Bold and empowered: Artist brings to life headstrong women

KARACHI: Creating illusions with dots and painting with a size zero brush, artist Lubna Jehnagir brings to the fore headstrong women.

The watercolour paintings on display at Grandeur Art Gallery depict women who are bold and not naïve. "In my paintings, you would find women who are bold and empowered species, who are emerging out of their shelves," she told The Express Tribune. "Not some meek beings." She added that her works also revolve around Rumi.

From bold face cuts to figurative images, everything seems to be present in her works - you can even spot some flora in there, too.

Taking a high dose of inspiration from the works of Van Gogh and Ana Molka Ahmed, she said that the artists were diehard expressionists, who used bold strokes while painting. "I am not any closer to them," she said. "However, I have strong feelings for the work of Gustav Klimt … whose decorative work has toyed with [a] different technique but garners a lot of influence on my work."

While painting was initially Jehangir's hobby, now she has quit her job to focus solely on her drawings.

Jehangir compared the responses of the people in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad towards art. "The Karachi crowd responds very well to the drawing - there is always a great feedback," she said. "However, [a] less[er] number of buyers are interested in buying it off the rack. Vice versa, Lahore and Islamabad crowd loves to buy paintings - art is sold there."

Aik Tha Raja Aik Thee Rani

This was her fourth solo show in all and second solo in Karachi, she said. According to her, she has had European buyers, too, but has only had the pleasure to exhibit in Dubai.

The owner of the gallery, Neshmia Ahmed, praised the work of Jehangir. "You need to have a magnifying glass to see these images," she said. "I am sure her paintings require a lot of time and effort to [create] this collection. It's a pleasure to view it here in the gallery. It is not seen anywhere else in the market."

The exhibition that opened on Tuesday will continue till January 18.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2017.