Mashkoor Raza's characteristic juxtaposition of horses and women comes into play again in the recent exhibition at Tanzara Art Gallery, Islamabad. Mashkoor has travelled a long distance since his graduation from the Karachi School of Art (KSA) in Fine Art in 1972.
Mashkoor is one of the brightest students of Mansur Rahi but his work hardly depicts the style of his teacher instead he has developed his own style. Mashkoor Raza is now one of the few top-most painters of the cubism school in Pakistan, which was introduced by Picasso.
Mashkoor is one of those prominent painters who started their careers in the early 1980s. Throughout the years, his paintings have continued to evolve slowly into the subtle works that they are today. At present there is a new technical assurance to his work, a control of colours that comes only from long years of practice, a fine shift that bespeaks an artist's full command on his medium.
In the current exhibition of his artworks, horses and women serve as a subject as well as symbolic representation of beauty and power in his artworks. The strokes of his brush aptly depict the movement of rising figures of horses. He has played with colours, focusing primarily on the interesting moods and actions of the horses and women. Vibrant and pulsating colours including red, orange, blue and ochre, with a stroke of lighter shades gives a charming effect to his paintings but red and brown being his favourite hues on the palette. The rich texture of his paintings gives an added touch of class to his paintings.
He once said: "The canvas of abstract art is wider than any other. One feels free to create different forms, shapes and compositions. It is quite difficult to create certain new forms and shapes, but composing and balancing them on the canvas is an interesting task. Even the selection and the balanced use of colours is a challenge for an abstract painter, particularly in making cubes."
During four decades Mashkoor's powerful and immaculate drawing and masterly strokes are the elements that stand out in all of his paintings. In "The Moon" series he has captured the waning moon effect, along with images of charging horses, with great power. It is evident that the horses are used to depict his state of mind, his chain of thought and his varying moods and emotions. While various hues merge and submerge on his palette creating vivid and ingrained impressions.
Most art pieces struck depicts composition of horses thundering away, beautifully executed in terms of style and colour. They were done in shades of rust and brown. The movement of horses was enhanced by the flowing strokes. The work seemed truly inspired. The colour, the composition and the style of rendition were compact and well integrated.
He is a prolific painter who is quite familiar among art-lovers who admire his paintings a lot. His compositions are compact with bright colours. His favourite medium is oil, but he often uses acrylic also. Mashkoor is acclaimed for his non-representational and abstract/cubism styles which have become his inimitable signature. Since he first held his solo exhibition in Karachi, Mashkoor has splashed himself all over the local and global art scenes.
He is like his paintings very individual, very bold and very impressive. And holding attention of the art world for a quarter of a century speaks for his dedication to his work. From 1980 he has been holding solo exhibitions almost every year; he has also participated in many national and international displays in the US, London, Germany, Malaysia, India, Bangladesh, Canada, Bahrain and Iran and his paintings have been selected for the art collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
The recent exhibition encapsulates a wide perspective of Mashkoor's work, from images of women to action-packed horses and the moon which at times has sensuous as well as a spiritual aura around them. These subjects and symbols fascinated him since his initial obsession with abstract art. nadeemzuberi71@gmail.com