Thesis exhibit: Using art to depict human behaviour

Work of 15 painting students on display

LAHORE: “My work is about human behaviour and how we perceive people at first glance,” student Ahsan Ali Memon said on Wednesday.

Memon made the remarks while speaking about his work that is being displayed alongside that of 14 other painting students at a thesis exhibit underway at the National College of Arts (NCA).

Memon has painted a few fibreglass pieces to look like bread, another to look like a wall of bricks and long canvasses to come across as wood.

“People get shocked on realising that these pieces are actually painted. In a way, human nature is similar to my work as they strive to be soft or different while they are actually something else,” the student said. Memon said one only realised a person’s true colours after spending time with them.

“My thesis is premised on the idea that nothing is absolute and everything is permissible,” Mohsin Sheikh, another student said. Sheikh has made paintings that come across as chalkboards and whiteboards. He said he had made the chalkboards as they mirrored his personal life and represented the reality of people being compelled to do things irrespective of whether they were interested in them or not. He said he had used chalk as it tended to fade like people’s beliefs.

Student Anam Liaquat said her work was inspired by the impressionist movement, the artists associated with it and how they had managed to capture light and perspective.  Following in their footsteps, she said, she had used three-dimensional objects and painted on them instead of working on a canvas.

“I used to paint billboards at cinemas,” student Hamid Ali said. He said he had started working at the tender age of seven. “My work is on film stills and subtitles,” Ali said. He said he had used subtitles that were not congruent with stills. Ali said he had done this to enable those reading the subtitles to make their own stories.

Sadequain, another student, has five pieces on display at the exhibit. “Generally, I have commented on a body, figure and things associated with them like security, trust, stain among other things that come to mind,” he said.

“A comfort zone is something that provides us with mental and physical security...this compass depicts the amount of space needed by an individual to carve that niche,” Sadequain said while commenting on a compass he has fashioned which moves with an electronic motor and makes a full circle on the floor.

He said the piece with a rotating mirror commented on how something reflective was not stable itself. Sadequain also fashioned a moving wall using latex to depict skin and the sensation of touch.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 14^th, 2016.