Painting exhibition: Link between creation, Divine depicted

Works included in The Ishq Series are based upon the PhD research of the artist.

LAHORE: Dr Rahat Masud has beautifully painted the spiritual link of the creation with the Supreme Being through her work.

This was stated by Designer Mohsin Pervez at the inauguration of the artist’s solo exhibition at Ejaz Gallery. The work, titled The Ishq Series, is based on her PhD research and includes 27 paintings and a video loop.

Pervez said the use of locks and cages in the paintings depicted how the spirit of a sufi was freed once it left the body. He said the painting Bliss-I had had a magical effect on him.

Quddus Mirza, a critic and a painter, said the combination of colours Masud had used in her work reflected her grasp of the local culture.

“Poetry and painting can be used to convey a wide range of messages,” Masud said. She said people could relate their own condition to the situations portrayed in the paintings. “Different people take different meanings out of the different layers of a painting,” she said.

In Light and the Moth, the moth symbolises the artist who wanders in search of light but dies as soon as it comes in contact with its beloved.

The painting implies that death is like a reunion with the Supreme Being.

The painter also uses Red bridal dress and plays upon the concept of urs of sufi saints in her work.

Saeed Akhter admired the treatment of colours. He said in one of the paintings, Aye Arz-e-Watan, Masud had shown the reflection of objects on the woman’s face with dexterity. “She is an expert in painting the spread of colours around objects.”

A 50-second video loop, Annihilation, was also screened at the gallery. It was a compilation of several shots from different shrines showing malangs dancing to the music of dhols.

The artist had extensively used oil, pastels and gold and silver leafs on canvas or hand-made papers in her paintings. Most of the paintings were self-portraits. The exhibition will continue till March 2, 2011.

Biography

Dr Rahat Masud obtained her PhD in 2010 from Kingston University, United Kingdom, in Fine Arts Practice. Her research title was Materialising the Spiritual in Contemporary Painting in Pakistan: An Artist’s Exploration of Figurative Art and Sufism. She has displayed her work in 44 exhibitions in places including the UAE, the UK, the US, Iran, India and Korea. She earlier displayed the same work at Art Scene Gallery in Karachi.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 24^th, 2011.