Group show featuring paintings, calligraphy underway

LAHORE: A group show featuring the work of two painters and two calligraphers is underway at the Nairang Art Gallery.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Abid Khan, a Lahore-based painter, said he had tried to portray Pakistani culture in his paintings made using oil on canvas. He said he had taken inspiration from nature.

“My work emphasises colours and beauty of nature. It highlights the calm and peace that dominates natural sceneries,” he said.  “I am particularly inspired by songs of nightingales during spring season, whispering sound of summer breeze, calmness of winter weather and withering of colours from natural landscapes during autumn.”

Abdul Samad, a calligraphy teacher at Naqsh School of Arts, said this was the first time he was displaying his work at a group show in an art gallery.  “My work is based on classical style of Islamic calligraphy. I started learning the art of calligraphy from my father when I was 10 years old,” he said.

Samad said contemporary Islamic calligraphy could be traced back to Islamic empires in Arabian Peninsula, Middle East and Persian regions.  “The art of calligraphy is highly venerated in Islamic culture,” he said. Traditionally, he said, the art of calligraphy was learnt by diligently copying a master’s work until the pupil’s handwriting matched that of the master’s. “The most common style features angular and cursive lines,” he said.

Shahid Sandhu said he was a calligraphist by profession but was displaying works in mixed media on canvas. He said the displayed work had been inspired by leaves and animals.

Dr Arshad Maqbool, a doctor by profession, said he was a self taught painter. “I am interested in exploring the interplay of light and shade in my painting,” he said.

The exhibition will continue till June 5, 2016.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 1^st, 2016.