‘Still life’ paintings on display

A collection of still life paintings titled ‘Life is not still’ were put on display on Monday at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) featuring 47 different artworks by various artists in the federal capital.

The show was inaugurated by first lady Samina Arif Alvi, who lauded the efforts of curators saying that in today's world of art, we appreciate contemporary art more than other art forms. People express their emotions through painting, calligraphy, sculpturing, drawing, dance, music, and literature and turn them into  beautiful creative expressions, she added.

Speaking on the occasion, Amna Pataudi said that still-life drawing and painting is the seed that sprouted all other genres but unfortunately, it lost a lot of ground compared to modern art forms like portrait, landscape, computer graphics, and digital art. She said that "We owe a debt of gratitude to artists who are exhibiting their works in this exhibition, and continue promoting still-life as art." The idea of curating a show on 'Still-Life' is to revisit this very intimate and distinctive genre of painting, she added.

Local painters were introduced to different popular genres of European painting, such as portrait and figure painting, landscape painting, and still life which they eagerly adopted. In Western art, at one point in time, still-life painting became immensely popular among artists and buyers. The merchant class who could afford them loved to decorate their homes with these paintings.

Often an arrangement of inanimate objects, such as flowers, bottles, fruits, books, candles, etc. became the usual items for painting. However, the artist carefully chose these ordinary objects to express deeper symbolic meanings - fruits and flowers carried many religious and mythical symbols; the apple in a painting signified temptation, etc., a skull or a candle represented the passing of time or the transience of life, and so on.

Post-partition, Pakistani art displayed a spirited diversity, where the need of the hour was to connect with the Indigenous and fashion an identity for the newly created ideological state.

Still-life painting was a popular subject as part of their repertoire. Gradually, with the changing art scenario, this genre was simply relegated as a learning tool for students in art schools.

This exhibition is one such show that incorporates all the diversity now visible in the Pakistani art scene, said Dr Rahat Naveed Masud,

He further said that ‘For Arts Sake’ is a platform where they endeavor to celebrate the diversity of Pakistani art, to provide an opportunity to talented artists who may have been ignored by powerful lobbies in the art world. ‘For Arts Sake’ also aspires to initiate intellectual debate on relevant issues related to art in Pakistan, he added.

The show was curated by Dr Rahat Naveed Masud and Amna I Pataudi while the participating artists include Aasim Akhter, Ali Hammad, Amina Cheema, Amna Ismail Pataudi, Aqeel Javaid Teetu, Buland Iqbal, Dure Waseem, Ghulam Mustafa, Hadiqa Asad, Hira Siddiqui, Ibrahim Ramay, Jimmy Engineer, Kahkashan Jafri, Kaleem Khan, Mariam Arslan, Masood Kohari, Mian Ijaz ul Hassan, Minaa Haroon, Mohammad Atif Khan, Mughees Riaz, Muhammad AsifNaela Amir, Najia Azmat, Rabia Asim, Rahat Naveed Masud, Rahat Qavi, Rifat Dar, Sakina Akbar, Sara Riaz, Shahnaz Akhter, Sumera Jawad, Sundas Azfer, Tassaduq Amin and Zafar Malik. The show will continue till November 30.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 22^nd, 2022.