The art of transparency: Lucid reflections of everyday life

International award winning artist Masood A Khan showcases at Nomad.

ISLAMABAD:

For those unfamiliar with the artist, Masood A Khan’s claim to fame is having won the first prize from amongst 160 worldwide artists at the Biennale of Chianciano this year.

At the press preview of his fifth solo exhibition in the city on Wednesday, a select 16 paintings featured his signature style of translucent texture at the Nomad gallery.

To the untrained eye, the paintings appear be in water colour. However, as the artist clarifies, his work is actually created through acrylic and charcoal. The effect is something only a seasoned artist can achieve by diluting the colours to sheer transparency.

The idea behind his paintings has little to do with technique however, and there is a story behind his choice of medium as a realist painter. “As transparency is the quintessence of naked reality, it remains constant on my surfaces,” he said.

A firm believer in transparency in all its forms, be it political, economical and social, his work signifies the peeling off of fables that determine our lives layer by layer.

In the exhibition, he has depicted people lounging in the comfort of their homes; he also makes stronger statements, such as his painting of the bourgeois, showing a snake living in luxury and comfort while the masses around him seem small and insignificant.

The painter also adds personalities in his work from his own life – his pet cat seems to creep into most of his paintings as do his wife and children.

The exhibition will continue till January 10.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 22^nd, 2011.