Bold colours across a canvas
Artist says his work stresses the need for women to be bold and upfront.
LAHORE:
Many people attending the 16th solo exhibit by Akbar Hafeez at the Collector’s Gallery, admired his use of bold colours.
“His work brings a smile to my face,” said Ambreen Zafar, an art collector who purchased one of Hafeez’s paintings last year. “Traditional long hair and use of cultural symbols such as wrought-iron fences and jharokas had me,” said Andleeb Rana, an event manager.
According to Hafeez, the 21 paintings showing long-necked, straight haired women, stresses the societal need for women to be bold and more upfront.
“In our increasingly repressive culture, art has to take a bolder form and I let it out through a brush and a canvas,” he said.
The self-taught artist, who resides in Karachi, said his use of bold colours reflects his maturing confidence as an artist.
“The bright contrasts and abundant birds and flower shows that I’m embracing brush strokes more confidently than the last time I put together an exhibit,” he said.
The prices range between Rs15,000 and Rs1,55,000. The exhibit will run until March 6.
Amber, another visitor, liked the “outdoorsy appeal” of the paintings.
“It’s the same face, but against a different backdrop. It’s as if he has sprayed a few birds here and there,” she said. “It’s an amalgamation of femininity and nature,” she said. “It’s appreciative. But, I think he should have worked a little harder on the detail of expressions of the women.”
Within an hour of the exhibit’s opening, two paintings had sold. One showed a woman wearing a parrot green shalwar kameez kneeling against a cushion. The other showed two women, with their blue and red hair wafting against an orange sunset.
Asked about the significance of the blue hair, Hafeez said, “I can give a long speech about why it’s blue but honestly this is what I felt like doing at the moment.”
Published in The Express Tribune, March 2nd, 2012.
Many people attending the 16th solo exhibit by Akbar Hafeez at the Collector’s Gallery, admired his use of bold colours.
“His work brings a smile to my face,” said Ambreen Zafar, an art collector who purchased one of Hafeez’s paintings last year. “Traditional long hair and use of cultural symbols such as wrought-iron fences and jharokas had me,” said Andleeb Rana, an event manager.
According to Hafeez, the 21 paintings showing long-necked, straight haired women, stresses the societal need for women to be bold and more upfront.
“In our increasingly repressive culture, art has to take a bolder form and I let it out through a brush and a canvas,” he said.
The self-taught artist, who resides in Karachi, said his use of bold colours reflects his maturing confidence as an artist.
“The bright contrasts and abundant birds and flower shows that I’m embracing brush strokes more confidently than the last time I put together an exhibit,” he said.
The prices range between Rs15,000 and Rs1,55,000. The exhibit will run until March 6.
Amber, another visitor, liked the “outdoorsy appeal” of the paintings.
“It’s the same face, but against a different backdrop. It’s as if he has sprayed a few birds here and there,” she said. “It’s an amalgamation of femininity and nature,” she said. “It’s appreciative. But, I think he should have worked a little harder on the detail of expressions of the women.”
Within an hour of the exhibit’s opening, two paintings had sold. One showed a woman wearing a parrot green shalwar kameez kneeling against a cushion. The other showed two women, with their blue and red hair wafting against an orange sunset.
Asked about the significance of the blue hair, Hafeez said, “I can give a long speech about why it’s blue but honestly this is what I felt like doing at the moment.”
Published in The Express Tribune, March 2nd, 2012.