Patriotism: Elevating the aces through art
Rehan Siraj is an artist with a mission – he wants to highlight the achievements of Pakistan Air Force (PAF) in the wars of 1965 and 1971 and peacetime. Aviation art is not new, he explains, its the art of depicting aircrafts playing various roles. “There are more paintings on war on terror in the US and UK than books these days. And as they say, a painting is a worth a thousand words,” he says in an exclusive interview with The Express Tribune.
His work has been recognised both nationally and internationally. The 26-year-old artist has participated in various exhibitions held in Egypt, Czechoslovakia, Romania and Japan and won the third prize for painting the PAF Mirage aircraft taking off, in Romania in year 2000.
Reminiscent of various war heroes, his work also depicts the serving top PAF officials. His work has also been displayed at Lockheed Martin USA magazine’s website. Last year, one of his paintings was published in a German magazine along with an article on the 1971 war.
Garnering his inspiration from local and foreign artists, he cites artists like Group Captian (retd) S.M.A. Hussaini, Keith Ferris, R.G Smith, Robert Taylor, William Phillips and Ronald Wong.
A student of MBA at Virtual University, he freelances as an artist, working mainly in water colour.
His professional experience includes working in the fields of Accounting and Finance.
“My aim is to promote the achievements of PAF so that everyone knows the truth and gets motivated to serve Pakistan in a good way. I am also willing to work for airlines, aviation museums, and air force of friendly countries,” he adds.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 7th, 2011.
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Rehan Siraj a young meverick in the aviation art, emeraged as a role model for our young generation with above the board performance in aviation art around the globe, thereby to promote Pakistan Air Force during war and peace !
During 2009, I had an opportunity to invite along with my friend Engineer Asaf Iqbal the young man to Lahore to prepare a classic painting of April 10, 1959 in which Flt Lt M Yunis shot down high altitude IAF s' Canberra recoding first killing of the PAF vs IAF.
That painting would later be presented to Air Vice Marshal M. Yunis(R), a veteran of Indo Pak Air war of 1965 & 1971 as on September 13, 2009.
People can also follow my blog. Here is the link
http://aviationartofrehansiraj.blogspot.com
Thanks again to Express Tribune and appreciation from the people. Special thanks to Sir Imran for supporting me. He was my boss in finance department of Rastgar Engineering Company(Pvt.) Ltd.
Rehan Siraj
Its really a treat to go through Rehan's aviation art. I happened to see his passion of art at various sites. Handling water colour is really difficult, and he masters in that. Warm wishes for him with a prayer that he continues promoting PAF with the same zeal. Thanks to The Express Tribune for disclosing hidden talents of Pakistan.
AOA,
Special thanks to Express Tribune and the writer for writing a good article.
Profound regards, Rehan Siraj
Thanks to Express Tribune for recognizing a genuine artist. Rehan Siraj is truly an inspiration for our youngsters. A fine example of high class art.