ART FACTS: Images of life

The eye-catching art pieces comprising peculiar styles of various artists in a group exhibition at Grandeur art gallery, Karachi were dominated by the bold colour tones in which the artists have filled the canvases with the images of life in a variety of hues generating from various colours.
The art of calligraphy gives a message of peace, love and brotherhood and Jawad Qamar's calligraphic artworks at the exhibition also gives the same sense. The arcs and loops, ovals and circles, vertical and horizontal lines are used as designs in his works along with ancient architecture and buildings. The basic geometrical forms remain the same in all of his works. He chooses the most appropriate form to enhance the verses he writes in the foreground of the calligraphic paintings.
The images and designs were inserted and interwoven with the words of the Holy Qur'an. Having a strong aesthetic appeal the works appear in various shapes, highlighted by Islamic motifs in bright colours such as green, blue, ochre, cloudy white that are eye catching.
Through brilliant use of colours and superb balance between design and form, Jawad creates an immediate visual impact. He invites the viewers for a closer look and also urges to learn more, to go beyond the obvious surface beauty to discover the rich historical and cultural traditions from which the art has emerged. The architectural elements in his paintings reflect the Mughal architecture immersed in a world of fantasy. This mode of drawing and painting words freely and creatively without strictly following the traditional style of calligraphy, decorative and ornate, is now popular among the masses and got a lot of praise and encouragement.
Akbar Khan's sculptures were subject oriented drawing attention of the public towards an issue. He communicates effectively with people through his art. He captures his feelings in the sculptures. He carve more universal feelings and concepts, rather than objects, that go beyond representational images - his sculptures speaks volume about social issues.
Every sculpture is an adventure in the search for truth and beauty through the use of different colour stones and different mediums. It is not just what the eye sees, but what the soul senses. Nisar Ahmed expresses a viewpoint that encompasses spiritual, emotional and corporeal issues in work of great beauty and distinction. His paintings at the show feature charming female figures, the birds and radiant moon lightening the night with its moonlight.
He uses colours in his own peculiar style. The paintings are blended with bold colour tones in a variety of hues generating from various colours. The eye-catching art pieces comprise the alluring beauties trying to find solace with birds and moon in the back drop of blues amalgamated with dark tones and ochre that combine yellow and reddish shades with black.
The paintings by Aliya Faizi at the show were a blend of pottery and contemporary figurative art in a unique style and colours. The paintings show her new dimension of work with unusual pottery items in languid abundance along with faceless women. Pottery is both object and subject for her and pots and vessels seem to engulf her canvases. The line work is balanced with the splashes of colours, the vessels of clay with woman figure shows association of human and clay.
Her figurative and non-representational work emerged along with basic forms of square, circles and triangles showing versatility of handling the subject and paints and composition. Carefully dealing with the subject her paintings depicts simplicity in all forms of work. Simply created impressive images of beautiful vessels, vases, pots in various designs and texture with strong brush strokes using bright colours, red, blue, yellow and greens describe her distinctive style.
For centuries myths and events in Buddha's life is the subject matter for art. But viewing Syed Abdul Irfan's paintings at the exhibition shows a new vision of Buddha. Experimenting with various themes and techniques Irfan has introduced a fusion of innovative ideas through colours and symbolism.
He tried to change the serious tone related to Buddha by adding different characters and objects such as flowers, garden along side Buddha in soft colours in his paintings. Thus the Buddha is painted in a unique new way and each painting is more eventful and picturesque. His artworks take you away from the traditions and forms related to Buddha hence a new concept of visualising Buddha in the modern world. His paintings have uniqueness of themes and different style of execution. The structures in his paintings may appear simple, but his work nevertheless possesses an attraction. The other artists work at the show includes Afshan Kohari, Zohaib Khan, Shazia Qaisar, Umbreen Mehmood, Zain Ashir and Tariq Luni.
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