‘Celebrating Seven’: Trans-generational exhibit hits capital’s oldest gallery
Salima Hashmi and coterie of students dazzle the capital with exquisite art pieces.
Paintings of Alia Bilgrami, Anwar and Salima Hashmi on display. PHOTO: MYRA IQBAL/EXPRESS
ISLAMABAD:
While the contemporary art scene is picking up steadily in the capital, one rarely sees young artists placed on the same pedestal as seasoned ones on any platform, much less art galleries. Defying this trend of sorts, “Celebrating Seven”, an exhibition showcasing the work of artists from both categories, opened at Rohtas Art Gallery on Monday. The exhibition showcases the works of celebrated artists Afshar Malik, Anwar Saeed, Quddus Mirza, Salima Hashmi and Naiza Khan next to those of the promising young talents Nadya Hussain and Alia Bilgrami.
“There are no common threads between these works”, said gallery owner Naeem Pasha. Barring Naiza, all of these artists have been Salima Hashmi’s students. “Both Nadya and Alia are doing really well, their figurative form is very strong and Alia has some very interesting photography and iconography,” he added.
Hussain’s work speaks of the feminine desire to procreate. “These drawings are mostly from imagination, like a dream or fantasy. There are certain things that don’t happen in real life for some people. This is just me coping with being single and getting older,” she said. The ink sketches on water-damaged paper show a pregnant woman in various postures and phases. While the idea is very emotive, the same intensity is hard to come by in the work itself. While the female form is portrayed by these sketches, there is a lot of distortion in form and strokes.
Bilgrami, the youngest of the featured artists, has depicted the idea of displacement. A recurring symbol in her collage of mixed media is the symbol of a tulip. She explained the history of the tulip originating from Persia and Turkey as a symbol of true love, dating back to 1000AD. This was later appropriated by the Western Europe and Netherlands and came to be regarded as a symbol of capitalism during the 17th century. She has used a variety of materials to create impact and make a statement about the evolution of a symbol which has meant completely different things to the world at different times. The newspaper text contrasts with photo-emulsion, solar plate etching and chine-colle on wasli in her pieces to create a bold impact.
An older piece by the same artist creates an impression of the vulnerability of structures, whether man-made or organic. While one side of the monochromatic piece shows destruction of a building, the other hints at a living being. “The core essence is that nothing lasts forever,” said the artist, explaining the piece.
Placed next to one another, the pieces of Malik and Saeed complemented each other. Showing figurative forms in dull gold and grayish black, they seemed similar yet juxtaposed in a creative manner. The most vibrant and colourful exhibit was Hashmi’s, with architecture, silhouettes and bright colours coming together as one. Mirza’s art pieces showed a bridge between different cultures in an east-meets-west fusion, remaining very ethnic in a sense. Finally, Khan, the young gun amidst the senior artists, combined the best of the two worlds.
“It is interesting to see varying perspectives of contemporary art come together as one. With a surge in art production, it is hard to find quality pieces but we found both meaning and depth here,” said Maheen, an artist and visitor at the gallery.
With such accomplished artists on board, it was no surprise to see the gallery teeming with young and old artists, critics and curators. The expanded gallery space is a welcome change, especially in attendance of varying art works and target audience.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 17th, 2013.
While the contemporary art scene is picking up steadily in the capital, one rarely sees young artists placed on the same pedestal as seasoned ones on any platform, much less art galleries. Defying this trend of sorts, “Celebrating Seven”, an exhibition showcasing the work of artists from both categories, opened at Rohtas Art Gallery on Monday. The exhibition showcases the works of celebrated artists Afshar Malik, Anwar Saeed, Quddus Mirza, Salima Hashmi and Naiza Khan next to those of the promising young talents Nadya Hussain and Alia Bilgrami.
“There are no common threads between these works”, said gallery owner Naeem Pasha. Barring Naiza, all of these artists have been Salima Hashmi’s students. “Both Nadya and Alia are doing really well, their figurative form is very strong and Alia has some very interesting photography and iconography,” he added.
Hussain’s work speaks of the feminine desire to procreate. “These drawings are mostly from imagination, like a dream or fantasy. There are certain things that don’t happen in real life for some people. This is just me coping with being single and getting older,” she said. The ink sketches on water-damaged paper show a pregnant woman in various postures and phases. While the idea is very emotive, the same intensity is hard to come by in the work itself. While the female form is portrayed by these sketches, there is a lot of distortion in form and strokes.
Bilgrami, the youngest of the featured artists, has depicted the idea of displacement. A recurring symbol in her collage of mixed media is the symbol of a tulip. She explained the history of the tulip originating from Persia and Turkey as a symbol of true love, dating back to 1000AD. This was later appropriated by the Western Europe and Netherlands and came to be regarded as a symbol of capitalism during the 17th century. She has used a variety of materials to create impact and make a statement about the evolution of a symbol which has meant completely different things to the world at different times. The newspaper text contrasts with photo-emulsion, solar plate etching and chine-colle on wasli in her pieces to create a bold impact.
An older piece by the same artist creates an impression of the vulnerability of structures, whether man-made or organic. While one side of the monochromatic piece shows destruction of a building, the other hints at a living being. “The core essence is that nothing lasts forever,” said the artist, explaining the piece.
Placed next to one another, the pieces of Malik and Saeed complemented each other. Showing figurative forms in dull gold and grayish black, they seemed similar yet juxtaposed in a creative manner. The most vibrant and colourful exhibit was Hashmi’s, with architecture, silhouettes and bright colours coming together as one. Mirza’s art pieces showed a bridge between different cultures in an east-meets-west fusion, remaining very ethnic in a sense. Finally, Khan, the young gun amidst the senior artists, combined the best of the two worlds.
“It is interesting to see varying perspectives of contemporary art come together as one. With a surge in art production, it is hard to find quality pieces but we found both meaning and depth here,” said Maheen, an artist and visitor at the gallery.
With such accomplished artists on board, it was no surprise to see the gallery teeming with young and old artists, critics and curators. The expanded gallery space is a welcome change, especially in attendance of varying art works and target audience.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 17th, 2013.