Art exhibition: Miniaturised musings on greed and fear

Exhibition featuring the work of Quratulain Shams and Noor Ali Chagani opens at Rohtas Gallery in Islamabad.

ISLAMABAD: A collection of miniature paintings extending through a vast array of emotions and concepts has made its way to Islamabad. The exhibition of the two Karachi-born and Lahore based artists, Quratulain Shams and Noor Ali Chagani opened at Rohtas Gallery on Tuesday. Quratulain Shams captures the fragility of moments in her work while Noor Ali focuses on the lust for money and pride.

Working with gouche on wasli, Quratulain Shams focuses on moments of pain. Highlighting the fragility of the moment, the artist uses bubbles as her medium of choice. Furthermore, the most interesting feature of Shams’ work is how she depicts a pair of scissors and other elements that destroy the bubbles. This is there to show how short lived these moments are and there is a lot of negativity surrounding our lives that causes these pristine moments to be distorted. Shams comments, ‘My work revolves around themes of fragility and sensitivity, the distinctive feature about my work is that I always want to paint ‘moments’’.

The treatment of wasli for both the artists is very different. While Chagani enhances the empty space and makes minimal use of colour in his work, Shams on the other hand makes use of the entire canvas surface and fills it up with a rich colour palate.

Noor Ali Chagani’s work revolves around his obsession with architecture. The desire for a beautiful mansion resides in the heart of almost everyone and the artist depicts this lust for money and pride.

The bricks symbolize the desire for a bigger house and show the constant struggle between retaining one’s identity and yet blending with the masses. It also communicates the need to be a part of a strong organization. It talks about the struggle to fit in, making a place for oneself in a system. ‘I am influenced by very ordinary buildings due to their linear and cubical forms. There are some other elements which are seen in my work, like tools, currency, name plates etc’.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 5^th, 2011.