On canvas: Artworks inspired by idea of duality and life

Artist says simplicities of life are not simple anymore.

LAHORE: An art exhibition by Irfan Gul Dahri and Kiran Saleem, who explore the idea of duality and life, is underway at the O Art Space gallery. The show runs till May 5.

“My creative process is inspired by the idea of life, its quality and price that one pays,” said Irfan while talking to The Express Tribune. 

The artist said this particular series on display is driven from the Army Public School (APS) attack and some other similar incidents which made us think twice about the normal routine work and living.

“The simplicities of life are not simple anymore. The very act of living demands courage of a warrior in a battlefield. Besides the norms are being challenged, we need to reconsider our understanding of abnormal in a new context now.”

Explaining his technique, Irfan said he had been using acrylic on canvas and paper and developing his imagery in layers.



Most of his imagery doesn’t represent the idea very directly, he said, adding one has to find the clues and connect to the context. For example, the depiction of vulture in his paintings represents how one immediately associates the bird with evil, while in reality it plays an essential role in creating a balanced eco system. “Eliminating vulture from the environment can directly affect the environment and make it unsustainable and that is how I have tried to explain the idea of duality in life,” Irfan elaborated.

Artist Kiran Saleem said that her work represents images and ideas that are contradictory to each other but simultaneously exist thus complement each others for example, references from art history not only remind of classical European paintings, but reinforce their absence too.

“In some of my recent works, the sense of void or loss exist to such extent that conventional image disappears completely”, Kiran said.

According to the artist, for the series on display, she picked up famous images from western art and repainted their selected portions as zoomed in images. “By recreating images of the Western art, I see, interpret and record what takes place in our perception through a remote or second hand source,” said Kiran.

“As I have never seen these paintings in real and the only format in which these paintings are experienced is either through web or printed paper,” she said, adding that her intent is to personalise them and bring them into close contact – first to me as a maker and then to others, as the viewers of these images.

According to Kiran, her intervention in these works is a form of critique or comment upon the division, dislocation and disappearance of time and the separation of space.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 25^th, 2017.