Art show: Connecting the dots between adversity and a search for spirituality

Artist draws upon sense of insecurity to invest meaning in artwork.

ISLAMABAD:

There is a stream of internal dialogue punctuated by strong emotion in an art exhibition by the Karachi-based artist, Noor Yousuf, that opened at Khaas Art Gallery on Tuesday.

Titled, “The Heart Nests,” the exhibition explores the struggle of living through adversity, understanding life’s complexities and a search for spirituality.

A graduate of the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture, Yousuf has juxtaposed the mediums of painting and sculpture into the exhibition to get her message across in a holistic manner. Drawing a comparison with some of her previous work, Yousuf said, “This is a continuation of another body of my work. While that was about escaping conflict, this one is about embracing it. So the work has evolved.” Permutations of the same symbolic expression change the context of the work, according to the artist.



Conflict and struggle take up a myriad forms in the art pieces. While the oil paintings depict the intricacies of human relationships, the loss of love, the fragile human condition in a personal narrative, the brass sculptures take on a political dialogue of their own, alluding to the socio-political condition of the country in general and Karachi in particular.

Nestled within a nest of fruit are hand grenades, a pistol stands erect on a feeder, a newborn clings on to a heart and roses and thorns sprout from the arteries in various sculpture pieces. They all contain poignant realities, externalised through the art form.

“A lot of emotion we face in the country has to do with some kind of insecurity,” Yousuf pointed out. The heart is a recurring symbol in the series, as according to the artist, “It is a place which nurtures human emotion by opening up possibilities to a gamut of concerns which exist within and outside the self.”

The bright palette of mostly pastels portrays among figurative forms and foliage, powerful symbols of birds, fish, feathers, weeds and water. The artist builds parallels between a nest, house and cage, where the heart becomes a dwelling place and so does the body, a space where things collect, which has a history and future.



“I love the sculptures. I think they are beautifully executed. The brass work is really brilliant,” said Simi Kamal, a visitor and social activist.

“Although the figures seem somewhat disproportionate but they look nice. I really like the use of colour and the symbols. Also, the sculptures are a novelty since artists typically work with mediums such as clay or plaster of Paris. You feel like touching and feeling the sculptures,” said Yahat Benazir, artist and visitor.

Babar Gul, the show curator, said, “There is a lot of figurative form in the collection, something which other artists are gradually deviating from as they don’t consider it modern. However, the paintings and sculptures in this exhibition are interconnected and complement one another, which is something new.”

The exhibition will continue till February 1 daily from 11:30am to 6:30pm.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 22^nd, 2014.