Mini thesis display: Nothing is set in stone, except for the future of these artists

Third-year students at the Art Council brave public scrutiny .

KARACHI:

Young sweat-soaked artists lug in their sculptures and art boards to the AR Faridi Art Gallery inside the Karachi Arts Council. It is supposed to be the greatest day of their lives — after three years of training at the Arts Council Institute of Arts and Crafts they are holding a ‘Mini Thesis Display.’

But, true to their nature, the young men and women pooh-pooh the endeavour. “This exhibition thing is all [...] for me,” says Tariq Raja, who has been studying Fine Art and Sculpture. “It’s just a formality as people don’t understand art these days.”

He displays what is perhaps typical of angst-ridden young artists. He shuns the “commercialism” and is tortured by more lofty ideologies. “Through art, I’m bridging the gap between myself and God,” he says. “This gives me the opportunity to explore myself every day.” And yet, the narcissism of the artist goes hand in hand with his angst.

Their teachers are aware of the mood and even though their students may not see it, they understand the magnanimity of the occasion. “This is the first time in the history of art institutions in Karachi that students have displayed exclusive work on stone sculpture,” says Syed Kamran Hussain, a friendly Fine Arts teacher at the ACIAC. “These sculptures are the statements of my students coming through the expressions they wanted to make.” But even he has to admit that there is a reason we have the phrase “struggling artist”. “But who’s here to understand,” he remarks, looking around.

The gallery is somewhat empty. “I just hate the part when these seemingly literate people come towards the artist, put one hand at their side and ask, ‘Ye kitne ka hai bhai?’ or ‘This piece would perfectly match with my bedroom setting,’” laments Hussain. “They make fun of the artist.”

The mood is slightly more upbeat at the end of the gallery, where Noushayba Bukhari, another Fine Arts student, is enthusiastically welcoming visitors and explaining her oil collage. “It’s a type of Pop art,” she says, referring to the display ‘Abstract Fantasies.’ “These abstract colors use a surrealistic approach to convey my message. The art shows people’s tears, nostalgia and a little bit of joy.”

Another student, Shabana Inayat, called her piece ‘Dream’. The oil painting aims to create “a society where children are set free to choose and nurture their talents and skills without any obstacles.” Needless to say, the personal appears to have heavily influenced her work.

At the Ahmed Pervaiz Art Gallery, Usman Sohail, a textile design major, exhibited his creativity under the title of ‘Shoes & Sole.’ “Nobody has done anything like this in Pakistan before and I faced a lot of criticism from my peers when I announced my subject,” he says, delighted with the attention he was receiving.

To appease the commercial demands of the public, artists such as Munir Ahmed had displayed a series of retro patterns under the title of ‘Pattern of Life’.

Saima Rauf, ACIAC’s principal, told The Express Tribune that most students came from middle-class backgrounds and the institute’s aim was “to help art flourish within a nominal fee structure”. “If students cannot pay the fee, I collect funds from my own sources, at other times the president of the Arts Council helps out.” Proudly, she added that, “except for the ACIAC, no other institute in Karachi has stone carving as a major.”

Seasoned artists, such as Shuker Allah and G Abbas Kamandar, visited the gallery. “Two factors play an important role in the development of art, media and critics,” Shuker Allah explained. “The tragedy is that both these factors have shifted their attention towards sensationalism.”

Published in The Express Tribune, July 29^th,  2011.