Vivid details: Portraying ordinary, unadorned beauty of life

Aqeel Javaid showcases 28 painting in Gallery6

ISLAMABAD: A first-of-its-kind virtual exhibition showcasing the artworks by Aqeel Javaid, also known as Teetu, goes on display at Gallery6.

The collection of 28 paintings comprises oil-on-canvas pieces, depicting scenes of everyday life in vivid, colourful detail.

The Rawalpindi-based artist finds inspiration from the life around him. In the paintings, he has mostly portrayed his surroundings, the ordinary and the unadorned and drew attention to the beauty that is often ignored in the life around, especially settings and material conditions.

He does not follow a particular artistic style or school-of-thought and instead articulates the nuanced images in a combination of colours, tones and visual effects.

“I paint my surrealist thoughts in a realistic manner. My subjects are modern ideas,” he said, adding that he rarely limits himself to a specific colour palette and follows his intuition and imagination above everything else.



His paintings mainly command attention for their colour composition, smooth textures and plain choice of subjects. He presents the subjects in the paintings without exaggerating them in detail or dimension.

The paintings are also imbued with elements of symbolism and abstract ideas, lending his artworks some considerable depth. The effect of sticking take or thumb-tack adds a grunge, unfinished work in the paintings.

Dr Arjumand Faisel, the curator of the gallery, said that there was a growing demand by young and emerging artists for exhibiting their artworks in the gallery. “But we cannot hold more than 10 to 12 shows in a year. Hence, to meet his demand, we are launching online shows on an experimental basis,” he added.

Javaid got master’s degree in Fine Arts from the Punjab university in 2006. He has held three solo exhibitions and participated in a dozen group shows. Besides painting, he has also participated in photography exhibitions since 2003.

Art lovers can browse the show at their leisure online and interested buyers can visit the gallery.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 10^th, 2015.