‘Onrushing’ hues of life go on display today

Prominent, young emerging artists to showcase work in Gallery6’s exhibit

ISLAMABAD:

With the world mired in a pandemic, bringing life as we know it to a halt in many regions, nine artists will put on a group show depicting the hues, faces, vibes, and nostalgia of a world that was, what it is and what could be.

Opening today (Friday) virtually, the ‘Onrushing-3’ is a group art exhibit by Gallery6.

Accessible on their website (https://gallery6islamabad.com/category/exhibition/), the exhibition is not a one-off. ‘Onrushing’ has become a series for one of the capital’s fast-growing art galleries. The group exhibits began in 2015 as a means to showcase the outstanding participants of the gallery’s biennial national art contest, the “Arjumand Painting Awards”.

The awards recognise outstanding emerging Pakistani painters between the ages of 25 to 40 years of age.

The current exhibition includes nine prominent emerging artists, including four who won at the last APA. The artists include Aqeel Solangi, Irfan Gul Dahri, Javaid Mughal, Kanwal Zafar, Samra Cheema, Nazia Gul, Syeda Unab Sumble, Syrraa Ali, and Usman Khalid.

For Solangi, flowers are recurring motifs in his work, especially the Periwinkle (Sada Bahar). His work showcases a constant dialogue between nature and constructed elements within the landscape with different juxtaposition as if he is addressing the Freudian term of ‘uncanny’ to explore the notion of uncertainty.

Dahri, who won the first prize in ‘Arjumand Painting Award 2017’, besides two other prestigious awards, projects anthropomorphized ideas and stories dwelling between the realm of perceived existence and fantasy in his works.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 13^th, 2020.