvass. He said that any contemporary Pakistani artist does not influence him. The secret behind his success is his own style and treatment of canvass. At some places there are opaque layers of paint and above that there are transparent techniques in which strokes are distorted and at other places these are harmonized.
He said that late nineteenth century French Impressionist artists Monaque, Cicero and Cecile influence him. He is in love with their paintings and has learned a lot from these painters through the critical comments and their life. He has not gone through the run of the mill art schools. He is a self-taught artist who did his Masters in English Literature. Initially his family was apprehensive and disparaging of his efforts to become an artist but now he is fully supported by his kith and kin in the pursuit of his dream.
He was appreciative of Nayyab of Lahore and Mobina Zuberi of Khaas Gallery in the Capital of promoting his work as otherwise the lobby system works in Pakistan. An artist has to join a specific and prominent group of other artists to get due recognition for his work. Talking about the theme, he said that he has depicted the 'Northern beauty of Pakistan.' He was inspired by his honeymoon trip to the Northern Areas a couple of years back. And his last exhibition was called ' Honey Moon Series'. The change in his personal life brought a change on his palette. His paintings were more aggressive with warm colours previously in comparison to his latest work. It took him two years to complete the present series. The paintings brought a nostalgic yearning for the Northern Areas that have a strange and a wild fascination for the scribe.
I look forward to the following week's attractions in the realm of the cultural activities happening in Isloo. It seems to have become an addiction all the time craving for more.
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