Art exhibition: Blurring the line between the real and the imaginary

Artist creatively interprets life’s experiences.

An exhibition of paintings, titled “Halluginations” will open at Gallery6 on Thursday.

The exhibition comprises 30 paintings and one pen-and-ink piece. Dr Arjumand Faisal, the gallery’s curator, explained the title, saying that “Omar Farid’s imagination is hallucinatory, his work could best be described as “Halluginations.” Faisel added that the artist has the ability of visualising the entire composition of his painting down to the minutest details — with humans, objects, shapes, colours and abstract formations. These crystallised thoughts are then skilfully transcribed on paper. Interestingly, the themes are derived from the circumstances or events that have happened or are likely to occur and involve each viewer in mysterious ways.

It is hard to miss “Fruition,” as one enters the gallery. Farid said the painting tells the story of his own life. One sees Lady Luck tantalising, toying with a four-eyed creature, tossing fame and fortune out of his reach. “Eyecandy Climb” is about human desires. It depicts the longing for someone or something that is beyond reach.

“Epicycles” talks about life, love, to be or not to be.  Another piece, “Jackbox” unravels an endless struggle, with no end in sight, the door above opening to release even more spirals, depicting an evolutionary creature pausing for breath in between the efforts.

Socio-political conversation are visible in five paintings, “Troika,” “Catstalk,” “Relic,” “Blue Tease” and “Heat and Strife.” In “Catstalk,” a predator is seen coiled, ready to spring, just before the actual jump or pounce, waiting for the right moment to make a move — a moment that will not allow the prey to fly away.

Cheerful moments and successes are also celebrated. “Montmartre, 1982” encapsulates the artist’s first trip to Paris, depicting a young man falling in love with the city, where his friends are seen labouring under the weight of his paintings, while he is tipping his hat to every passing woman. In contrast, “Pentimenti” is a glaring figurative work depicting a disturbed mind.

Commenting on the work, leading art critic Marjorie Hussain, said “The art of Omar Farid is so distinctive that the images stay with one long after the initial encounter in the exhibition. There one discovers a diversity of issues suggested in an intriguing and ambiguous fusing of optical effects.”

Farid summed all it all up by saying “I paint at whim — impulse wills me, instinct guides me and passion powers me.” The exhibition will continue daily till October 20, except Eid holidays, from 11am to 7pm.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 3^rd, 2013.