ART FACTS: Looking precious

Miniature paintings depicting luxurious lifestyles hidden behind a deceptively pleasant and impressive appearance thus disguising the real person behind glossed dressing by Heraa Khan in an exhibition titled "All that glisters is not gold" at Chawkandi Art Gallery, Karachi attracted the viewers.
The popular form of the expression is a derivative of a line in William Shakespeare's play "The Merchant of Venice" (1596). Shakespeare is the best-known writer to have expressed the idea that shiny things aren't necessarily precious things.
All that glisters (glitters) is not gold is a well-known saying, meaning that not everything that looks precious or true turns out to be so. This can apply to people, places, or things that promise to be more than they really are. The expression, in various forms, originated in or before the 12th century. In simpler words, the phrase can mean "Not everything has a true appearance." Things are seldom what they seem.
Heraa Khan's paintings revealed suitably the phrase's core meaning. She portrayed various people's lifestyles and behaviours regarding their status in society. People wanted to maintain their false status in society joyfully on the cost of destroying their real personality. Mostly people thought that such people are happy with the glitter and glam of expensive living. But the truth is gold does not bring happiness. Glamorous and extravagant lifestyle does not bring peace of mind and love.
A person lost his/her identity in such lifestyle but one day he/she realize the flaws of such life but time has passed away by than. But a friend always bring a soothing feeling who is the only one you can feel safe with and share freely the dismay and hopelessness came with glitzy life.
Her paintings showed golden patterns and flowers which symbolically portrayed the lavish lifestyles of people. Sometimes she covered even the faces of her characters with different colourful patterns thus hiding their real identity only representing the ostentatious living behaviours. This can easily be seen in her painting titled "Mistress of Choice". She displayed how people have an excessive sense of self-importance, usually displayed through exaggerated seriousness or stateliness in their appearances. By using colourful imagery she enhances her point of view and narrated her story of extravagance through her characters in various situations and posters. Her paintings titled "Treasure House" and "Ne Less Presence" effectively revealed her opinion regarding the theme.
Everybody nowadays wanted to look precious and different from others this craze has taken us in a new world a new lifestyle that only glitters but is not gold. We are happy with this false gold and living a false life. She used floral patterns a lot to describe life but in different colours. As life varies from person to person its shades also differ. Sometimes these flowers were like gold but other times they were just shadow and blur like a dream.
She has used 24K gold leaf to serve as a medium that connected the golden extravaganza of the metal with the lavish lifestyle of people. She used her imagination along with real people around her to create a story related to her theme. She basically used everyday life of people especially women around her who she see and feel more easily and portray more appropriately in order to convey her message to the viewers. Specializing in the traditional techniques of Mughal and Persian miniature painting Khanuses natural pigments, kalam and wasli. Heraa assembled herself the kalam - a handcrafted brush for fine pardakht and Wasli paper another handcrafted essential used as the surface.
After being awarded a scholarship, Heraa Khan completed her Bachelors in Fine Arts at National College of Arts (NCA) in 2012, specializing in miniature painting. She has conducted classes on miniature painting in New York and Texas, USA and has taught a course on miniature painting at the International Summer Academy of Salzburg, Austria. She has had several solo exhibitions and has participated in significant group shows, nationally and internationally. [email protected]