A personal touch: Unique set of paintings go on display at Gallery6

“Usual Unusual” features works of six artists, on display till November 2 .



ISLAMABAD:


An exhibition of paintings by six acclaimed artists opened at Gallery6 on Wednesday evening.


Titled “Usual Unusual”, the exhibition features artworks by Abid Hasan, Abrar Ahmed, Akram Spaul, Mohammad Ali Bhatti, Masood A Khan and Rind.



Hasan plays with effects of chemicals on silver and gold leaf applied on canvas. He uses this multi-stage laborious technique to paint. The compositions glisten with intense energy. He has also painted with mix-media, reflecting faces and moods, indicating his control over expressive figurative work also.

Ahmed’s paintings, using spontaneous strokes, usually deal with women. The images are traditional miniatures with faces that are highly stylised — images of women with elongated necks, expressive eyes and hands. Birds, moon and jewelry are additional features.

Spaul’s palette adds depth to his work as a realist painter. He portrays the lives and surroundings of the middle and lower classes, the ordinary and unadorned.



His oil paintings show a piece of furniture, a door, a window, washing area; infusing detail that brings it to life and brings our own routine activities into focus with stunning beauty. In this exhibition, besides painted windows, he has ventured into landscapes and a painting depicting fluttering Pakistani flags.

Rind is famous for his distinctive style and figurative work reflecting expressions and moods of women, adorned elegantly with ethnic jewellery. His work carries a strong cultural influence of his hometown Rahimyar Khan as his paintings are deeply influenced by regional aesthetics, splendour, colours, and motifs.



Khan’s paintings stand out for their style of their execution.  Whatever he has painted — a village scene, urban city areas or still life, he has captured the lights and shades. With transparent washes of water colours or acrylic paints and minimal lines of ink and charcoal, he created brilliant multi-dimensional, serene paintings.

With five works in his usual style, there is an artwork done by him in a totally different medium: grout used in masonry, which is a mixture of water, cement, sand, gravel and colours. The appearance of artwork is like that of painted three-dimensional rock, but it maintains the effect of transparency through different objects.

Bhatti captures the persona of those who fascinate him. He feasts on the subtleties of dynamic compositions, synchronising colour tones and textures. He has converted simple expressions into complex by striving to define and attain the values of the background, the shadow shapes, the darks, the lights, and the transition tones.

However, the two paintings in this show have been done with dancing and twisting bold brush strokes with addition of new elements, not seen before in his paintings. In one there is a feeling of joy and festivity around human faces, while the other seems to be a loud protest.



Dr Arjumand Faisel, the gallery curator, commented on the exhibition, saying “These leading artists have iconic styles that are popular in the art market. This exhibition presents their paintings in their usual styles along with those that most of the art lovers have never seen.”

The exhibition will continue at the gallery daily till November 2 from 11am to 7pm while the paintings can also be viewed on the gallery’s website.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 23rd, 2014.

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