‘All Pakistan Painting Exhibition’: Exhibit fails to impress

Work of 15 artists on display at the RAC.

ISLAMABAD:

A display that opened at the Rawalpindi Arts Council (RAC) failed to impress despite over 15 artists from across the country exhibiting. Save for a few that left viewers wanting for more, most pieces failed to make an impression. 

The “All Pakistan Painting Exhibition”, which opened on Monday, can best be described as conventional: almost all artists seemed to have forgotten how to think out of the box.

Sticking to landscapes or rural and urban scenes, most artists used oil on canvas as their medium.

The first paintings to greet a visitor were Karachi-based Hamid Alvi’s paintings of urban dwellings.

Next to them was Abrar Ali’s painting of brightly-coloured mosques, disjointed and distorted to give an abstract look. His two pieces seemed to be the most simple, yet the only pieces that were tastefully done in the entire exhibition.

A major attraction at the exhibition was late landscape maestro Ghulam Rasool’s daughter, Maryam Rasool. While she has followed in her father’s footsteps, painting rural scenes, she has incorporated her own take on the subject in her works.

Instead of the bright yellow mustard fields that her father is known for, Maryam depicts farmers getting together for a meal at a “dhaaba” (a tea stall), sitting on charpoys after a hard day’s work. While many admired the similarity between her and her father’s work, some commented on her tendency to play it safe.

“Her brushstrokes are carefully lined and very conventional. She’s very talented but her work needs to have her own imprint instead of her father’s,” said Saira, an art graduate at the event.

Outshining Maryam’s rural scenes was Junaid Nawaz from Mirpur Khaas in Sindh, who painted rural mud houses with villagers and blossoming trees. His work seemed to give off a fresh look as he used minute brush strokes to paint flowers and leaves.

Hung on the other side of the gallery walls were Mirza Shakeel’s large drawings of several shrines and mosques around the country. Although the hard work was evident in each of his pieces, overall, they lacked finesse and were more reminiscent of graduate work.

“Somehow I feel the artists at this exhibition have restricted themselves. This was a big exhibition, but not one artist dared to show anything new,” said a visitor who had come from Islamabad.

The works of Saleem Jhatial, Ali Abrar, Anee Fatima, Mehmood Ali, Hania Zaidi, Iqra Tariq, Muahammad Imran, and Mahrukh Sultan were also on display.

Green Task Force Chairman Dr Jamal Nasir and RAC Resident Director Waqar Ahmed inaugurated the exhibition. The exhibition was arranged in collaboration with Saba Khidmat Foundation and continues till November 10.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 6^th, 2012.