Recent artworks of Shahzad Zar exhibited at the J I Gallery, Karachi show glimpses of past in the present time. The paintings in mixed media have a delicate theme of 'Shadi', a portrayal of soft dreams which a bride to be weave in her imagination.
The paintings have been decorated with colourful background with a young female figure, a girl in a pleasant mood. Her gestures prove her happiness. The girl is faceless representing every girl's feelings who is about to get married.
There are a lot of elephants in each of his work as a symbolic representation of mughal marriages in extravaganza style. He depicts a customise tradition related to wedding in our society. Every girl has a desire to have a wedding which other remember for long time.
Shahzad is a disciple of Ali Imam, he as a teenager starts his art journey when he first approached his mentor. He was a self-taught young man struggling to teach himself the art of collage, mixing organic materials and paint .When Ali Imam saw his interest and determination to be an artist he gave him advice and suggestions to groom himself as a painter. Ali Imam monitored his progress and after four years he felt that Shahzad is ready for a solo exhibition and thus Shahzad has his first show in 1999.
He loves to use natural elements in his work. He is basically a calligrapher and this is his first venture as a painter. His colour and design are in perfect harmony. But in some paintings he draws shadowy figures giving another view to his theme. The colourful elephants with dark shadows reveal a new dimension to the subject.
The female figures are created in various postures draped in colourful attires. He describes the happiness of a girl in wearing bright hued saris and lahanga and wearing bangles, rings and Mehndi in her hands. The heavy jewellery is another sign of pleasure and joy related to marriage.
He tried to portray the fantasy related to marriage in a girls mind by adding different characters and objects such as flowers, garden, and elephants along side female figure in bright colours in his paintings.
Thus the marriage event is painted in a unique new way and each painting is more eventful and picturesque. His artworks take you through the traditions and forms related to marriage hence a new concept of visualising this occasion in the modern world.
You can see a girl wearing long hair or a braid in Shahzad's paintings, with which new generation is not accustomed. The youngsters have their own conclusion about marriage.
His paintings have uniqueness of theme and different style of execution. The structures in his paintings may appear simple, but his work nevertheless possesses an attraction. The glimpses of the dramatic transformation of a girl in vibrant colours, dominantly in blue, red, green, ochre and brown are eye catching.
The theatrics of different forms and colours are juxtaposed in varying rhythms, using contrasts of light and shade or closely matching tones.
They are arranged into larger patterns of order and these shapes are often linked with the traditional connotations of marriage. nadeemzuberi71@gmail.com