Art exhibition: The talented old and new at ‘16 days of July’

The exhibition displays 77 artworks by 30 artists from different cities.

There is something for everyone at “16 Days of July”; both serious and new art collectors will rejoice to find works of renowned and talented upcoming artists.

More than 77 artworks by 30 artists are on display at the exhibition, and their prices start from Rs2,000 and go all the way up to Rs200,000. Several artists have offered substantial discounts on their work (up to 50 per cent).

Pieces on display include prints, sculptures, wood carvings and paintings that have miniatures, calligraphies, figurative work, landscapes, works in expressionism, and abstracts. Media varies from neem rang, pencil, charcoal, markers, water colours, oil paints, acrylics, oil pastels, wood, fiber glass, charcoal.

At least 10 paintings by renowned artists boast of their iconic styles.

Ragini Upadhyay’s “Kursi Ka Chuska” presents an interesting tale of the political situation in Nepal; the painting applies well to politics in Pakistan as well.

Iqbal Hussain captures the busy life of female sex workers through simple but powerful postures, giving an uncanny feeling of relaxation.

Mohammad Ali Bhatti’s Sindhi men and women are surrounded by colourful strokes. Rashid Arshed’s calligraphy works are extremely aesthetic and as usual, they do not use words or phrases that are readable or have literal relevance.

Mansoor Rahi’s drawings can be classified into three groups. One can be called “synergy”, where drawings are done with bold markers and soft tones of charcoal. According to Rahi, “This is like making a symphony with bold sounds of tabla and soft melody of sitar.”

Second is “volume drawing”, where the subject is drawn and dealt with the volume without the help of outline. The third is “iconographical contours”, which deal with intuitive spontaneous lines.

Some other notable pieces are a painting in bright pink and white by Sana Arjumand, showing a woman with a soother in mouth; a unique miniature style painting of two conjoined figures by Irfan Dahri; Abid Hasan’s work on Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s poetry capturing the essence of the verses “phir noor-e sehr daste giraiban hai sehr se” and “ayyae hath uthain hum bhi”; and Irshad’s Salim’s abtract paintings on the 2010 floods.

Wood sculptures by Imran Hunzai exhibit abundance of ideas that the artist has and the ease with which he executes them. The sculpture showing the stealing of hen’s eggs by a mouse is very interesting.

A brilliant six-feet long calligraphy on fibre glass by sculptor Shahid Hussain stands out gracefully at the entrance of the gallery.

Talking about the display, Dr Arjumand Faisel, the curator, said, “In April 2010, we displayed works of new and upcoming talented artists with works of renowned artists… in substantially less prices than the market. It is a repeat of the same type of exhibition and I hope it will get the same response.”

The participating artists are: Abdul Jabbar, Abrar Ahmed, Akram Spaul, Arjumand Awan, Abid Hasan, Aleem Dad, Arjumand Faisel, Amjad Hussain, Aziz Hasan, Abdul Hai Abid, Iqbal Hussain, Imran Hunzai, Irfan Gul Dahri, Irshad Salim, Kausar Iqbal, Mansoor Rahi, Masood A Khan, Matloob Baig, Mohammad Ali Bhatti, Munawar Sulehri, Mutaib Shah, Nazir Ahmad, Ragini Upadhyay Grela, Rasheed Ahmed Arshad, Sadequain, Sadaf Naeem, Saira Amjad, Sana Arjumand, Shahid Hussain, Sara Noreen, Tariq Luni, and Tayyeb Munawwar.

The exhibition will continue till July 17 every day except Sundays from 11am-7pm.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 3^rd, 2011.